A few posts back I  wrote about our aspiring rock star son Mark’s announcement that he was not planning to go to college because he was looking forward to living the hard scrabble life of his rock idol Slash. Last week I had the opportunity to give one of  his band mates a ride home and boy did I learn a lot. The young man told me all about the courses he was taking in school. He is a sophomore and is already tackling AP Calculus. To put things in perspective, that is something seniors usually take as an elective after they have completed Algebra one and two, Geometry and Pre-Calculus. This kid is driven. I asked him what motivates him and he said he needs to take as many AP classes as possible so that he can get a scholarship to college because that is the only way he will be able to go since his parents don’t have the money to send him.  I was impressed.

I dropped him at his house, a modest home in the working class section of town, and made the snap shot assessment that this kid is already living the hard scrabble life. And he wants better. Good for him. He reminded me a lot of myself at that age because I too came from very humble beginnings. I got my first job at 13 in a hotel laundry room and worked my way through high school and college for which I got a scholarship. And I pitched in around the house by cooking and cleaning while my  mother was still at work. In my efforts to give my kids a better life than I had  I wonder if am doing them a disservice by not giving them the hard scrabble life now so that they won’t be craving it later. You tell me. When the boy got out of my car I hollered to him, “Hey, rub some of that college stuff onto Mark. He says he doesn’t want to go.” He replied back with assurance, “He’ll go. He’s just saying that.” I hope he’s right.