<p>RIL - Yikes! That's some crazy $hit. I'm glad you guys are ok and didn't get hit. </p>
<p> </p>
<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>aemerryman</strong> <a href="/t/76217/wa-wa-wa-wednesday-1-25/50#post_2026990"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br><p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Count me in amongst those who took advanced HS classes, but didn't get any college credit. However, I was a damn fine writer by the time I entered college, something which apparently isn't taught nearly enough in HS's anymore. </p>
<p> </p>
</div>
</div>
<p><br><br>
Yeah, I was a pretty good writer in high school too, I think, based on this situation. My Jr. year, I was in American literature and our teacher gave us a short story assignment. The requirements were from the local newspaper who was hosting a city wide short story writing competition. Our teacher was going to grade our papers and then the best ones would be submitted for the newspaper competition. So, I wrote a fictitious story about 14 pages long about a kid who gets a motorcycle and gets into off-road racing as a high school student. Now, my Mom is a school teacher and I asked her to proof the story and we made many revisions for sentence structure and stuff like that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, I turn the story in, get it back a few days later with a B+ grade and I don't get asked to submit for the competition. No big deal. But, there's more. So, the next year, instead of taking a year of British lit as a senior, I take two semesters of writing. One semester of creative writing and one semester of journalism. Fall semester was creative writing and I can tell you that the teacher was a bit of a nut case. Also, keep in mind that as a senior, my agenda was to the the least amount of work possible. So, we get a short story assignment in creative writing. And I think to myself, Hey, I have one of those already done from last year. So, I retyped my store (this was before computers) and turned it in. Well the nutcase teacher accused me of plagarism! She said that I didn't write my story. All the while, I knew that I DID write my story and I wanted to know how it could be B+ work last year and now it's so good that I didn't write it. Of course, I was boxed in, I couldn't go to my last years teacher or my mom really without admitting that technically, I didn't do the assignment. I pleaded with the teacher and told her that I did write it and that my Mom edited it. She relented but then I don't think she gave me an A. Just out of spite or whatever. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>College - I have two brothers. When I was elementary age, my Mom was a stay at home mom too. When I was in 5th grade she got a job at an elementary school as a teacher's aid. I think that made her realize that she wanted to be a teacher. Her undergrad degree was in psychology and sociology. I always gave her a hard time and said, what did you think you were going to do with that? Anyway, when I was in the 6th grade, my Mom went back to school full time. She took the classes she needed to get her teaching certification and she got her masters in elementary education. She made one B and the rest As and graduated with a 3.96 GPA. I was in 8th grade when we went to her graduation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Education was a big deal to my parents both of them has undergrad and masters degrees. I remember my Dad telling us, "You can go to any school that you can get into. We'll figure out how to pay for it." By the time I graduated from high school, my Mom was teaching in the Detroit Public School system. Her pay went into a seperate account at a credit union and my Mom wrote all of the checks to the University, while my Dad managed the finances of the house. My out of state tuition at Alabama was less than if I had stayed in state at Michigan State. My next younger brother went to UNC at Chapel Hill, but he was accepted at Duke and Rice. Duke was going to cost a fortune, but my parents were going to figure it out anyway. He went on to 7 more years of school post grad. 4 for dental school, and 3 for endodontics specialty. He had to pick up the tab for that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I very thankful that my parents had the means to provide for us that way. Today, out of state tuition at the University of Alabama will cost nearly $20K per year. That's crazy!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Both of my kids have college fund accounts. The grand parents have made some significant donations to it, but there were times with the market where DW and I managed to turn 6K into 2K. It's going to be a challenge, one that hopefully can be managed with current college savings, plus DW working, plus the kids working some, and hopefully some merrit scholorships, because we're not going to qualify for any aid either. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sorry for the novel. </p>
</p>
