Is Education an Old-Fashioned Concept?

I have said this plenty of times, I love when people are doing good for themselves. In this economy, and gas being almost $5/gallon, I am in no position to judge anyone getting their paper. While I would never look down on anyone who works at a fast food restaurant, I would criticize if someone who had oodles of potential (and the qualifications to back it up) decided to work at McDonald's as a way of getting out of a high-pressure career.

In my honest opinion, I'm so sick and tired of people making excuses why they aren't successful or educated. Although I'm not ”balling out of control,” I have the money to do what I need to do while also having some left over to splurge more than a couple times a week if I want. My mom put me through college almost by herself (since my dad got incarcerated at the beginning of my sophomore year of college) before she decided to pursue her own dreams. When I was younger, we didn't have much money either. I had FiFa's (not Fila's), a few pairs of Airwalks, and a couple pairs of jeans that needed to be washed every couple of days. There were days I wore my cousin's clothes to school, which would have been great if he weren't a boy. I could have easily blamed our economic situation for me not completing high school or college. Instead, it encouraged me to do my best in school. Hell, my parents almost had to force me to go outside and play with the other kids on Friday nights. I loved school.

Nowadays, it seems there are less parents pushing their child to go to school. If their child doesn't want to go to school, they don't have to do so. If their son is 6 foot-something, they place a basketball in their hands and push them to the nearest basketball court. They'll scrape up the money for freshman year (if they don't get an athletic scholarship) in hopes of them being drafted after that. If he doesn't get that tall, give them a microphone and a radio. If Soulja Boy can do it, surely their son can too. As for the daughters, her choices are marry rich, be a nurse or be a model. If she meets a rich guy, pop out his kid either before or after marriage. Either way, she's set for life. Nursing isn't the only career for women. Yes, women are “supposed to be” caregivers and nurturers, but to me, all it is is trying to mold her into someone's mother until she's ready to be a mother to her own children. As for modeling, your daughter is beautiful and all, but all you're teaching her in encouraging her to be a model, is that looks are everything. If my daughter wanted to be a model, I'd push her to go to school before anything because why? She'll know how to handle possible disappointment and she'll always have an education to fall back on. If she makes it, she'll know what to do when a contract with tons of numbers is shoved in her face. She won't sell her soul for her manager to earn 70% of her earnings.

Has no one informed the youth that being smart isn't a bad thing? Not everyone is cut out to be a rapper, athlete, model or nurse. I mean, what's wrong with being a 6'8 lawyer or doctor?

♥P.