1. Would have gone on to college....
Yes, I would have gone on to college. Teachers in my younger school years wanted to send me to a school for the gifted, but of course that was a no-no with the folks.
2. Would have graduated college.....
Yes I probably would have graduated college as well.
3. Would have a *great job, earning lots of money* if they had had the opportunity to go to college.
I'm not sure about making *lots* of money, but I would have had a much better job than I have now...an actual career doing what I have talent in (art) instead of just working to keep a roof over my head. I would probably have travelled around the world as well...
4. Saying you were deprived of college is a broad statement. Do you know if your parents had a college fund set up for you? Did you have a secret stash of money you were going use to pay for college?
Why would that be a "broad" statement? My parents had the chance to send me to an real college when I was in the 5th grade (a special program for gifted kids that would've lasted the whole summer) but of course, being hardcore JW's, "steadfastly" refused. If there exists any "stash" or "fund" in THIS family, it would've been set up solely FOR my dad and BY my dad. He's the one who simply had to have brand-new suits for the assemblies while the rest of us picked cucumbers to raise $$$ to buy materials for our homemade outfits. Even today, he refuses to allow satellite cable so my mom can watch more than 2 channels (too deep in the woods for cable service), whilst he lavishes $$$ on fax machines, laptops, and expensive hunting-dog tracking equipment. College fund for US....HA!!!!!
Right before I graduated H.S., I had a couple of teachers who saw my potential in spite of my poor grades and really tried, begged, WANTED to help me attend college in some way...were willing to go to bat for me so I could attend college. But of course, having had drilled into my head that the end was coming soon, I refused--knowing what my parents would say if they found out.
Yes-----I. WAS. DEPRIVED.
5. how were you and your family going to fund your college education?
Please see my above response.
6. Did you take the SAT or ACT?
No. I've never even heard of an ACT.
7. Did you get good to great grades in high school?
My grades were great until I hit H.S. I did well in the subjects that interested me but wasn't motivated enough to try in the classes that were more difficult. Throughout my childhood and teenhood I maintained a fierce, voracious love of reading--just about everything I could get my hands on (age-appropriate material be damned, I didn't care). I learned to read very early, even then I understood most of what I read, and was still ahead of my school peers, even in H.S.--I'd read encyclopedias, dictionaries, borrow textbooks from older kids to read, etc. But I read for pleasure and escape, not because I was trying to get into college.
8. Were your parents focused on academics and did they really push you to get all you could from the educational system?
My parents were so convinced that 1975 was "the end" that they kept me out of kindergarten that year. I don't suffer the consequences from that now, but I had an EXTREMELY TRAUMATIC time starting school--I was basically put on a bus one day out of the blue, with no explanation. In addition to extreme hysteria at the very sight of a school bus (had to be physically restrained inside to keep from fighting my way out of the bus) I was extremely withdrawn and did terribly in the 1st two years of school.
Education has always been, and always will, be dead-last in my parents' eyes. We were allowed to drift along in school, from the very beginning. My mom would either let us eschew school projects or scramble around throwing some shit together to pass for a school project---then call and "explain" to the teacher that we were JW's and needed special consideration for our schoolwork. When you are raised from the beginning to view education as dead-last and college as "something worldly folks did", and are expected to remain at home working at grocery stores and pioneering, you really don't see the importance of academics.
Even now, you should hear my father's opinions on universities. Just because 1975 has come and gone doesn't mean that my parents don't live like the end is imminent. We grew up with that mentality and they maintain it to this day. I used to, as a teen, plan to kill myself before the year 1999 because I was sure that the end would occur and knew I was too afraid to see it come. Why, I don't recall ever seeing any college attendees NOR graduates in my entire former congregation. And guess what? IT'S STILL LIKE THAT TODAY.
9. Were you prepared to go to a community college, take out loans, ask for grants, work to fill out the financial picture; all to pay for your education?
No, I wasn't. Even though I "drifted away" in my very early 20's, it still took me a good 6-7 years to rid myself of the notion that "people like us" weren't "supposed" to go to college.
A final thought--I am sad to say, I don't think my parents really care at all. Why my dad as much as told us (when we were teens getting in trouble trying to see boys) that people like us were NOT going to stop him from getting into "God's Kingdom."
