Three Miles In This American Life Course Analysis

Born and raised by a single mother in East Los Angeles, my perception of going to college was narrow. In my community, college was viewed as an option as opposed to the next step in life. Most students who graduated from my high school either began working or started a family. College was not viewed as a necessity and instead, was seen as a privilege, or a luxury. Students from my area were not encouraged to go to college and in most cases, lacked the knowledge,financial, and emotional support that would otherwise drive them towards attending or even applying to college. About 80% of students graduated from my high school, but only about 20% ended up attending a four-year university. My high school had a scarce amount of resources; limited in staff, teachers, materials, classes, and opportunities that other schools had. Despite the fact that my high school was low-income, many outside programs supported students in guiding them to a path that would involve becoming educated. Similarly to the episode of “Three Miles” in This American Life, my story is centered on disadvantaged, inter-city school education. Throughout the course my life I was told that I would not amount to much, and very little was expected of me. However my determination, dedication …show more content…
There were AP classes, but they were far from advanced. My school also lacked resources and when I needed help, help was not always available. I looked down every avenue for guidance and support in hopes that I could nourish my dreams of going to college. My junior year of high school I started to get involved in order to boost my self-confidence. I joined ASB, did community service, and became a college peer counselor. I continued to build my confidence and began to participate in a series of college preparatory programs. These programs guided me through the college application process and I became confident in my acceptance into a