Where would you be without your education? This question is so overlooked sometimes. Have you ever genuinely just sat down and thought where you would be without your education? I know I haven’t. So, I’ve decided today to really ponder on this question.

I’m going to start with kindergarten because that’s where your education really begins. I was fortunate enough to attend a public kindergarten not once, but twice. Yes, I did kindergarten twice! Why? Because I would have been drastically younger then my entire grade if I was never held back. Some people are never lucky enough to ever get a public education and here I am complaining about an extra year of ABC’s!

But seriously, where would I be without my education? I can tell you for a fact I wouldn’t be writing this. I wouldn’t be sitting in my college library about to finish my freshman year. I am here doing those things because of my education. Coming from a relatively small, wealthy town (To clarify the town itself is wealthy, I am sadly your average poor college student!), it was always a given I would go to college. My high school's graduation rate was almost perfect, just under 100%.

We are given college planning throughout high school with classes dedicated to college applications and scholarships. It wasn’t until my first semester of college I was truly given an opportunity to see how thankful I was to have attended such an amazing public school system for the past 14 years.

I walked into my freshman year writing class unaware of what to expect. We began to watch the documentary “Waiting for Superman” directed by Davis Guggenheim. It showed the flaws of the American public education system and the struggle parents go through to get their children into private schools and charter schools. There are public schools with graduation rates that barely see half of its freshman graduate senior year. Those high schools are known as drop out factories.

So where would I be if I attended one of those high schools? Would I have ever wanted to push myself to pursue higher education? Would I have even graduated? I guess we will never know what could have been.

Even just by attending college, I have heard what other public schools are like and it has led me to feel a sense of pride and overall gratitude. I am so incredibly blessed to have been given an amazing public education.

If you have an extra minute, just use it to think about your education. Would you be where you are right now if you had never been given an education? Would you live where you live right now? Have the job you currently have? My education has changed my life for the better and I know it has changed so many others lives as well.