LIFE CHANCES

Maybe I should get off my soapbox, but I am starting to believe that my Auntie and Uncle, as two former educators, have failed miserably in teaching. As my four-year education here at Cal comes slowly to a close, I have been met with pressures from all sides to continue with my schooling either at grad school or law school instead of taking a two-year hiatus. Even after I told my parents what I intend to do with my two years away from school, they try to hint, in any way possible, about all their wonderful friends' children that have already received acceptance to prestigous graduate programs. My latest critique comes from my Auntie and Uncle, whom proceeded to give my father the third degree as to why I would want to leave schooling to teach "those" kids. Both of them claim that "bad kids just aren't worth the heartache, so don't try so hard and you'll both be better off." With all due respect, those two are exactly what is wrong with the education system today!

It breaks my heart to think that my parents have been so brainwashed that they can't even hold their heads up high and proudly proclaim that their daughter wants to take time off to give back to her community and teach inner-city students. Because of all the negative connotations that come with putting one's education on hold, my parents must fidget about as they shamefully tell others that I want to use my Berkeley degree to be a teacher. It saddens me to know that choosing teaching as a profession is not looked upon with more respect. But the worst part is trying to get my parents to understand that going straight to graduate school isn't part of the plan for me... not at all. And that's OKAY. Going straight into grad school isn't for EVERYBODY. Frankly, I refuse to be like some of the losers from my class that can regurgitate information presented by the professor or from a book but have one heck of a time applying the same knowledge to real-life experiences. I say, give me the experiences. That'll beat your 4.0 GPA anyday.