It has been a while since I got into this deal about going to college, and let me tell you that it was not easy.
For one, there were just too many things I did not know. I did not know that college was an option for me. What about financing college? No idea. I knew my family did not have the means to support me in college financially and I suspected that the government was not going to help me, which ended up being true. Then there was the question about what school would I go. Well, I did not know what schools accepted undocumented students or what I was supposed to do. Overall, I did not have the slightest idea about the college process—there is such thing as college process? Yeah, exactly.
In addition, there is the whole thing about convincing one’s family that it will all be okay if one tried to go to college. Our immigrant families (remember I am talking about families in the U.S. that could not and/or are not able to get immigration stuff straighten up for many reasons thus far) are more likely to come from low-income, low-skilled social class and are more likely to be low-income and in low-skilled jobs (although low-skilled is a relative term (more about this later)). This means that they too have no idea about the college process and what it would take for their school-age daughters/sons/relatives/friends to get into college.
As a student, trying to get one’s family or relatives to understand that one wants to go to college gets a little tedious. That the family might not know about college is one obstacle. Often times, I remember, trying to explain how I would get to college to my family ended up in being questioned and challenged due to my immigration status. Questions such as, “Oh Puck, and how are you going to pay for it?” or statements such as, “immigration is going to get you,” or “it’s your choice.” Well, yeah it was my choice, but it was just hard and sometimes burdensome to hear such comments by my own family members, those who were supposed to be with me on everything and anything.
I mean, think about it. I, the greatest student (joking here just so you know), could not convince my own family that I will make it to college! For the love of dogs, why didn’t they get it? Why didn’t they believe me? Why were they succumbing to fear? Why were they dragging me down that path? Didn’t they get that my dream was to go to college? Didn’t they see that I, unlike so many of my peers in school (more on this later too), actually was trying hard in school? I actually wanted something meaningful after high school
Additionally, as a student of “color,” immigrant, first generation, low-income, and whatever else you want to throw in to the equation, there are not many role models one can look up to. When I was in high school, there were not many who looked like me or like my schools peers—my school was mostly students of “color.” [I put color in quotation marks for lack of a better word and because I believe being white is a color]. Where I lived I just knew people like us, people who were mostly from other countries, many undocumented, many uneducated, no person who had actually gone on to college, many doing manual work for no nigh wages. TV is just disproportionally one color and one class and always misrepresenting others and seems that they looooove stereotypes. Oh, and in high school, I was never really taught about people like me who had made history—we did talk about African Americans from time to time, but other than that, not really (“diversity” meant “black”).
Obviously I am in college today in the great state of Minnesota. With the help of many and efforts from me, I have defied all odds against me. This blog will later be followed by what I experienced with my family while pursuing entrance to college, what I learned of the college process, what I believe many of my schools peers never made it to college and why some did, and maybe someday why “low-skilled” is a relative term. Stay tuned; make comments.
The Honorable P
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