Example Of Narrative Essay About High School Life

Improved Essays
Quotation – “In 2010, the national unemployment rate for people sixteen to twenty-four with only a high-school diploma was 24.6 percent, compared to a rate of 8 percent for the college educated” (Hymowitz, Carroll, Wilcox, and Kaye 2013:23).
I became a college student at nearly forty-one years old, because I found I could no longer find a job without a college degree. I have also found that I am not alone. Several of the people that I went to high school with have also become first-time college students in the last few years. My parents were not in a position to send me to college and at the time a high school diploma was enough to find a job with a living wage. A couple of years after I graduated I found a job I liked and settled in. I worked my way up and by my mid-twenties was making enough to support myself comfortably. When I was thirty-five the company closed and I found it difficult to find a job that paid enough for me to support myself. I went from a job where I was making almost fifteen dollars an hour to a job making less than ten dollars an hour. Then the recession started and I was laid off and could not find a job at all. After being unemployed for more than a year I finally realized that I was going to have to get a college degree in order to survive. I cannot imagine trying to do all of this and have a family to take care of, so I can understand why many people postpone marriage until they have finished college. Question – Are the differences between the upper and middle class just financial? There is obviously a financial gap between the socio-economic classes, but when looking at the female cohorts in the study I found myself wondering if that was the only issue. The data gathered about the Great Crossover tells us that women that are college educated are not a part of the event (Hymowitz et al. 2013:8). On the other hand, women from Middle America are delaying marriage, but still having children at the age they would have previously (Hymowitz et al. 2013:7). The study looks at the reason marriage is delayed from a financial stand point and the data supports the theory that marriage is being delayed for financial reasons. However, the reason that Middle American women are having children before marriage is not really explained. The authors of study do point to the changing acceptability of having a child out of wedlock and idea that marriage is no longer considered necessary to have a child in today’s world (Hymowitz et al. 2013:26). But this does not explain why the trend of having children prior to marriage is not happening across all economic classes and education levels. I believe that the changing economic environment that Middle Americans find themselves in could be altering class culture and family expectations. Middle class families see college as something that is important, but parents often struggle to pay tuition for their children (Seccombe 2012:59).
…show more content…
One of the main reasons people used to marry for was to start a family, but the authors of Knot Yet note that “it is increasingly viewed as a relic of the past” (Hymowitz et al. 2013:8). It is not surprising that the marriage and parenthood are no longer as connected as they once were, many adults today either grew up in households that did not have both parents or knew someone who did (Hymowitz et al. 2013:26). While I can understand why the young adults of today believe that children are not a reason for marriage it also worries me. We are already seeing an increase in unwed mothers and the idea that marriage and kids are not connected indicates that the number will continue to rise. The growing independence of women has also changed the reasons that they marry. In the past women were not able to support themselves financially and that has changed, especially for women with college degrees. During that time women often married for financial security, but now that are searching for the right person (Hymowitz et al. 2013:34). The fact that women are able to marry on their own terms and marry someone they believe is right for them is a significant

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The first issue that Matthews presents is the fact that over the past four decades, the ordinary high school graduate along with the lowest twenty-five percent generally have similar salaries when working the same jobs. This fact could disappoint a teenager looking forward to pursuing a college degree in order to earn a higher salary and make them question their choices. However, the value of a college degree has increased for everyone, including the bottom twenty five percent of earners, as a result of the liquidation of “high-paying blue collar jobs.” (Matthews). This increase in value still does not take away the fact that someone with a degree does not make more money than someone without one.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation.” (Henig) People used to get married in their late teens or early twenties. My grandmother, for example got married at 18, my mom at 23. In today’s society, people aren’t getting married until their late twenties, or early thirties. My two eldest brothers are 24 and neither of them are even looking for a serious relationship yet.…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She writes, “In 1970, 16 percent of Americans ages 25 to 29 had never been married; today that’s true of an astonishing 55 percent of the age group.” By using strong statistical evidence to support her claim, Hymowitz strengthens her article and has made it more…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We view “college as a job” that gives substantial earnings returns to a college degree, irrespective of occupation, whether an individual is an insurance agent or a rocket scientist. This is not true because there are people with high degrees, like a PhD or a computer programmer, who have lost their jobs to layoffs. So having a college degree does not guarantee “substantial returns,” as Richard Vedder summarizes in his article, “For Many, College Isn’t Worth It." Vedder thinks the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are fairly accurate and that college is not worth it for everyone because we are all created differently. An impartial understanding of the information is that school is justified, despite all the trouble, for some huge number of youngsters, but is a significantly more financially dangerous…

    • 1046 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When I moved to Springfield Township from Cheltenham Township, I really despised the sudden change. I disliked almost everything about it but what I did not know at the time is that by my senior year I would eventually love this school as I molded it into a place that I wanted to be at. During the end of my freshmen year, I found myself with a new view of how I was going to cultivate at Springfield Township High School. After meeting a valuable presence that will have forever leave an imprint on me, I decided that I needed to get involved with school to become apart of it. From that moment, the following year, I signed up for the Academic Team meanwhile continuing the Word Language Club which I had joined Freshmen Year and Girl Scouts which…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In our current economic situation almost everyone has to worry about money, whether that is for: groceries, the mortgage, rent, or in our scenario, schooling. With the cost of getting a higher education being so high today will it pay out in the long run? You don’t want to waste four years going to a school that will set you back farther than you want. Possibly even get a degree that will not help you secure yourself a stable financial future. In an article titled, The Rising Cost of Not Going to College by the Pew research center, one of the statistics it shows talks about how most college graduates, who are working full time, earn about $17,500 more per year than other participants who only have a high school diploma.…

    • 2068 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Houston, Texas; surrounded by sweaty strangers, stomach stuffed with roast beef sandwich, and I listened to the band Waters for the first time. April, resembling preceding months, had been miserable. But as I stood there listening to the song "Mom & Dads", the concert grew beyond just a fun time; it became an escape from the past year. Purchasing the band's CD became my heart's only desire and money was no object; I'd listen to that one song over and over as it became the soundtrack to regaining control of my life.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    People will sometimes determine that the cost of college is too much and not worth it. Students who do look at college are left to discover on their own with their parents how they are going to afford college if they decide to go. It can seem like universities are holding a person’s freedom to learn hostage unless they pay the fee to attend. College today shouldn’t be considered an alternative to working, but a necessity to further one’s own personal knowledge and also have a better chance at getting a career in a field that’s enjoyable to the student. In the article “College Free for All?” it says, The average male high school dropout might earn $24,000 a year.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hi there, Don’t feel intimidated. I've been there before - while I might not have attended college yet, many of my peers are exceptionally intelligent and often I feel left behind in the dust by their abilities. I'm not the brightest kid in my class by far - but my experience suggests that there's more to the story than just struggling with the knowledge of one's own imperfections. No one is ever fully perfect - we aren’t made this way, and I'd be thankful that we aren't. Consider this: if one was perfect - smart, beautiful, friendly, kind, if they had a good home, rich and nice parents - you know, whatever the mind can think of that can be labeled as "perfect" - if they had everything that we see as desirable, would they not stop striving for more?…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    .The Blurred view. Personal Narrative By:Dr.Stefan Stojanovic We ran out.…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “I am sick of waiting for you. You are the same piece of trash as your father, you should have never been born.” It is another day of my grandmother driving me home from school. I sit quietly as she yells at me for being late and making her wait; though in reality, it has only been a few seconds since school has ended. My grandmother, a stout 75 year old woman, has been the source of my childhood nightmares from the moment I could understand her.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the current society that we currently live in today, we are judged by the way we look, the way we act, and where we come from. But most importantly, we are judged by our education level, as well as how much money you make. To me, money is just a number; what is most important is what I am capable of achieving with a degree in my hand and knowledge in my head. I come from a small immediate family of 3, neither my mother or my father had any intentions to further their education after high school. My father, coming from a small town in Mexico, had a mindset that working right after high school was his main priority.…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    High School Transformed Imagine it is 1985 and you are helping the high school football team steal a statue’s foot from the school of your homecoming rivals. The reason the football team is sawing off the foot and stealing it is to burn it at the homecoming bonfire. Now let us fast-forward to present day. Imagine what would happen to your high school football team if you all decided to steal a statue’s foot from your homecoming rivals this year.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The bell rings and class begins. “Boys please leave the room so I can speak privately to the girls,” I hear before my teacher begins math class. The boys file out of the room one by one as I wait quietly at my desk. Once the last boy leaves the room, my teacher shuts the door behind her and turns to face the class, “Ladies, please kneel in the aisle next to your desk.” I look around and watch as the other girls begin to get out of their chairs to kneel beside their desks.…

    • 1927 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    University of Central Arkansas, located in Conway, Ar. Over twenty-six thousand students attend this school, and I am one of them. As I was in my final days of high school I became anxious. I was going to be moving to a new city and would have to make new friends. I prepared myself all summer for this drastic change, and before I knew it move-in day was here!…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics