Potential in political science

Liberal arts majors are used to verbal abuse. Women's studies majors are cranky feminists, philosophy majors are stoners riding on their parents' money, and broadcasting majors might as well be majoring in drinking, since they hardly do anything but party, right? However, after reading last week's "Four years of a major problem," I must stand up for my political science brethern.

Gats and DiTommaso group political science, along with art, history, journalism, theatre arts, sociology and women's and gender studies under the category of "completely useless…less likely to land you a plum job than the GSBA is likely to plan a good concert this year." Ignoring the assault on the fine men and women of GSBA, let's examine the assertion that a major in political science will lead you straight to your parents' basement after graduation.

Gats and DiTommaso must assume that being a student of political science means nothing more than reading dusty tomes written by dead-for-more-than-200-years-philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. While every poli sci major could throw around a couple Rousseau quotes on demand, political science encompasses much more than arcane theory. Politics determines how much you made at your minimum wage job this summer, the level of arsenic in drinking water, how many nuclear weapons the United States maintains, whether or not we go to war, and even how many federal loan dollars you received on your last financial aid award. Given that politics affects almost every part of our lives, for better or for worse, we better have a segment of our generation studying it.

Not only are politics immensely important, there is also a healthy job sector attached to its practice, study and implementation. A political science major has countless opportunities in national politics or one of the many departments of the federal government, all the way down to state or local politics. For those who would rather observe than practice, there are countless think tanks and policy centers that offer analysis and recommendations. Further, "plum jobs" for the political science student are available in international development, international banking, campaigning, humanitarian aid, media, the armed services and lobbying.

Let's also not forget that political science remains the most popular major for students heading to law school – while you may not learn how to argue before a jury in "American Politics," you learn the history behind our right to a free and fair trial, the context of the justice system, and the politics that embroil it today.

In addition, a word about amount of credits required for a B.A. of Political Science at Gonzaga. While Gats and DiTommaso did apparently look in the course catalog to discover that only 31 departmental credits are required, they forgot to factor in the number of credits required by the arts and sciences core. According to my own catalog, the A&S core is 62 credits, making a political science degree worth 93 credits.

Further, every student must take 128 credits to graduate. While we may not be doing as much homework as nursing students (who does, really?) we aren't skipping out of here in cap and gown a year earlier than everyone else. If that's not enough to convince you that political science students actually do something other than memorize the order of the presidents, any political science professor will tell you that they advise their students to take more than the minimum number of credits, regardless of whether or not you want to continue on to graduate school.

Gonzaga's political science department consists of our future judges,representatives, ambassadors and attorney generals, who, for everyone's sake, should be educated in the science of politics. If nothing else, at least students of politics can credibly claim to be informed voters, something America is sorely lacking these days.

Kaitlin Sandin is a Senior