Classics???

Recently I have found myself explaining, over and over again it seems, my chosen field of study. I am a Classics major. And unlike engineers or journalism majors or philosophy majors or just about anybody else, I can't ever just blurt out my name and major (the college equivalent of name, rank, and serial number) and then just shut up. No. I have to explain that Classics is the study of classical societies--ancient Greece and Rome--with an emphasis on language, literature, and culture. It's a sort of highly specialized history degree. I really don't mind explaining that part, though. It's the inevitable next question that drives me crazy.

"So, uh, what exactly are you planning on doing with that?"

My answer to that question never seems to be satisfactory. This is why I am beginning to hate the name-and-major game. The honest truth is that I have no intention of doing anything at all with my degree, at least not in any sort of formal career. This is because I have no interest in a career. All I want in life is to get married, settle down, have kids, and be a stay-at-home mother and homemaker, probably homeschooling my children. I had a stay-at-home mom for the first eleven years of my life, so I know what a soothing thing it is to be able to just spend lots of time with Mom, both for the children and the mother. The kids have the peace of knowing she's always there when they need her, and the mom isn't stressed out trying to juggle a career with the darn housework. You end up with a clean and happy home. And for a homebody like me, a clean and happy home is absolutely essential.

This answer to the inevitable question, however, is not a popular one. I either get really weird looks, or I get people who feel sorry for me and try to convince me to open my mind to new possibilities. Poor girl, they think, she's been raised in such a backward and chauvinistic world, she needs to be set free! This is especially true with people in the Honors College. They get very worked up over people like me who "aren't living up to their potential." And sometimes it's even worse. One time when I was a freshman, I told someone about my ambitions (or lack thereof), and the person I was talking to rebuked me and said that if I did not intend to "contribute to society," I needed to stay away from college. He told me that using my scholarship to get a degree was "stealing from the state" and a waste of taxpayer dollars. This, of course, made me very upset, but as usual, I didn't think of any comebacks until the next day. Honestly...as if having children and bringing them up to be responsible and productive citizens is not a contribution to society! I've earned my scholarship, and I have the right to use it to be an educated person, whether I have a career later or not. It's just such a silly misconception--people operate under this idea that motherhood isn't worth anything to society as a whole, but it most certainly is! It's more important than any thesis or dissertation or scientific breakthrough. And the fact that people will look down their nose at someone like me, who values it and aspires toward it, is a sign that something is very, very wrong with our world.

I could go on much longer on that particular rant, but you get the idea.

So anyway, I hate talking about my major because it's just so stressful being a freak. I ought to be used to it by now, I suppose (after all, in high school I was definitely seen as NOT NORMAL), but it still annoys me. Sometimes in the past I've caved and ended up telling people Plan B, which is what I would do if I never got married. Plan B says I will go to grad school and get my masters and possibly a Ph.D, then teach at the college level. But I really have no intention of following Plan B (it would be real bummer if I had to), so answering the inevitable question with Plan B is really just a lie I'm telling, a little bone I'm throwing to people who don't want to hear that I'm "wasting my mind." And lying is against the rules!

So for those of you who thought I was immune to peer pressure, you're wrong.

All the same, though, I am still defying the world, robbing the state, and following good ol' Plan A. And keeping it real...

MullTrain