Education is for me and my son

I’m 20 years old. I am enrolled in nine hours this spring, and I’m an aspiring journalist. I work about 20 hours a week, and I have an 8-month-old son who is the light of my life.  My day-to-day life for the past eight months has been a constant battle for pursuing some type of higher education.

“It’s your fault,” people say. “You did this to yourself!”

I can hear my mother’s voice ringing in my head, “You made your bed, now lie in it.” Not to make my mother sound horrid —she’s been great support in helping me achieve my education goals.

But really, why add more bags under my eyes from lack of sleep? It’s that glimmer of hope I feel learning something at school.

It feels like a door that has been closed in your face before, then opens slightly for your entrance. It feels like I’m one step closer to reaching some higher version of myself.

Being a young parent, you are often dismissed as a stereotype — a stereotype with 11 kids running around the welfare office, trying to squeeze every penny out of the government, while driving a 2013 Lexus with 24-inch spinning rims.

I know, because everyone looked at me that way when I passed along the news I was pregnant. The anticipation was that I was a young, soon-to-be parent subjected to failure in the eyes of society. In reality, my life does not involve 11 children or hassling with the welfare office, or a Lexus, either, for that matter.

Nonetheless, the chaos of reality in trying to provide for a child and being a parent only motivates me more to stay in school.

I feel there is something better that will come from an education.

Although studying is much harder now — I squeeze in about 20 minutes of studying at home during my son’s naps.

During an interview Wednesday, a teacher said she had learned it was OK to be selfish with your education. She explained how it helps your family, but, most important, it is for you.

Thus, I know something better will come from my education. and I’m determined to stay in school to achieve a higher version of myself, and become a better person for my son.