I often hear that a college degree is a necessity these days. It’s certainly practical and can open a lot of doors, allowing most of us to go further in our lives. As a parent I will make sure my children have every opportunity to be well educated, no matter what they decide to do in life. An education is a solid foundation for everything else, and provides a life with options, different paths to fulfillment and making a difference, and this is something I want for my sons.
I was the first person to graduate from college in my family. My parents are both immigrants who are incredibly hardworking and wise, but because my father didn’t pass an elementary school education and my mother didn’t graduate from high school, their life was markedly more difficult. My father said he had two goals in life when it came to his children: that we be good people, and that we be paid to think. He worked long hours on his feet seven days a week for years to support his family, and he wanted something more for his children. He felt the biggest shame would be to come to a country filled with opportunities and not appreciate and take advantage of such great fortune, and parents should make sure their children had an education so they could be paid for ideas, and not for heavy lifting.
I graduated with a professional degree in pharmacy, and I assumed my parents were happy. It wasn’t until the day I overheard my reserved, stoic father telling someone “My daughter is a pharmacist” with a look of such beaming pride that I realized how much. He seemed to take my attending college and starting a career as a matter of course, so I never considered how much having a child who graduated from college would affect them. I realized my father was gratified, because he accomplished his goal. He raised children who were paid to use their minds, and he was a happy, happy man.
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Western Governors University. The opinions and text are all mine.