Education not Incarceration by Barry Dodd

Education not Incarceration

Barry Dodd

March17, 2014

A little bit about myself. I come, from a single parent home, and my father died of a drug overdose two weeks before I was born, so it was a challenge for my mother to raise my twin sister and me. We grew up in the Twin Cities; we lived in North Minneapolis for the first ten years of our lives and then moved to South Minneapolis until our freshman year in high school. My mother worked two jobs just to pay the bills, so I was on my own for much of my youth Life was a struggle.

In my preadolescence, comprehension in school became a major road block for me. In the fifth grade, I remember the teacher pulling me aside and expressing concern that I was not learning or retaining the curriculum at the same pace as my classmates. She wanted to spend extra time with me working on areas I was having problems with. This terrified me, because my peers would look at me as “dumb,” In my mind, this was all my fault and I wanted to hide my weaknesses, not let everyone know I was struggling. I felt ashamed and embarrassed for not understanding the curriculum like the rest of my class. Feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt from my problems of comprehension in school left me with a sense of hopelessness.

I did not know to ask for help in school or accept it. School for me was a place to meet friends and hangout. I did not consider the consequences of being undereducated and how that would shape my future. As a teenager all I wanted to do was have fun and that involved running from my problems not facing them. I skipped school a lot and that was my excuse for my poor grades. As long as I did not have to take responsibility for my inadequacies by facing my fears and asking for help I felt like I was fine. But it never worked out that way. Things got worse as before your eyes. It will not make you tougher to do time behind the walls all it will do is steal your life from you. Do not be foolish education is the key to success. Be wise beyond your years and learn from the mistakes of others. With technology today you have to be educated to compete in this world. You will thank yourself for the rest of your life prepare now for your future and put all distractions of youth in perspective and make time to educate yourself. You have a choice: choose wisely.

 

Never Quit

Barry Dodd

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