Comments on: Mental Monday: (Kind Of) Great Expectations http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/mental-monday-kind-of-great-expectations/ A Postmodern Take on Mommy Blogging Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:19:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lucy http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/mental-monday-kind-of-great-expectations/#comment-2184 Lucy Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:43:45 +0000 http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/?p=3040#comment-2184 I found the negative comments on the last post interesting. I mean, really. Since when is hoping your child gets a college education a bad thing?? I want my child to have the best, happiest life possible and the more education he has the easier that will be. I don’t want him to struggle to find a minimum wage job because he didn’t go to college. Will I love him less if that’s how things go? No! But as the person who more than anything wants the best for him I hope he chooses college! I found the negative comments on the last post interesting. I mean, really. Since when is hoping your child gets a college education a bad thing?? I want my child to have the best, happiest life possible and the more education he has the easier that will be. I don’t want him to struggle to find a minimum wage job because he didn’t go to college.

Will I love him less if that’s how things go? No! But as the person who more than anything wants the best for him I hope he chooses college!

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]]> By: Cheryl http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/mental-monday-kind-of-great-expectations/#comment-2181 Cheryl Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:33:11 +0000 http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/?p=3040#comment-2181 I never knew that I had an option NOT to attend college. It was just expected of me, just like it was expected I’d brush my teeth twice a day and, you know, inhale and exhale on a regular basis. My parents had high expectations about education and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We have started college savings plans for our kids and I hope they want to go somewhere that’s not right down the street – and that they live in a dorm and experience being independent, that they make their own choices and learn the consequences. Our job along the way is to prepare them to be responsible human beings but also curious ones, interested in their world and their place in it. I never knew that I had an option NOT to attend college. It was just expected of me, just like it was expected I’d brush my teeth twice a day and, you know, inhale and exhale on a regular basis. My parents had high expectations about education and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We have started college savings plans for our kids and I hope they want to go somewhere that’s not right down the street – and that they live in a dorm and experience being independent, that they make their own choices and learn the consequences. Our job along the way is to prepare them to be responsible human beings but also curious ones, interested in their world and their place in it.

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]]> By: the dude http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/mental-monday-kind-of-great-expectations/#comment-2157 the dude Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:17:29 +0000 http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/?p=3040#comment-2157 Well, I'm happy to be the first to comment on this one. I find interesting the debate over whether expecting children to attend college is just too much. I'm not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. Do I expect The Monkey to attend college? I certainly hope he does and might be somewhat disappointed if he does not. College or no, I certainly will have continuing expectations from him, though. I don't think a switch flips at 18. Legal responsibility may suddenly and abruptly shift, but not the responsibility for being a good person, a good citizen, a contributor and participant in the world, and someone with respect for himself and others. I think the transition into adulthood is one best shepherded in a college environment (or a surrogate, such as an art or performance or trade school). The time spent away from home (even if just down the street) and among new peers from different walks of life is among the most important growth experiences one can have. I double-majored at a very good university and then went to a very good law school, and I still maintain with no exaggeration whatsoever that, during those periods, I learned as much OUTSIDE of class as I did in class. While professors challenged my belief system (helping shape it in some ways and reaffirm it in others), the interactions with and exposure to students in and out of class taught the real lessons. No matter how open-minded our parents might be (and mine were quite), we grow up with necessarily limited and myopic views into the world -- those shaped at home and by our immediately surrounding environs. College opens the door so that you no longer need to peek through the little keyhole. So, yeah, I would prefer that The Monkey go to college. I want him to have fun and learn and return home on vacations telling us all about the new things he's learned, about and his personal growth and shifting beliefs, and about that cutie he's got his eye on. Those are experiences the lack of which I would find disappointing. But what would most disappoint me would be to learn that he decided not to push himself, to settle for less than he can be, to be relieved of the obligation to continue to be a fine person -- all because he thought we no longer expected him to be and do those things. Well, I’m happy to be the first to comment on this one. I find interesting the debate over whether expecting children to attend college is just too much. I’m not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. Do I expect The Monkey to attend college? I certainly hope he does and might be somewhat disappointed if he does not. College or no, I certainly will have continuing expectations from him, though.

I don’t think a switch flips at 18. Legal responsibility may suddenly and abruptly shift, but not the responsibility for being a good person, a good citizen, a contributor and participant in the world, and someone with respect for himself and others. I think the transition into adulthood is one best shepherded in a college environment (or a surrogate, such as an art or performance or trade school). The time spent away from home (even if just down the street) and among new peers from different walks of life is among the most important growth experiences one can have. I double-majored at a very good university and then went to a very good law school, and I still maintain with no exaggeration whatsoever that, during those periods, I learned as much OUTSIDE of class as I did in class. While professors challenged my belief system (helping shape it in some ways and reaffirm it in others), the interactions with and exposure to students in and out of class taught the real lessons. No matter how open-minded our parents might be (and mine were quite), we grow up with necessarily limited and myopic views into the world — those shaped at home and by our immediately surrounding environs. College opens the door so that you no longer need to peek through the little keyhole.

So, yeah, I would prefer that The Monkey go to college. I want him to have fun and learn and return home on vacations telling us all about the new things he’s learned, about and his personal growth and shifting beliefs, and about that cutie he’s got his eye on. Those are experiences the lack of which I would find disappointing.

But what would most disappoint me would be to learn that he decided not to push himself, to settle for less than he can be, to be relieved of the obligation to continue to be a fine person — all because he thought we no longer expected him to be and do those things.

]]> By: Master Degree in Psychology » Mental Monday: (Kind Of) Great Expectations | Ain't Yo Mama's Blog http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/mental-monday-kind-of-great-expectations/#comment-2142 Master Degree in Psychology » Mental Monday: (Kind Of) Great Expectations | Ain't Yo Mama's Blog Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:15:15 +0000 http://www.aintyomamasblog.com/?p=3040#comment-2142 [...] more here: Mental Monday: (Kind Of) Great Expectations | Ain't Yo Mama's Blog AKPC_IDS += "6296,";Popularity: unranked [...] [...] more here: Mental Monday: (Kind Of) Great Expectations | Ain't Yo Mama's Blog AKPC_IDS += "6296,";Popularity: unranked [...]

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