I don't think its dead, but its unnecessary. My degrees are in Forest Management. During grad school I spent more time making databases, writing FORTRAN, building COBOL reports and sysadmin duties than any of my peers getting CIS degrees. I think college gives you the pieces to think critically and build a framework (as well as life lessons about sticking to it till its done). As long as you are able to learn and apply developmental lessons from college it really doesn't matter if you degree is in sociology or CS.