Note to reader: This draft is re-printed here with the author's permission. These student drafts are provided for a couple of reasons: first, to give you a taste of the variety of topics and approaches students have taken, and second, to provide instructors with readings that might be used in class discussions and activities. These samples are not perfect and represent final grades from across the grade scale (A through F), so please be forgiving, understanding, and respectful if you find errors or problems.
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Anonymous
English 1010D
Prof Peterson
19 January 2016
Power of Education
Education is something that is stressed constantly in our world today. Without education we’re made to believe that we’re going to eventually fall short of our future career goals, and be left to go with plan B, C or D, anything besides our initial plan A. In some cases, like my father, he may have grown up with a future career goal, but the route his life took him was completely opposite. Just because it isn’t apart of our plan doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t going to be just as rewarding. Life is a lesson in and of itself, and its our job to figure it out and keep up with the lesson, day by day, step by step, its a constant learning environment. Whether we realize it now or later, it’ll be one of the most important lessons we learn.
Growing up I knew education was important, not only because I could see how much it affected the world around me that I was going to grow up into, and all the power it held over an individual, but my parents always made sure that if I received homework from school that day, that it got done, and got done correctly. I guess you could say every parent would do that, but there was something about my dad being so on top of it and willing to go to the furthest extent needed for me to complete my assignments that confirmed that education was key. I can remember sitting at the table doing math assignments with my father sitting beside me explaining the concepts because for some reason it always took me so much longer than the other kids to understand what I was being taught. He would explain the reasoning behind the steps and would ask if I understood, I would nod my head yes, because even though I was still confused and didn’t understand I didn’t want him to become irritated with my inability to learn as quickly as the others.
I can remember thinking to myself while he was teaching me that my dad was so smart, and wondering where he gained all the knowledge. “How in the world could an individual hold so much knowledge in their brain?” is what I would say to myself while sitting in the presence of my dad. I for sure thought my dad had easily gotten the highest level of education valued here in America which would have been a degree, whether it be a bachelors or a doctorate, I didn’t know, not only because I truly didn’t know, but I also didn’t know what degrees were, but I knew that he was way too smart to be mediocre. I knew without a doubt that he was too smart of a man to lack any sort of knowledge in any area of life. Until one day, I remember constantly being asked at school for years what the highest level of education my parents had received was, and even though I never knew what the actual answer was, being the smart girl I was, I stuck to saying my parents had attended college. My little girl mind set still believed my parents were the smartest of the smart, and still to this day I believe that. Anyway, following school that day I remember waiting at home anxiously till both my parents returned from work so I could finally ask for the answer to the question I had always been wondering. My parents finally got home, and as they were drinking coffee, I went and sat down beside them and asked them if they went to college, and to my shock, both of my parents said no. I was surprised, there was no way that was possible..
My dad then went to on to explain to me that after he completed high school, he along with his brothers were enrolled into the military and were sent to fight the war that was currently taking place in Bosnia. Yes, my parents grew up in another country, unlike me, growing up here in America. Of course my father had other plans for himself, but he needed to fight for his country, that was the most important. My mother was currently pregnant with my older sister, so she was a stay at home wife, and my father was away fighting at war.
After my sister was born and my dad thankfully survived the war they then made they’re way to the U.S. and resided in Utah. We’ve lived here ever since they moved here somewhere around 23 years ago. When my parents and older sister arrived in the U.S they had only 500 dollars in their pockets, no english, and instantly began to study for their citizenship tests. As my parents made their way, set their path, both of my parents found jobs, my dad was employed with Pohl Inc of America, and my mother was working at Sara Lee bakery. Though my mom has moved from that job to something bigger and better, my father on the other hand still to this day is employed by Pohl Inc of America.
My father started at the bottom, working as a janitor, and climbed the ladder of success slowly. He is now the purchasing agent and supervisor of the company and enjoys what he does for a living and he's good at it. However, with that being said, my dad never got to be what he truly wanted to be in life, and because my father has no education beyond High school, the fear of being let go from his job is constantly in the back of his head. He worries that any day someone will come along that’s younger and better than he is, and that he’ll be replaced, having to start at the bottom again like he did 23 years ago. He constantly stresses to me that if he had pursued his education when he got to the states, he wouldn’t have to live in the constant fear of that. Thats why he pushes education on my sisters and I so heavily. He doesn't want for my sisters to have to live in the same fear as him.
Me getting my education isn’t just for myself. Its for my parents as well. I’m doing it for all three of us. I’m going to earn my masters degree and achieve OUR goal. I constantly worry that I’m not making my parents proud enough of me, but my father tells me occasionally that I have the opportunity to do now what he's always wanted to do, and if I fail at everything else and succeed at this one thing, thats enough to make him proud for the rest of his life. I know that my education will be the stepping stone to the bright and blessed future ahead of me. Though its going to take a whole lot of time and money, the feeling of relief and success I’ll feel when I finally earn my degree and begin to start my journey towards my career will be well worth all of the obstacles and long years of early and late classes and hours of homework. Not to mention, I’ll keep my promise to my father of never having to worry that I’m not enough for whatever I want to be later in life. I’ll have the skills, the proper education, the knowledge, the passion, and the heart to do it all, and I won’t have to carry the same fear my father does.