“What are you going to do with that?” Irritated parents often ask this question when the pride and joy of the family decides on a liberal arts major.

Students with professionally-oriented majors likewise ask their friends this, while deep inside they smile, certain that in a few years they will thrive on Wall Street, while their vocationally challenged colleagues will be scrubbing dishes with a meaningless Bachelor of Arts in Native American religious studies.

The United States Department of Labor estimates that the average American worker will change careers three to five times in his or her lifetime. Due to the pace of technological change, the most sought-after occupations of future years do not yet exist.

There are certain professions, such as law, medicine and engineering that require specific training. However, a growing number of employers are less interested in the major a candidate for a job opening had than with his or her personal and intellectual qualities.

Post-graduate school is a common way for those with humanities and social science backgrounds to learn a specific profession and become more attractive to employers. Graduate and professional schools require creative and critical thought. Standardized exams necessary for admission all require strong vocabulary and quantitative and qualitative analysis for success, all skills a liberal arts major provides.

Although 21st century workers change careers more frequently than ever before, there are skills necessary to be successful in any sector of the job market. Critical thinking, written and verbal communication and problem-solving skills are invaluable proficiencies.

While the specific knowledge gained from writing a research paper on the influence of Jacques Derrida on contemporary literary criticism will have a negligible impact on an English major’s future job, the intellectual competencies developed in writing the paper will become apparent in many competitive positions.

This is not to say that business or other vocationally-oriented majors are without merit. They equip students with very specific knowledge that is attractive to many employers. A professionally-focused major provides a very clear career path, and students of such programs experience career-related identity crises much less frequently. Thus, in the short run, a marketing or finance major is likely to achieve more success in the job market than a history or anthropology major, but a liberal arts education’s benefits transcend first jobs.

A degree in the humanities provides more than facts that will make a graduate the star of cocktail parties. Unfortunately, the number of humanities and social science majors continues to slide, as parents wonder if tuition money is being put to good use and concerned accounting majors want to save their potentially starving friends who are interested in the impact of Germanic mythology on Wagner.

Contrary to what one might expect, 95 percent of the CEO’s of the United States’ 20 largest banks were liberal arts majors in college, according to the President of Chemical Bank.

College freshmen and sophomores beginning their intellectual journey should not stray from their true passions for fear of being unemployable. Their academic curiosity will be rewarded in ways more practical than anyone can imagine.