A Bump in the Road

All I Really Need to Know Is NOT What I Learned in Kindergarten
         
         I did not speak English until I attended my first day of kindergarten class at Pine Creek Elementary. Both my parents had migrated from Laos during 1980 and 1981 and weren't very fluent with English themselves. So when I entered the classroom for my first day of school, I was blown away with this new and interesting language. I began to pick up English and started to speak it to my parents at home. Soon, I found that my best and favorite subject was English. I began to love writing and reading literature. As I progressed in English, I was able to help my parents with their grammar. My parents were proud of how much I have learned, and I felt that this was my gift to them for bringing me into the world, specifically country, where I could learn with such freedom and the passion. After seeing how much English, itself, has helped me so much in my education, my social life and even my parents' lives, I decided to dedicate myself to English literature along with the many doors the language has opened for me. During my junior year in high school, my major for college had become clear. I was going to major in English education and perhaps minor in ESL for students who are going through the same experience I had once gone through.
*****************************************************************          
         That was part of an essay I wrote in high school for a scholarship application. I ended up getting the scholarship, however I've come to realize that that paragraph above is not the entire truth. Yes; I have majored in English, but the process of what I have learned throughout my high school and college career cannot be put into a nutshell like that anymore. Yes; kindergarten was the beginning of my English speaking chapter of my life, but my life struggles and epiphanies throughout my path of education were not a hop, skip and a week just like kindergarten was and I am still on the path of learning from life.
         Over the years, I've read an abundance of literature that has touched my soul. I read these stories and wonder what it would be like to be the authors who write down such beautiful words that others read and also take to heart. I've learned philosophy, humanities, sociology and psychology through my readings. I've been enlightened with the courses I've taken, especially during college. I like to think that I've become an intellectual over the years. When I think back to days of learning the alphabet with my parents, it blows my mind that I never knew just how much I was going to learn through the experiences still yet to come.
         Just like in my favorite novels, I've triumphed over conflicts in my life: internal, with friends and family, and with the world. However, there are times that I didn't have a victory in a battle of life and I've learned from them. I've been able to connect with others. I've learned how to hurt. I've learned that I am different but that my being different also is a benefit to the world. I've learned how to have justified opinions. I've learned about my own prejudices and have tried to eliminate them from my mindset. I've learned that others may not always agree with me and have come accept that.
         But there is a major bump in the road that sticks out in my life. As my life was arching with rich concepts and ideals through my gain of knowledge, I began to see a gap between my parents and me. I noticed it around the end of my first semester in college. My parents and I began to see differently from each other. They had a hard time accepting the fact that they were no longer the only mentors in my life. I began to feel that they were ignorant because they were still holding onto tradition. They began to feel that I've become a snob with "high education." It was painful. I knew that they wanted me to be a scholarly individual with a college degree more than anything. My father dropped out after 10th grade because he had just arrived in America and it was too hard for him. He tells me every day that that is still one of his biggest regrets in life. My mother went to an adult education school because she was the eldest daughter and had other responsibilities that were more important than high school at that point in her life. All three of us knew that I was the one to make them proud. We dedicated our lives to my having a better life. There was no way in hell that I was going to wind up working in a factory. Education was the answer out. Yet, we were all annoyed with how much I've personally grown while I was away at school. I came back a different person. I was not as naive anymore and we all knew it. That issue was never something we fought over. It was just an understanding. We were willing to pull through the struggles in order to gain success.
         Even after graduating college, I still feel anticipation, stress, happiness, sadness. However, I still believe that education is the answer out - out into the light. I often like to emphasize in my writing that what you do with an education of any form is a big factor of what defines an individual. I hope to be one of those people that touch people like my favorite authors touched me. A mere creation made out of paper and ink can affect so many people in so many ways. Like the characters in the novels I read, I become enlightened with everyday lessons. I sure didn't learn everything in kindergarten.