Why are you here? I don’t mean for the intramural t-shirt, or for the parties, or the chicks or any of those other smart-alecky replies.

I mean, why are you really here? Why are you or your parents or Uncle Sam coughing up the dough for four or five or 10 years of higher education?

Considering I didn’t seem to have a goal or any kind of direction my first three semesters here, let alone a major, you might be thinking that I shouldn’t be questioning anyone else’s motivations. But I have a major now and I have a purpose (I think), and besides, I’m just curious.

For some of us, going to college is a means to an end. That includes the people who are just trying to get through with a degree that will qualify them for some job that they’re not even sure will be there when they graduate.

Sound familiar?

Sure, we all want a job, but if your one and only criteria for choosing a major was picking the one that would land you the best possible job after college, that puts you in my “jobs” category.

Like it says at the bottom of the column, I’m in liberal studies. That puts me in the other category — the people who have no idea what they’re going to do with themselves after graduation.

If you’re feeling sorry for us or feeling superior, maybe you should think again. Because, unfortunately, a college education doesn’t necessarily guarantee a job anymore, no matter what your area.

Well, I suppose most of the engineers will be snapped up fairly quickly. In some ways, they’ve got a pretty good deal. Their classes are pretty much mapped out for them. Filling out a four-year plan, a major crisis for me when I was a freshman, is a piece of cake, right?

But think about what they’re taking for classes. Think about all the engineers planning their schedules for next semester.

“Let’s see, should I take Practical Fluid Power Circuits, or should I save that for next semester and go with Fluid Dynamics of Turbomachinery?”

Now, I’m not saying engineering is a bad major. Maybe they’re happy with their choices; maybe they’re really interested in practical fluid power circuits. If they are, that’s great. Somehow, I know I wouldn’t be.

Think about your own major. When was the last time you signed up for a class just because it sounded like fun?

Well, in liberal studies, I picked most of my classes just because they looked interesting. Right now I’m taking three classes that a lot of you probably think are a waste of time. Fiction writing tops the list.

I don’t think any of my classes are a waste of time. In fact, looking back, the only classes I took that I think were a waste of time were chemistry and calculus. What was I thinking?

For me, a college education is an end in itself. Once I quit worrying about whether I would ever be employable, I started learning about all sorts of cool stuff.

For instance, just the other day I learned about the Jewish perspective on afterlife, and last semester I studied women’s literature from Zora Neale Hurston to Alice Walker.

I’m not suggesting that everyone switch majors.

However, I can think of at least one person I know that would probably be a lot happier in a different field, but he thinks he’d be a failure if he wasn’t in engineering.

As one of my friends says, that’s just not right. Sure, he’ll probably be a good engineer and he’ll make lots of money.

I just wonder if money is really that important.

I am suggesting that you try, if you haven’t already, taking at least one class just for fun — just one class, whatever you’re interested in.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to take golf, art history or concert band. Or fiction writing.

Whatever it is, I promise you it will be worth it.

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Catherine Conover is a junior in liberal studies from Mapleton.