Deal Breaker
Issues I'm faced with that make thriving in college difficult.
One of my goals in life that has been a continuous battle is to be able
to go to college and finish with a degree.
It has not been an easy road for me, as a result, it has taken much
longer time than I anticipated. I'm
still on that road, by the same token, I am getting closer and closer to
achieving my goal.
My first issue was not
having enough focus and discipline when I started college. I would take classes and pass them but I
really did not have a plan or direction on what I was doing. I figure I'll take these classes and it
should apply to whatever degree I was thinking of getting. I was a single mother with no help from any
government assistance. I worked full
time at a job that did not pay very much and had a son to raise. Regardless of how my home life was like, I
still lacked focus and discipline. It
was too easy to make excuses to why I stopped going to school. Excuses like not having enough time to study,
allowing emotional problems consume my judgment, or the inability to afford
tuition and books for class. So much
time had passed and my goals of getting a degree became stagnant. Within the past seven years I have been going
to school off and on. I finally made a
conscious decision to go back full time.
The difference now is that I continuously register for class every
semester. Under those conditions, I
enrolled for the spring, summer and fall semester without taking any breaks in between.
My classes are during the
day time; for that reason, I'm able to get in the classes I wanted. While I'm a full time student, I also opt to
not get a job while going to school. I
could concentrate on my studies and fully focus in school. When I first started college, I wish I had
the wisdom and focus like have now. It
does make a difference. With a little
more sacrifice , I know I'm getting closer to getting my AA degree.
The second issue I have was not having
enough money for school and food. I always
struggled with not having enough money to pay for my classes yet alone
books. I would do odd job to supplement
my income so I can attend class. I would
get discourage when I am unable to enroll in school because I knew it would
only take me longer to finish. I did not
have the knowledge about getting a BOG waiver.
If I knew about it, I would of applied for the waiver and I would have
been able to afford going to school.
Food was another issue. All the money I earned went to rent and
bills. It's sad to say that I did not have
money to buy food. I could easily go
without food the whole day until I got to my parents house to eat. This was not because I wanted to lose weight. Fact of the matter, I did not have any cash
to buy food. Basically I would starve
the whole time I was there at work. Then
after work, I would drive to school. I
still couldn't afford to buy a candy bar or a meal to eat. It was unfortunate to not know about food
stamps, Cal Works or general
assistance. Otherwise, it would have been
a lot easier to survive. I rented my
own apartment but all the money I earned immediately went to bills. The father of my son did not give me child
support. It's embarrassing to go grocery
shopping at my parents house because I couldn't afford to buy anything at
grocery store. Usually there would be no
food in the refrigerator except for maybe a potato. My weight dropped down as low as 87 lbs. The one thing I made sure of was that my son always had food to eat, even it means for me to sacrifice and not eat. It's a hard struggle but I survived.
Chris McCandless was
focused and finished his college education.
He had the privilege of having his college paid. Although, going to college was more for his
parents than himself. In high school,
Chris mentioned to parents that he did not have any plans to go to college. They were annoyed and was very upset with his
decision. After he got back from his
first on the road excursion during the summer, Chris surprised his mom and dad
that he agreed to go to Emroy University in Atlanta. "Somebody needed to convince him to get
an education and a job and make something of his life (Krakauer,
pp51)." Getting an education was
not important to Chris. Although he was
very bright, he enjoy reading his favorite books more than wanting a college
education. Going to college was strictly
to appease his parents. "Look Mr.
Franz," "you don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute (Krakauer,
pp.51)." As soon as Chris
graduated, immediately he made arrangements to leave his old life for his new
life and a new name to be on the road as lone wander. No money to corrupt, no luxuries, and away
from all the pretentious people around.
He was at peace and enjoyed life even more without the constrictions of
career jobs, money, and materialistic society.
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