The condition of education

At a very young age I realised I had a much furthered interest in academic study than my parents ever had the opportunity or the desire to pursue.

When I was in primary school, this wasn't an issue; however when I entered secondary school, they very quickly became aware that they were getting out of their depth. They couldn't help me with quadratic equations or tell me the number of electrons in a carbon atom and had no idea who Lenny was or just how much he loved that rabbit.

At the age of 12, I was on my own. There would be no further academic help offered to me at home. Not because they didn't want to of course but because they couldn't. This didn't strike me as strange. People's parents worked and some were smarter than others and some weren't.

When I came to university though, I discovered that people's parents were more academically educated and had even been to university. And not only that but they had an actual vested interest in what their kids studied. My friend studies the same English degree as me and goes home to her both graduated parents and has full conversations, discussions, lengthy, heated arguments about the likes of Brontë and Dickens. How fantastic! To be greeted with enthusiasm and questions and opinions rather than a blank stare, a passing comment and a change of subject.

I don't know how many people educated above their parents feel like their skills aren't appreciated, or worse, felt like their education is perhaps useless, a waste of money and time, when one could be earning money and moving out and "having a life".

In July I will become the first female to graduate on my father's side and the only person to ever go to university, let alone graduate, on my mother's. It's new for them; the opportunities to study are much greater now and the social factors of generation and location mean that this is the first time lots of young people have ventured into further study rather than stretching to a vocational course at college.

Disclaimer: this is not a post slating those who chose not to go into further study. In fact, coming out the other side of university in a few months has given me a fresh, tired perspective that casts a hefty £17,000 debt over my last three years. Maybe I didn't need a degree. Maybe I didn't need to study the Renaissance period or Samuel Beckett or what makes a good preface. I too am weighing up whether it was worth it.

Regardless, it doesn't mean that the potential to further myself academically wasn't there. Perhaps I'm being a brat. I was supported financially to do this. Perhaps, intellectually, I should have realised that I am still on my own.