A Late Education

As a child, the “American Dream” must have skipped over my house. According to my parents, having an education meant the completion of school and receiving a diploma. Perhaps the dream of going to college was not in the cards for me, however; it was doing nothing more than what one had to do. This was the way of life. Doing what one had to do to get by is what I was taught by my single mother and that is what I continued to do. When I became a mother I thought to myself, how will I be able to lead my daughter into a better life with an education when all I know is the struggle of barely getting by?   There were not many great examples for me to follow growing up, but I have realized that it is not too late to set some for my daughter. Despite the fact that I gave up in high school, I finally realized how important an education is in life, and I will give education my all in college.
The only thing that was ever expected out of me was to get my high school diploma. I accomplished this, but not with the attitude or mindset that I should have had. I never had a problem with learning until high school and that was because I did not care to learn. No one else seemed to care as well. Basically, I gave up on my education. I passed most of my classes, but I failed a few. I did not care as long as I had what I needed to graduate. I failed my first class during freshman year. I began the year trying, but then I started to fail. At that point, I just gave up. The failure was due to not doing my homework assignments and playing in class. My first three years of high school consisted of nothing but socializing, doodling, and sleeping. All of the slacking caught up to me when it was time to pick up our final report cards. I had the big word detained written in red across it. I started to panic when I thought I was not going to be able to graduate with my class. The next year I returned as a graduating junior. I would be able to walk across the stage with my class if I passed all...