? As the most of my peers, I have beenasking myself a question, what is it really I want out of my life Thisquestion has been bothering many people, and not only the college students whoare trying to figure out the path which will lead them to the comfortable life. One might ask, what is that comfort that we all are striving for Is it a stateof mind or is it some unknown world that we are so eager to enter Well, itvaries from person to person, it depends on the life that the person has leftbehind when the decision to go to college was made.
There are several aspectsof our lives that could influence us and the future decisions that well make. The biggest part of our decision making is the way we were raised and theculture we have got used to. Many Americans believe that thesuccess depends on the family background that you have. There are those who saythat if the person was raised in a rich family, all opportunities are availableto them and there is a high! chance t! hat the person will live a comfortablelife.
The same people are saying that if the person was raised in a poor familythere are too many obstacles to overcome and most of the time these barriers onthe way are too hard to cross. On the other hand, there are those people whosay that the America is the land of opportunities and any person could achievehis/her goals if they set their mind to it. It is true that being born in therich family helps a great deal during the course of your life. You are broughtup in the household that provides the best conditions for exploring the worldof knowledge. There are no worries about the basic needs like food, shelter orsecurity, and all the resources are provided thanks to the excessive amount ofmoney. Being rich allows people to worry less about the material things andmore about the fundamentals of the learning and knowledge. Being born in a richfamily also means meeting people and making the contacts earlier in life, whichwill later be helpful in that most difficult step of finding the first job.
There is also the morality, which comes from the conditional learning of theenvironment that person is surrounded by. Person that is surrounded by themorally and financially stable people will adopt that thinking. Another aspectof being born to a rich family is the set example by the surroundings. When people that! you feel close tohave accomplished some things in life it is only natural to want to strive forsomething high in life. Influential people in American society, just like inany other societies have a great deal of appreciation for education andschooling in general. On the other hand, we have a poor family. A person thatwas born to a poor family has been exposed to a lot of worries about financialsituation.
Most likely, the person at the early age had to think how to supporta family or just help them out. Most likely that person will have to work alongwith going to school, of course the job will take away concentration fromschool. There will be a little chance that the person will finish high schoolor even go to college.
The family will show little or no support for the highereducation, because they will look at the short run problems, they need moneynow, not four years from now. Secondly, the person will not be as motivated togo to school of higher education as the person who was born to a rich family. The surrounding of that person does not provide the proper environment for thelogical thinking in terms of long term life goals, because most likely thefamily will live in the area that is consistent with their income.
Meaning thatthe child will never get a chance to see the full meaning of completing thehigher education. To every rule there are always exceptions. There are peoplewho would totally disagree that the opportunities are limited only to the rich. They see world as a much brighter place, the place where any person could reachthe desired goal if he/she want it bad enough.
The programs that governmentoffers to the financially challenged supports every individual that would trytheir best to succeed in this life. That includes such things as financial aid, state and federal scholarships, Educational Opportunity Program, and subsidizedstudent loans. There are various job opportunity programs or internships availableon campus or off campus. These job opportunities have not only monetarybenefits, but also possibility of meeting new people that could affect thefuture employment. There is a lot of evidence to support this view. Lets takefor example the immigrants who come into this country with limited resources. Especially, immigrants from the former Soviet Union had come into this countrywith as much as four hund! red dollars in their pockets, with no knowledge ofEnglish language and no previous experiences in the capitalist world.
Thispeople had little or no time to assimilate to the American culture, but theyknow that it is essential to their future and the future of their children. Theolder generation knows that they will do what ever it takes to put theirchildren through school, even if it takes working late nights. For the most part the immigrants donot go to the restaurants very often, they try to save money by cooking homemeal and limiting the extra expenses, such as entertainment, clothing andvocation. Within a short period of time, in less than three years immigrantfamilies began to receive middle class income. Their children are in school, and most likely they had gone to school as well to obtain a better professionthan the one that pays minimum wage. This is a clear example that it ispossible to achieve something in life for any person in the United States. Thisargument will not be solved until people realize that the excuses are not theeasy way out.
It seems to me that many people would use their family poverty asan excuse for themselves not to make something of their life. To strive for a certain goal and notto loose interest or motivation is the name of the game for the twenty-firstcentury. Only then, the desirable state of mind and your “ pocket” will be achieved. The life that so many people are dreaming of only few stepsaway.;,?
