I think it also says a lot about his relationship with his own parents, and his children, tbh.
Anecdote time! I knew, from the time I was five, that College Was A Requirement. My mother started working right out of high school and she was, by the time I came around, aware that she'd gotten damn lucky with her job (at a big tech company) without a college degree and I would not be able to pull the same trick. (I'm the first person in my mother's family to go to college; most went for union jobs, or the military, or military then union.) Dad, on the other hand, comes from 100% a college-educated white-collar family.
When I was seventeen and doing my college apps, I got into Northwestern early decision, and also got accepted University of Denver (with substantial scholarship offerings). I specifically told my parents that the smart financial choice was for me to go to U Denver (we were somewhat well off.) My mom said "but that isn't where you want to go." This is true; I wanted NU. She said, "when we made it clear that college was as required as high school, we also committed to paying for that. You held up your part of the bargain, which was doing well enough in school to get in where you chose. Now we do ours." Now, obviously, this was only possible because we were, as said, reasonably well off, and I was an only child.
Now, as it happens, my particular combo of mental illnesses and the specific structure of my brain works brilliantly in an academic setting, at least as far as I went (had I tried for grad school I"d likely have had much more difficulty, at least until I got the mental illness treated.) But, had I hit some kind of massive issue as Mae does, and had to come home? I would have had a very similar conversation with my parents.
I think I'm both super terrified by his perspective, and also sad that he can't see that his choices aren't for everyone.
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Anecdote time! I knew, from the time I was five, that College Was A Requirement. My mother started working right out of high school and she was, by the time I came around, aware that she'd gotten damn lucky with her job (at a big tech company) without a college degree and I would not be able to pull the same trick. (I'm the first person in my mother's family to go to college; most went for union jobs, or the military, or military then union.) Dad, on the other hand, comes from 100% a college-educated white-collar family.
When I was seventeen and doing my college apps, I got into Northwestern early decision, and also got accepted University of Denver (with substantial scholarship offerings). I specifically told my parents that the smart financial choice was for me to go to U Denver (we were somewhat well off.) My mom said "but that isn't where you want to go." This is true; I wanted NU. She said, "when we made it clear that college was as required as high school, we also committed to paying for that. You held up your part of the bargain, which was doing well enough in school to get in where you chose. Now we do ours." Now, obviously, this was only possible because we were, as said, reasonably well off, and I was an only child.
Now, as it happens, my particular combo of mental illnesses and the specific structure of my brain works brilliantly in an academic setting, at least as far as I went (had I tried for grad school I"d likely have had much more difficulty, at least until I got the mental illness treated.) But, had I hit some kind of massive issue as Mae does, and had to come home? I would have had a very similar conversation with my parents.
I think I'm both super terrified by his perspective, and also sad that he can't see that his choices aren't for everyone.