English lit is hardly a useless degree, as there are lots of openings for English teachers in high schools.
There is, of course, a difference between an education and training. When I was in college, it was rare for college students to major in business, as if one wanted to work in business, either you learned it from the old man, who had a business, or one attended a one or teo yeaqr program at a commercial college. Now it is seen as the ideal career.
In the college where I taught, students majored in secondary education, until they realized they would have to read a LOT of books, or at least a lot of Cliff;s Notes. When they failed to pass with a 2.5 as the college required, as well as the Florida Teacher Proficiency Test. they changed their major to Communications and Psychology, in which all the grades were determined by multiple choice exams and no real writing was required. This got them a degree, but of course. they didn't know anything useful. So if they did get a job it was because of personal connections.