college vs career

I graduated high school a full semester earlier. Mostly because I was completely over the idea of school and because I was eager to make money. The fact that I was spending 6 hours a day in a place where I was everything EXCEPT productive really aggravated me. I did well in school, but only well enough to get the hell out of there. I had no plans, just three jobs and no bills. Since I had no plan for myself I was willing to tag along with my boyfriend to upstate new york to major in liberal arts (aka taking a bunch of random classes) and spend a semester doing nothing. You'll be happy to know I passed all of my classes but im my opinion I had nothing to show for it except a big case of homesickness and no job.

Once I was home I accepted a "floater" position for 13 different dealerships. Not the ideal job for me, but making that much money while still living my parents was golden. This job put me perfectly in place to experience and observe every different job from dealership to dealership. I fell deeply in love with Honda. The people who worked there, the customers, and the cars themselves. I learned very quickly of this passion and decided I wanted to take on a different position. The process of changing jobs (even within the same company) proved to be very hard, but after about 6 months I made the move to a service receptionsist. And I know exactly what you're thinking.. Who wants to sit behind a desk and transfer calls all day? And I agree, NOT ME. But this job was more. Making appointments, answering questions for customers, quoting repairs.. it was all the stuff I needed to meet my first goal of becoming a service advisor.

I am still working towards a service writing position, but I've been trained for that position and should be moving up within the next few weeks. I live with my boyfriend who works for the parts department. We have a house, I drive a 2011 accord he drives a 2012 Dodge Ram, we have two doggies, and we live pretty comfortably. And might I mention he never graduated high school, he has his GED.

So tell me, why do so many parents feel like they need to push their children through college. Don't get me wrong I know tons of people in school who love it and want to go for ten years but I also know a lot of people who given the chance would drop out and start working. So if you don't want to go to school, and you could find a job that you love.. why spend the money (or build up tons of school loans), and put ourself through that misery. I guess parents don't want their children to fail, but I am very thankful that my Dad had enough faith in me to let me make my own decisions. (It also probably helped that he never went to college yet he is the service director for 9 different stores)

Either way my point is, let your children make their own decisions. It's their future, let them make their own mistakes. Trust me when I say they will appreciate it much more