I thought that I would have a masters in psychology and have my own practice by now. Some of my family threatened me that If I didn’t have good grades that I would end up managing a McDonalds for the rest of my life.

@RedDeerGuy1 What prevented that from happening? What is stopping you from accomplishing it now?

@Pied_Pfeffer I discovered girls. I fell in love, and fell out of love. Then failed out of university. It still is a possibility to become a psychologist; Just takes a little bit longer, and I need to save $50,000 to finish my bachelors degree, and masters.

My parents had no expectations for me. Neither had gone to college, and I was completely out of the loop. I had no idea college was even an option. I wish I had known anything about college.

When I decided to go, I struggled a bit and had to reboot a couple of times. I had to pay for it “on my own” (loans), and was fortunate that cost hadn’t skyrocketed yet. My mother was indifferent to college, and didn’t really know anyone who had gone to college. And my father, who I didn’t live with, sincerely believed that college was an institution designed to brainwash people into becoming communists.

College is so expensive now, and really just serves as a class signifier. The mysteries of future careers is mind boggling. The only expectations I have for my kids is that they work hard enough to give them opportunities to do what they want to do.

My mother, the daughter of immigrants from Mexico, was raised to be as educated as possible. She entered the University of California before World War Two.

My father, the son of immigrants from Scotland, learned Greek and Latin at Loyola High School in Los Angeles in the1930s. He entered UCLA in 1941.

It was expected that we children would attend a four year university, preferaby a University of California campus.

My children were also raised with the goal of attending a university. One graduated from the Cal, the other from Worcester Polytechnic. Both are now pursuing graduate degrees.

I always expected to go to MIT, while my parents urged me to go to UC Berkeley, which is local.
While in High School, my father had a massive heart attack, and was no longer able to work. I also lost all focus on my future, and I couldn’t study.
My education focus wandered while I went to a Junior College, which was nearly free. Eventually, I left school and began working in a blue collar job. There, I was enormously successful.

@product ” And my father, who I didn’t live with, sincerely believed that college was an institution designed to brainwash people into becoming communists.” I guess he was right! :-)

My parents’ expectations and mine were that I would go to college. They both were educated at free NYC colleges, although my Dad didn’t graduate. They paid for it but I had to earn my books and entertainment money through part time jobs. I went to a great liberal arts college which was small and limited socially but with wonderful teachers and courses.

After college, I married and worked as a clerk on a bookmobile then decided to go for a Master’s in Library Science.

@janbb: :)

None. I lived one day at a time.

I was raised to think that attending a four-year college was the obvious next step after high school and no other option really entered my mind. The expectation didn’t come from my parents alone (my parents genuinely didn’t put much pressure on me), but knowing that they had attended Stanford and UC Berkeley and had graduate degrees as well made me feel like I had to follow in their footsteps. And as I mentioned in my answer to that question about growing up near a university, there was significant pressure to attend a four-year college out of high school, as junior college especially was seen as something beneath the people I associated with. In a way my life was more or less on autopilot until the end of college. I was doing what everyone else (parents/older sibling/friends) was doing or did because that’s what you did. I’m not saying any of it was the wrong choice; I loved my time in undergrad, I’m currently in grad school, and I wouldn’t do anything differently. But it’s odd to consider how little agency I exercised at that age and that I didn’t question some of these narratives that maybe should’ve been questioned.

High school was a given but college was optional.

They are considered a liberal brainwashing facility by many in my area.

(Edited)

@KNOWITALL Both degrees were considered a liberal brain-washing?

It was always drilled into my head that I would go to college. My mother and her sisters all went to college, and my cousins went to college.

My grandparents didn’t. My grandfather was very hardworking and successful as a foreman and shift supervisor in a sugar refinery, where he worked for over 40 years, until he retired. He was also a member of a very powerful union. He put his daughters through college and my grandmother didn’t have to work. Those days are over.