Sparkly. I take offense for chumash, navi, and halacha that you mentioned in the same sentence as secular subjects. You can love learning all of them but I sure hope you love kodesh more.
Ronald: As a college student, learning secular subjects, I can tell you that I find some of it interesting and some of it incredibly boring. I’m only learning this subject to get the degree and get a job; even though I fill up the essays with fluff that I’m passionate and energetic (and I definitely am interested in the field), the truth is that it’s a sideshow to my true love. No matter what, a Torah-true Jew should love learning Torah above all other kinds of wisdom. You are correct: secular knowledge has no inherent value; if there are no applications, and no superior moral source for the wisdom, then why spend precious time absorbing fleeting thoughts of “great philosophers” who might be total creeps when you’ve got something as precious and beautiful and completely pure and true as the Torah?
In direct response to what you wrote, I am personally interested in how things work, and I make a point to know at least some of the science behind most household technology. Science can be fascinating. The only thing that has no point is learning for the sake of learning when there is no tangible goal.