The College Path: On (Not) Making it to College

Now back to my college talk--which I had postponed for a bit.

This time I would like to talk about why some students made it to college and why others did not.

I would like to point out my privileges first, which really speaks to some of the advantages I had over other students. My family was here when I was in high school, so I always had a place to go after school, I had food to eat every night, I had someone, usually, to call me off when I was not doing what I was supposed to [if you know what I mean...]. It also meant that I did not someone to support where my families comes from. I did not have to be committed to bringing an income home, but I am sure my family would have appreciated it if I had been working all the time. Often times I had someone come to my school deals, such as those infamous parent-teacher nights. Mine always went well because I was so smart (NOT!).

Also, I am a male and that really cuts to the chase. Because of my gender I was able to stay after school without being harassed as a female would. Also, I was able to volunteer at places and not worrying about what time to come home--taking the bus was not worry for me because I did not worry about being attacked or anything like that. I walked the streets at night that was fine, again, because as a male I was less likely to be assaulted.

Another thing is that my way of living was more acceptable in our society here. The way I dressed is more acceptable here, so I got more credibility on that. I also spoke with manners, most of the time, and that gave me an advantage over others as well. All of this is a big deal because how one is perceived either opens or closes doors and certainly many were open to me just because the way I looked.

I was part of school programs that gave me some guidance to getting to college. This is something many students don't have access, especially if they live in rural areas of the state. For some time I had been asking for after-school something, so there is also the problem some students face: is the environment safe enough for them to ask for some guidance? If a student does not feel safe, she is not going to ask more likely.

Now, there are systematic problems as well. The education system, tied with the workforce one, is not designed for everyone to make it. Low-skilled (not professional-educational attainment based) workers are needed for the economy to subsist, which is why immigration is crucial for the U.S. to make it day by day. Also, if every student were to make it college (St. Paul has one of the highest rates of student graduation in the country, but it is about 30% only!), we would need to stop constructing prisons and construct more schools, which will not bring any profit, right? We will also need to create more jobs that pay livable jobs with benefits all the other jazz that comes with that and again, that would not compliment the economic system we have today.

Moreover, there are not many we know who had really made a breakthrough. The only people I knew who had been successful were my teachers and most of them were white, and the ones who looked like me either got "replaced," "transferred," or worked part-time only. There were many negative messages coming to us through school and of course where we live because our families are working jobs that don't pay much, don't require an degree but hard or tedious physical labor. Really, we have a great lack of role models.

Moreover, the environment in which we live certainly affect us. We don't have heroes pointing to college, so we might not think about doing something after school. Immigration is a daily topic in our lives, so many things, if not everything, ends up being about immigration. And there are laws related to immigration that prevent some students from having access to some schools.* Being undocumented can mean many things and in the mind of many, not being able to go to college has been embedded in their minds, both by anti-immigrants and pro-immigrants.**

Then we have friends dropping out of school right and left, which really pushes some to drop out as well. I remember seeing many of my friends just leaving school for work. They then had money and all that and the rest of us of course want to have what they had, materially at that point in life. And then you have no way for schools to try to assist students, not that I know that is.

On top of all of that, we have the distractions that are just not avoidable. These are falling in love with someone, a good deal at a job, gangs that provide some support when one does not have it at home, those damn drugs. Sexual orientation creeps in this too since families might throw someone away for identifying as gay and for others for not working even if school will be more beneficial in the long run, ETC! It can really get to be a tough one.

And then you have our families that do not know much about the college process. This really gets hard because if one wants to go to college, convincing the family is hard. If a student does not want to go to college, then that does not become such a big deal anyways because we all think college is not possible.... Family is a big thing, so I will talk about it in another blog post.

Over all, I had the family support many of my classmates did not. Many had to work in order to sustain themselves and often times support someone back where they came from, so priorities became a bit different: work to support family over school, which does not give immediate results and it would be naturally for some to just work because that is the only way a family will survive.

Now that I can be a role model, I get out there whenever I can to show students like myself that it is possible, damn hard, but possible. And really hope more students, undocumented and not, join me in the Movement of Inspiration, something both the anti- and pro-immigrant foes do not care much about.

I also have to say that personal responsibility is important, but sometimes, I know, the systematic failures are more powerful than a human being. And yet those who succeed do it themselves, with the assistance form others. No one does it alone, so seeking assistance is crucial and having the resources is just as important.

Now going to go keep on contributing in changing the world, after I do my homework....

The Honorable P

*Which is something some advocates fail to point out, but that's another topic I will cover another time, maybe when I am less frustrated about it.
** Related to above thought