Education is an interesting thing, many aspects of education affect us as individuals, and many affect us all as a whole. My education was not the most formal way of education. I was homeschooled although homeschooled is a generous term. The way it worked was My father (my mother would always be gone at work) would give us about four books to use in math, spelling, and subjects such as that, and every morning or afternoon, whenever he woke up and remembered we should be doing school, that we need to do our work. If we said no, he would yell and tell us again. However, eventually, he would give up and stop bothering us.
Most of my childhood days were filled with playing Barbies and going on bike rides with my sister. All kids dream right? Very little school, and all play. However, education is one thing that has always made me feel subpar. I am always in fear that I am going to be the stupidest one in the class, or in a group of friends. I often feel worse than my peers or in friend groups because I have very little basic school education. All of this on top of being dyslexic has made school one of the most challenging aspects of my life.
Therefore, as for the quality of my education? To the question, I would simply say what education? Because before the age of 15, it is practically nonexistent. One of the biggest things I struggle with is the what-if sort of mindset. What if I was put into public school? How much smarter could I be, I always dreamed of being a neurosurgeon. However, that is very impossible in my current state. I often reflect and imagine how much smarter I could be if I had a good school to grow up in. I know I am not the only one who feels this way. I am sure that many who come from schools in neighborhoods that are the majority lower classes feel the way I do.
It’s as if where you grow up, and where you go to school influences every aspect of your future. I remember one day not too long ago I was driving with my best friend; she goes to a great school. As we passed a motel she said, “Hey some of the kids from my school live there” and I was confused I mean I know some people often live in motels, however, imagine someone with their children living in one, I felt bad. I knew that there were places not far away that were far more affordable than paying for a motel room every day. I mentioned this to my best friend. That’s when she said, “Yeah but not in such a good school district” This put so many things into perspective for me. Realizing the lengths that some parents must go to in order to give their children a proper education was very eye-opening.
I feel as if it shows just how important education is to our future in many ways. I think starting college was the only thing that would save me in terms of my future career and therefore social class. Without this degree who will hire me? Without a high school diploma, I have no experience other than the one job I have had for four years. It’s not enough, in order to be seen we must be “successful” in the eyes of the workforce and that usually means college, a degree, clubs, showing schools that you’re worth it and that you work hard. Because academics are really the only way companies are able to get a feel for this, at least that’s what it has felt like my whole life.
