[Adiamant]

Yes, but Jon's point in his post was that the signaling of the PhD was substantially different from that of coursework.

To be honest I would probably have an easier time doing a PhD than coursework. If I'm not interested in something I have to really struggle to pay any attention to it at all.

Focused research into a field of interest, even if it's in excruciating detail over a long period of time, would serve me better than taking endless mindless classes of things I can't be bothered to study 'cause I hate them...