My non-educated family all insisted that I go to college. As of now, I am the only one of my grandparents’ descendents who has a university degree. And that includes the generation after mine (my cousins’ children).

My experience as a teacher has given me a glimpse into other people’s lives that shows me how very fortunate I was to have a supportive family.

You don’t have to believe my anecdotal evidence, but my time working with low-income students has shown me that a surprising number of parents are absolutely dead-set against higher education for their kids. It doesn’t make sense, but a lot of things in the US don’t make sense right now.