I wasn’t able to do a lot of things that I wanted to do because of my grades. At one point I was actually ineligible to play sports, what are everything to me. My parents influenced me to do better in school by allowing me to get my license the day my grades went above a 3.0. It took me awhile but by the end of the semester I had a 3.1 and was able to get my driver’s license. My grades at an all-time low were around a D average, I was able to go from that to a B average in one semester.
What degree should I get? After asking myself these questions, I felt like there was no chance I could get into college and earn a degree that would better my future. Some people may find returning to school a very easy decision but, it takes motivation, determination, and confidence. I always thought when I finished high school I would take a year off and then start college. Most things do not happen the way we expected and, I did not start college a year after high school.
Since having no college degree, I knew that good jobs would be hard to find. I decided it was time for me to make a life changing decision. I started with returning to college to earn my degree. Even though returning to college will be a life changing experience for me. Returning to school has been a dream of mines since I graduated from high school.
Life has changed for me in so many ways when making this decision. As a single mother I thought I would never have made it this far. Being the only daughter of my mother my two brothers graduated from college with honour and has good jobs. I had a young baby and did not complete my high school education. I see my friends getting good jobs and pursuing their education and I was a sixteen year old mother with nothing to look forward to.
In this essay I will discuss why I believe that this is true. What it Means to be Well Educated Growing up, I wasn’t surrounded by individuals that pushed themselves to learn more every day. It seemed as if my family was content with the knowledge that they currently possessed. After reading the article, What it Means to be Well-Educated, by Alfie Kohn (2003), I realized that they were not pushing themselves to be well-educated or to learn more. I think that this is why I didn’t push myself during high school.
Why College Education is Important to Me For most individuals, a college education is merely the next step in the road to a successful career. For myself, the importance of a college education is more of a personal goal. Eight years ago, one of the last conversations I had with my mother prior to her passing away was her wish for me to attain my Bachelors Degree; a goal I had made for myself back when I was just entering High School but never attained as planned. I was one of those numbers who contributed to the statistics of having to drop out of college early on due to pregnancy. As a single parent, I had to put my educational goals on the back burner to raising my family.
I dropped out of school when I had my first child and I didn’t get my high school diploma until I had my 3th child. I was very determined to at least get my high school diploma that was a successful day when I received my High School Diploma. My next challenge was to go to college staying focused. I’ve been part of activities and would stop right in the middle, only because either it wasn’t interesting or I would get frustrated. But I came to find out that it was not a great idea to start something and not finish, only because it would start to become a habit and your life would always be flip flop, plus it wasn’t a good example.
The first time I had attended college, I did not finish nor did I take it very seriously as I should have. I came from a family who held education as a very high standard. Both my parents have degrees as well as their work ethics are very highly valued. They were both in the military, so I was taught at a very young age that you must work hard to get, achieve or accomplish what you want in life. Now that I am a single mother and am unable to make ends meet on my own, I wanted to go back to college in order to get my Bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies so that I can help provide a better life for my family.
The problem. I have had parents come to counseling because their teenager is graduating from high school and refuses to go to college. The parents practically fall out of their chairs when my answer is "Then don't make them go to college." I always recommend that parents try very, very hard to convince their child to go to college, but never force them to go to college. You see, not everyone is college material.
This is when I realized how important a college education really was. Just a few generations ago, a High school diploma was all that was desired from applicants as far as education was concerned. Most folks didn’t even finish high school and quit to work on the family farm or join the military. The United States has been transformed from a manufacturing country, to a county whose economy is based on technology and knowledge. Education and higher learning are necessary to create and maintain technology.