Spring Break
A Little Pre-Graduation Aggravation
Kyle Thomas
Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: Commentary
I should be one happy camper. A 21-year-old who, in a few short months, will be setting out on his own into a great big world filled with wonderful sights and abundant opportunities. Right now, I'm applying for jobs and deciding where in the country I'd like to spend the next few years of my life. But as the resumes get mailed and my inbox remains empty, I'm left with shrugged shoulders and open palms, wondering where life will lead me post-May.
My first mistake, clearly, was electing to allow the university to confer upon me the most worthless of all degrees, the B.A. in liberal arts. And as my contact info at the end of this column indicates, I've further punished myself with two of the more ambiguous majors an undergraduate can study - political science and history. Sure I can tell you that the reason Stalin rose to power was that, as general secretary of his party, he hired most of the party workers who in turn felt loyal to him (thank you, Prof. Joel Blatt), but I can't really tell you why that matters today, save for don't ever make a psychologically tormented, pockmarked, power-hungry madman the general secretary of your newly founded political party. But I digress.
I could have chosen the brighter, albeit more soulless path - that of the, gasp, business major, but in my senior year in high school I grew rather attached to my inner-self. It is an attachment I regret to this very day. For while the business majors sit in their fancy classrooms with ample room to move around, a comfortable chair and a guaranteed internet connection, I sit in the slightly outdated Koons Hall hoping I don't get stuck in the desk made for a left-handed middle school student, wondering what it might be like to have Internet in the classroom. And while they get jobs thrown at them left and right by hungry corporations eager to gobble up the malleable talent, I get persistent leg cramps from immobility with the only perk getting sent my way being the asbestos-laden and poorly circulated air.
My first mistake, clearly, was electing to allow the university to confer upon me the most worthless of all degrees, the B.A. in liberal arts. And as my contact info at the end of this column indicates, I've further punished myself with two of the more ambiguous majors an undergraduate can study - political science and history. Sure I can tell you that the reason Stalin rose to power was that, as general secretary of his party, he hired most of the party workers who in turn felt loyal to him (thank you, Prof. Joel Blatt), but I can't really tell you why that matters today, save for don't ever make a psychologically tormented, pockmarked, power-hungry madman the general secretary of your newly founded political party. But I digress.
I could have chosen the brighter, albeit more soulless path - that of the, gasp, business major, but in my senior year in high school I grew rather attached to my inner-self. It is an attachment I regret to this very day. For while the business majors sit in their fancy classrooms with ample room to move around, a comfortable chair and a guaranteed internet connection, I sit in the slightly outdated Koons Hall hoping I don't get stuck in the desk made for a left-handed middle school student, wondering what it might be like to have Internet in the classroom. And while they get jobs thrown at them left and right by hungry corporations eager to gobble up the malleable talent, I get persistent leg cramps from immobility with the only perk getting sent my way being the asbestos-laden and poorly circulated air.
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Rick
posted 2/11/08 @ 10:07 AM EST
Instead of, "Might I interest you in coffee and dessert this evening?", try, "What would you like for dessert this evening?" The first way invites a "No, thanks" response; the second is more open-ended. (Continued…)
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