I really appreciate this being said by Jim. We have a large number of first generation college students at our university. My awareness of their unique situations has increased in the 4 years I've been here. I'd honestly never before thought much of it due to ignorance and my personal upbringing (both my family and that of nearly all of my friends). When I first heard that one common unique problem of first generation college students is resistance from their family about getting a college education I was caught completely off guard, it stunned me. I was raised by parents who both had advanced degrees (two J.D.s and an M.S.). Getting a bachelors degree was the minimal expected standard for me. To hear of youngsters whose parents didn't encourage and support their child going to college surprised me. I came to understand that there are feeling of threat that the child will become of a different culture and no longer love and respect their family is a major aspect of the parent's concerns (the child is becoming a member of an outgroup).
This thing called education is not just transformative of an individual. It gets passed on and spread widely yielding the real power of it. The individual level analysis to find cost-effectiveness is, IMO, failing to account for the mass effects of having an educated society. As the old saying goes, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." Paul C Bernhardt Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD, USA pcbernhardt[at]frostburg[d0t]edu On Oct 23, 2011, at 6:31 PM, Jim Clark wrote: <snips> > Unfortunately, people often look at the > relationship between parental and child education in a negative light > (i.e., advantaged being advantaged), without realizing that the parent > (or their parent) may be the first of their lineage to advance to higher > education. That is, education may be the gift that keeps on giving, > even to future generations. > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=13611 or send a blank email to leave-13611-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
