Existential Questions I: Summer Job Search

Why are we here?
There are a number of different ways to answer this question, and I've seen a bunch of them. This post is going to discuss what the purpose of going to college these days actually is. In an attempt to share my vast wisdom with readers, this is the first in what I plan to be series of posts on the "why" of college. This is one of the questions I am asked most by adults, and some high-school age students, when I'm at home as I was over the past week for our spring break. More specifically, the question has to do with "why GW?" and "why study International Affairs/ conflict and security?"

At one level, I think we can learn  a lot about why we do this whole college thing from the times we're on break.
Here's what I mean: the summer job search tests the hard value of what we're getting from an education. This happens by the big test of whether, in filling out applications, we can translate the language of "cumulative GPA" into the language of "marketable job skill".
For some of us with more concrete majors, this is pretty straightforward. If you're studying finance or accounting, it's probably a little clearer where you should start looking for a job than if you're in my position. (Try explaining how knowledge of the Guatemalan civil war will get you a job.) No matter what well-meaning academic advisers might claim, few employers at the entry level really cares about your GPA, or earned credit hours, or your knowledge of Ming Dynasty ceramics. These things--even the ancient Chinese arts-and-crafts knowledge-- should be seen in the light of the all-important central consideration: how can you sell yourself? (To an employer, I mean. Otherwise we could get into the territory of egregious human-rights violations which I won't cover until a later post.)

Everything has to come back to how your skills suit you for the tasks you want to accomplish, even for the short-term tasks that we might have to take for the summer. This might sound banal, not at all like what "we signed up for"  when coming to school (broadening intellectual horizons/ saving the world/ baby seals/ whatever), but especially in this still-shaky job environment, there might not be a choice.

Of course, there are jobs out there--mostly in the government and the non-profit sector-- where the achievements of the mind matter in and of themselves. These can be really great places to work because you can let your passions guide your job search, instead of letting the need for employment shape your understanding of your own life goals.
Unfortunately, as I've discovered over the last few weeks, most government agencies and think-tanks don't hire again until the fall. Because I can't be unemployed, this puts me in the situation I described above.
Next Time: "Why can't I be unemployed?" --and reflections on the personal purpose of college.
--Adam