- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Messages
- 1,958
My mother has a degree, my father left school at 15 with no qualifications. His family needed the income, so he and his brother worked from age 15. Their sister went to college though - the thinking was that it's harder to make a good living when you have no qualifications, and it's even harder for women , with fewer options, so if any of the three needed the extra help it was the girl. All three of them had very successful careers, and my father worked for professional qualifications later in life.
It was expected that I would get a degree, there was never any question about that. It wasn't even discussed, it was just an innate expectation. That said, if I'd wanted to do something that needed a vocational qualification, I'm pretty sure they would have supported that too. They weren't so much interested in education for it's own sake, but rather as my best chance at providing for myself and having a reasonable standard of living.
I would like my own child to go to university and to enjoy it, and I'll support and encourage academic achievement. If she isn't interested, that's fine too. I just want to be confident that whatever she does she will do well enough and with enough dedication to provide (well) for herself.
It was expected that I would get a degree, there was never any question about that. It wasn't even discussed, it was just an innate expectation. That said, if I'd wanted to do something that needed a vocational qualification, I'm pretty sure they would have supported that too. They weren't so much interested in education for it's own sake, but rather as my best chance at providing for myself and having a reasonable standard of living.
I would like my own child to go to university and to enjoy it, and I'll support and encourage academic achievement. If she isn't interested, that's fine too. I just want to be confident that whatever she does she will do well enough and with enough dedication to provide (well) for herself.