Never ending to-do lists

Photograph by Hannah Schultz

For the last two years, I've started almost every day by writing a to-do list. I'm regularly so scatterbrained that if I don't, I tend to forget what I need to do. This semester, more than any other, my to-do lists seem to be never-ending. With mostly upper-division classes, an internship, and an attempt at a "social life", my schedule has turned into a constant balancing act. These lists fill my notebooks, keeping me sane and focused. They give me much needed organization in my currently chaotic life.

However, there was a time when to-do lists and organization had no place in my mind. Transferring to UP my sophomore year brought quite the change in my study habits. When I was in high school, I really didn't care about my education. My grades were...passable, but uninspiring. Frankly, I just didn't believe that I was smart enough to do well, so I didn't try. I got into a cycle of skipping classes and not doing my homework. The worse I did, the more overwhelmed I felt. The more overwhelmed I felt, the more I avoided my problems.

Photograph of Wenatchee High School by Curtis Cronn

Now that I care about my education and feel the support of a small school environment, I've started to succeed. I took UP as a chance to start over and actually make the most of my education. Often I think back and wish I'd taken school seriously when I was younger. However, I'm well aware of the opportunities I still have that are due to my education.

Something we've been discussing in my Social Class and Inequality course is the American school system. The effect an education has on a person's income and future is a pretty clear correlation: the more educated you are, the more opportunities you have. In fact, the desire for a student to attend a prestigious University is so great, many families start preparing as early as pre-school. I'm lucky that I attended a quality public high school, but many kids, particularly in urban areas, are not as fortunate.

According to the documentary Waiting for Superman, "In America right now, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These drop-outs are 8 times more likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty.” It's very clear that the gaps and inequalities in America's public education system need to be fixed. In fact, according to an article by The Cornell Daily Sun, "In 2020, there will be 123 million high-skilled, high-paying jobs in America, but only a projected 50 million citizens will have the technical skills to fill the positions." So what can be done to fix this? Shouldn't we want, no, require, more for our youth? I don't have the answers, but I truly believe that education is power, and this inequality in our country needs to be a priority for our government. 

There are so many factors that attribute to how hard I work in school today. The cost of UP (yikes) + previous academic struggles + a heightened awareness of how fortunate I am results in me feeling an intense drive to make the best of my education. As stressed out as I get, as much as my to-do lists keep piling up, I have a lot to be thankful for.