Matlab isn't strongly typed? That's the understatement of the year. You've never seen the damage an Engineer can do until you give him free reigns on a copy of Matlab. I'm convinced that they no longer teach basic programming in the Universities. I've seen the code to prove it.

64-bit values aside, Python outperforms Matlab w.r.t. signal processing applications, and absolutely blows the doors off of Matlab when parsing text ( e.g. data headers). I've tried several languages ( Matlab, Python, Ruby, C/C++, C#, Java, Octave, CUDA, and Sage in the last 2 years). People whole-heartedly believe that Matlab fell from the sky. For most users, you only need to take a look at Matplotlib. If you really want to see Matlab at its absolute worst, take a look at its attempt at Object-Oriented programming; more specifically, GUI programming.

You're obviously not acquainted with any Engineering-related fields. Electrical and Computer Engineering fields change/advance on a weekly basis. Same goes for Software-related fields. It's hard to prepare someone for a career that advances at this rate because you still have to start with the basics (e.g. calculus, linear systems, signal processing) and progress towards current technology, which cannot be realistically be reached in 4 years, regardless of what you're told. To say education is completely worthless is a bit of a stretch unless you're speaking about history majors, poetry, liberal arts, music, and so on; and these fields only appear worthless considering the current economic climate.

This distinction was true in the pre-Obama era. Soon you will stand in line for both an endoscopy and colonoscopy; one session, one tool. The results will be forwarded to your local IRS agent, who will provide you with a prognosis after you've validated your income level and records of your home heating/cooling costs. God bless the USA.