Somewhat discouraged in education pertaining to employers

[Yesi]

Hi there I am new to this forum, in fact this is my first post. What brought me here was confusion, disappointment, and a little bit of frustration in me due to my lack of knowledge on how to get somewhere or do something in life. I am twenty years old and a single mother to a beautiful boy whom is three years old, yes I was a teen mother, yet I pursued to get my high school diploma and am attending college to acquire my Bachelors in Elementary Education. What has me so frustrated is the fact that I have to work a part time job to get money for me and my son, and I am attending school. In between being a full time mother, school and work I become stressed and feel as if its almost impossible to have time for my own. I am happy with the fact that I am keeping strong and doing my best for my child as well as for our future, but when I see that there are people that can get further in life without an education I feel as if i am just wasting some part of my time and time that can be useful for me and my child.

 

I have a friend two years older than I am, who dropped out her sophomore year in high school when she became pregnant of her second child. She never went back to school and started working full time jobs in order to keep up with her and her children's expenses. Her boyfriend is in jail so she has to provide for her kids, yet recently she got hired at a job where she got paid three times higher than I do as an in-training dental assistant. She had been working there for about a year when she decided to apply at my job, and as she got called for an interview she was told she was over qualified and they offered her a higher position than mine, even without a high school diploma. She rejected the job offer to work at an optometrist office due to a higher pay offer. Now, this makes me happy for her, that she can make it far, yet what i find disappointing is that how is it that someone who doesn't go through all of the high school courses, all of those years of studying, exams, homework, projects and all of the stress we all go through in high school and college can get even further than someone who graduated with hard effort.

 

I simply just don't understand if going to college and completing school courses is worth it on the long run. It seems as if any one can get far in life as long as you have 'luck' and get the right employment to fill in your resume. As I said I am going for Bachelors in Elementary Education which takes four years to complete so in this time I really work hard to make time to spend time with my son and have my job, and seeing this really makes me feel as if im just wasting my time going to school. Maybe Im wrong I just wrote this to get an advice or anything that can make me see this situation a little more clearer.

[Jetta]

This is why people say life isn't fair. Some of us have to work hard and others are just given the silver spoon. The only thing I can think it would be is that karma is real and if you don't get in the life you deserve it you get in another.

 

But really keep working hard, eventuall it'll pay off with things like job security.

[Fudgie]

Life is all about choices. I'm not sure what happened when you were 17, but you made a choice to stick it out and be a teen mom. Life is hard for people who choose to do that and I think it's to be expected as a natural consequence of having a child so young. When you do that, you're often not able to complete your education on time, and you'll have to work more to provide for a kid on top of that.

 

I don't know about your work history but it sounds like your friend got far because she got right into full time jobs and I suspect it's her experience and track record that make her very desirable to employers. If you are further along in your degree, you may as well finish it up and try to get work but if you're not that far, you may want to re-evaluate. I suggest to people to look into healthcare if they want a job and don't mind cleaning up bodily fluids and dealing with sick/angry people. Most places are really hurting for even basic hospital workers and the pay really isn't that bad. You could pursue nursing or just work at the entry level, or get a certification and maybe become a sort of technician.