Tuesday, August 26, 2008
My family was always lower middle class, I guess. My father worked as a long haul truck driver until 1975, when he quit and we operated a dairy farm. It was never very successful and there was never extra money for things like health insurance, visits to the dentist, clothes, and the like. I wore hand-me-downs and candy and pop were luxuries we would get every once in a while. My parents had a black-and-white television until the mid-1980s. We heated our house with a woodstove and so on.
I escaped to college with scholarships, financial aid, and some loans. At first I struggled because I had gone to poor quality schools from 4th grade on. In Michigan at that time schools were funded by local property taxes, and poorer areas had less money and usually voted down any tax increases. So I had a crappy education. It wasn't until my second semester sophomore year at U of Michigan that a teaching assistant sat me down and explained how I should be writing papers. After that I had an almost straight A average (got a B in Spanish 102 though).
Listening to Michele Obama talk about her childhood reminded me of my own, the struggles we went through. The main difference was that my father never encouraged us to succeed, he was psychologically stunted.
I guess what this post is about is the fact that I'd rather have a president who understands hard work, the importance of education, and the importance of helping your children succeed. One of the two candidates has those attributes. The other doesn't.
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I escaped to college with scholarships, financial aid, and some loans. At first I struggled because I had gone to poor quality schools from 4th grade on. In Michigan at that time schools were funded by local property taxes, and poorer areas had less money and usually voted down any tax increases. So I had a crappy education. It wasn't until my second semester sophomore year at U of Michigan that a teaching assistant sat me down and explained how I should be writing papers. After that I had an almost straight A average (got a B in Spanish 102 though).
Listening to Michele Obama talk about her childhood reminded me of my own, the struggles we went through. The main difference was that my father never encouraged us to succeed, he was psychologically stunted.
I guess what this post is about is the fact that I'd rather have a president who understands hard work, the importance of education, and the importance of helping your children succeed. One of the two candidates has those attributes. The other doesn't.
