Christine Carrera
Ray Engle
English 132
25 Jan 2015
Self Observation:
“My Parents Paid For My Education – Does That Mean I Need A Soul-Crushing Job?” For many students, thinking about college is an adrenaline rush. It is exciting thinking about where you may live, who you may live with, the friends you will gain, what major you will be studying, etc. Just from my experience, the funding was the last thing I thought about. My parents pushed me into working hard in high school so I could earn scholarships later on, but in the end, I knew my parents would help me out if I didn’t receive the full-ride deal. Does that mean I am obligated to a “soul-crushing” job? The article “My Parents Paid For My Education – Does That Mean I Need A “Soul-Crushing” Job?”, written by Chuck Klosterman, brought up more of an ethical issue with college students. At first, I was surprised that this is really an issue for some of my own peers. My mother has been a huge motivation to me all of my life – constantly trying to better herself and working towards her dreams. She always said that the most important thing is to work hard, especially in school, because it will all pay off. There was no push towards a specific “soul-crushing” career. As long as I worked hard in school, she said she would take care of my school bill. Granted, my situation is most likely different from other students. Growing up, my mother was a registered nurse, who later went to school to become an acute care nurse practitioner. Seeing how she touched so many lives in so many different ways made me realize that I wanted to become a doctor. In order to make sure that is what I actually wanted to do, I have been job shadowing different physicians and have different mentors. With all of the work I have done, and will have to complete, in order to follow my dreams, it may seem like a “soul-crushing” experience, but I know the ultimate goal will be worth it in the end. This article helped me become more aware of maybe the struggles that some students may face. In my case, I want to be a doctor, so once I (hopefully) graduate from medical school, I will have a soul-crushing job--I will have "succeeded". I will have a job that is in high-demand, pays extremely well, and also has numerous benefits. However, that profession is not made for everyone. Other students may be conditioned by their teachers or parents to go to college for a career that also makes great money and earns respect. These students may go to a university day dreaming more about to luxuries they will have moreso than the difference they will make, or having a job they will love. That is one of the issues that bothered me the most about this article. Did these students feel obligated to take the hard courses required for those jobs? Did they believe that the courses they were taking were unrelated to the job they were going to be taking? If these students didn’t care of the courses they were enrolled in, they may have been able to not only save their parents money, but also to save time. They may have wasted years trying to earn a degree to only work a minimal wage job or even have to go back to school. In that case, would the parents feel obligated to pay for the schooling then, too? Or would the students have the heart to ask them? This article was an interesting read for a student like myself that has solely made it through college based off of a collection of small scholarships and my parents funds.
With all of the stipulations with financial aid, the student loans option was essentially nonexistent. The scholarships I earned definitely put a small dent in my school bill, but the keyword is “small”. I will admit-I definitely depended on my parents to get me to where I am in school. With that, I definitely felt obligated to get good grades and make up for that ridiculous bill they received before every semester. With that, I understand why some students felt as if they had to work for a job they knew might
