Why come to college if you aren't ready to work?

I started my senior year expecting it to be difficult. Of course, I want to have as much fun as possible, because this is pretty much the last year I can be a "young adult," instead of just plain "adult" (unless, of course, I cannot get a job and end up having to apply to grad school or something,) but I figured school would be difficult.

Some of my classmates, apparently, did not.

In a few of my classes, which are admittedly difficult, I have heard many a classmate complaining that they've never had to do so much work in their lives. As one classmate complained, "this has nothing to do with my life, stop wasting my time."

I don't want to sound like your overbearing, you're-never-good-enough-for-her mother, but I never understood why anyone decided to go to college if they didn't want to learn new things and, occasionally, work hard. Seriously, what was the point of emptying your bank account for the next decade to a school if you don't want to actually get anything out of it?

There are always the people who go to school simply to get a degree. This degree will help them acquire a job that will eventually get them a nice house with a nice pool and a nice T.V., and, well, all around nice things. However, if the economy, the jobs market and the all around tanking of the entire financial system has taught us anything, it's that nothing in life is guaranteed.

So, even if you're here to secure a financially stable future, (which, don't get me wrong, is certainly not the worst thing in the world,) you might want to consider branching out and opening your mind to the idea that there is more to be learned from college then the bare bones requirements of your degree.

College started out as something people did because they wanted to learn more about the world, they wanted to think, they want to be intellectual and to be challenged. Challenging doesn't always mean a perfect GPA, and it certainly doesn't mean always enjoying what you're doing, but seriously, what's the worst that can happen? You won't get a job?

As it turns out, it's not that easy to get a job with a perfect GPA either, so maybe it's best we learn something new along the way. The type of skill you never thought would be useful may turn out to be just the thing that actually gets you that dream job.

Caitlin Carroll is a senior journalism major from Mastic Beach, N.Y. She can be reached at caitlin.carroll@student.shu.edu.

Follow Caitlin on Twitter @CaitiGirl