Talking 'bout my education

This week's Spin Cycle with Gretchen at Second Blooming is on education.  Here in the Nain/T household education is pretty important.  Both T and I were lucky enough to be born into families where we were able to access education, encouraged to read and to learn and continue onto higher education.  I realize not every child is so blessed, and I feel so fortunate for what opportunities I was given.  I hope to do the same for Aubrey as she grows up. 


Education has always been big in my life.  My Mom is a teacher, and my brother went on to be a 2nd grade teacher and my sister a Calculus teacher.  Both of my parents expected me to succeed in school and get good grades.  I pushed myself, probably too hard to the point of perfection, but I always got on the A honor roll, took all honors classes, always did my homework and then some.  (I was what some would call a nerd, I suppose.)  And I always knew I wanted to go to college.


It was funny because when I graduated from law school I realized that I had spent about three-fourths of my life in school.  Never in a million years would I have thought I would end up going to law school.  I remember thinking about being a lawyer and a doctor and about how long it took to get those degrees.  But when I decided to go onto law school my sophomore year in college, I didn't think twice about those extra three years. 


It is my and T's full intention to provide Aubrey with all of the opportunities we can so that she can receive the best education possible.  When we chose where to build our house, we chose a good school district for when we had children.  And we're starting early in instilling with her the love of reading.  Sure, she's six months old and probably doesn't know differently when we read a book to her.  It's a tradition every night, and it's one we'll continue as she grows up.  When I was a kid, we took weekly trips to the library.  I did the summer reading program.  I loved receiving the Scholastic Book Order forms...so much, in fact, that when they gave us them from Aubrey's daycare, I was the one stoked about it.  Anyway, I want her to always have that thirst to learn and follow her dreams. 


While I know college is not a necessity and there are plenty of people out there who are extremely intelligent and successful who have not gone to college, I really do want that for Aubrey.  I joke about her going to IU, and I'd love her to attend IU but I honestly don't care where she goes.  And if she wants to go farther than that, I encourage her to do so. 


I hope that T and I can provide her the motivation she needs to build her up.  Between T and myself we have four degrees - my Bachelor in Arts in Journalism and Juris Doctorate and T's Bachelor's in Science in Engineering and Masters in Engineering.  I don't want to push her towards a certain path but I want to encourage her to go in whatever direction she wants.  She can do anything she wants.  And education provides her the tools to get there. 


So as you can see, education is extremely important to me.  Want to see what others have to say on the topic?  Stop by Gretchen's blog and check out the other education Spins!