It started again last week. All it took this year was a Daily columnist writing about how her major is just as important and deserves just as much respect as engineering.

And then the flood of responses came, starting the age-old engineering vs. LAS debate.

Engineers wrote into the QuickE section of the Daily jokes like “What’s the only class an LAS major needs to take before graduation? The one that teaches them to say ‘Would you like fries with that?'” Funny, but not original.

Then came the flood of defenses from LAS majors, saying things like “writing term papers is just as hard as solving equations” (yeah, right). My favorite LAS response came from a philosophy major, saying something like “As long as you’re interested in your field, that’s all that should matter.” Would you expect anything less from a philosophy major?

And, lest they be forgotten, College of Design students had to chirp in too: “Both LAS and engineering students have it easy. Architects are the ones who have it rough.”

Well, maybe the architects have a valid point. Architecture used to be in the College of Engineering until the College of Design was established — and they have to carry around those big pads of paper and tool boxes full of special pens and pencils.

It’s kind of funny how we students classify majors into hierarchies of importance. There are even sub-hierarchies within the different colleges.

I’m in the College of Design where the architects think they rule supreme. They think they’re above landscape architects, who think they’re above the community and regional planners.

The planners think they’re above the interior design majors, and everyone thinks they’re above the art and design majors.

The College of Engineering has it’s own sub-hierarchy. My boyfriend just graduated in December in mechanical engineering and he used to laugh about how the chemical and ceramic engineers thought they were on the top because they had the hardest discipline.

Then came the electrical and computer engineers. Then mechanical engineers and industrial engineers. At the bottom were civil and construction engineers.

And, he said, all engineers made fun of the ITECHS — “the industrial technology majors who show up at the Engineering Career Fair, wishing they were engineers.”

Now, don’t get offended and think I’m making fun of your major. I kind of agree with the philosophy major who thinks all that matters is whether you’re interested in your field.

But I think it’s funny the way people feel the need to defend their certain major by making fun of other majors.

This society often associates importance with the dollar sign, and I think, some students at ISU feel engineers get more respect because they tend to get paid more than other majors after graduation.

Sure, engineers might make lots of money, but they lead Dilbert-like lives.

Dilbert is such a hit comic strip because it’s funny and true. Dilbert — an engineer — shows the craziness of the technical/corporate workplace.

In one of my favorite strips, Dilbert is visiting a school and is telling students about “exciting careers in the field of engineering”.

“For the next twenty years, I’ll sit in a big box called a cubicle. It’s like a restroom stall but with lower walls. I spend most of my life hoping the electromagnetic fields from my office equipment aren’t killing me.

The goal of every engineer is to retire without getting blamed for a major catastrophe. And sometimes you get free donuts just for showing up.”

Engineers are funny creatures. I know because I’ve dated one for the past six years. And worse — he’s a mechanical engineer. He thinks he can fix anything with his brilliant use of duct tape.

When engineers get that look of madness in their eyes that says “stand back — I’m an engineer,” watch out. Sometimes great things like better running engines or faster running computers result from that madness. Or it’s the weird looking shelving unit in my apartment “engineered” out of duct tape and red plastic crates.

That’s why we need a well-rounded university. This world needs the biologists, the architects, the teachers — and the engineers.

Each field serves its own special purpose. Be happy with your chosen major.

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Jonquil Wegmann is a senior in community and regional planning from Bellevue.