Abstract: Jane Smith grew up in Oakland’s affluent Italian American neighborhoods. While her family had been residents of the United States for three generations, she was the first in her family to graduate from college.
Her mother, though she encouraged an education for Jane, had very little education herself. Her father, a blue collar worker, also had very little education but saw no point in Jane extending her schooling beyond high school. Indirectly her support came from a nun at her all-girls Catholic high school who encouraged her to take the college preparatory pathway, but her father did not allow this.
Once she graduated from high school she chose to work for a year and realized that was not what she wanted to do with her life. Though her parents wanted her to keep working and meet an Italian man to marry, Jane left her job at the phone company and started attending a community college where she could catch up on the units she missed by not taking the college preparatory pathway. While there she tried to get help from the college counselors but found they were very unapproachable and not interested in helping her. So, going through the process Jane had no mentor to help guide her along except for herself. She received no support financially and had to work part-time in order to pay for her education.
Jane started out as a social sciences major but when she quit school her senior year due to stress from home, a job and a lack of a thesis, her major changed. Instead when she started taking classes again, Jan switched her major to business and ended up with a degree in Business Management. In a way this was a tribute to her parents as she chose it due to its practicality rather then her love for business.
Although she occasionally wishes her family had been more supportive, she understands that it just was not how they worked. With her degree finally completed, Jane now works at Saint Mary’s College and participates in a non-profit organization.
Keywords: first generation, blue collar, Italian American, woman, mentor, finances, major
*pseudonym |
