What were some of the values and attitudes toward education expressed in your family? How have these influenced your thinking and your practice (as a student)?

I have never had a good relationship with my mother, but I have always been quite the daddy's girl. My parents both graduated high school, and received no formal education. As a matter of fact, I have only one cousin on my mother's side who has graduated college and also obtained a masters. Other members of the family on my mother's side have went to technical schools and such, but no one else had went to college. My father epitomizes a true blue collar worker. I think that he graduated high school on a Saturday and went to work in the coal mines the very next Monday (which is what the majority of young men did where I live--Boone County). My grandfather worked in the mines and after working underground in the coal mines all day, he would come home and work the land (my grandparents on my father's side were also farmers). My father must have inherited his work ethic from my grandfather, because he has always worked diligently and hard to put food on the table and we never wanted for anything. This has been passed on to me.

My father has always stressed education. He has told me many times throughout my life that "You can never be anything without an education." Then he would say, "Well, you can, but you will have to work your butt off for the rest of your life." My sister is a very intelligent woman. She was always an overachiever much like myself; however, she got married, became pregnant while in college, and after having my beautiful nephew, never went back to school. She now works for an insurance company as a claims rep. My sister quitting college was a big disappointment to my father (he never said that, but it's something that we just know). Therefore, my father's emphasis on a formal education just became stronger with me. Anytime we had a deep discussion of some sort (those were sometimes few and far between with my dad), he would always bring up the fact that I need to get a good education. He also said I should try to do something that I could make a good living at (my dad is by no means a shallow person--he just wanted the best for me). To this day and even though I am a senior in college, he still gives me the "You have to have a good education these days to get by" lecture. I suppose he will give this same speech to my children, his grandchildren, and for that I am grateful.

My grandmother (my father's mother) was always a very witty and intellectual woman. As a matter of fact, she had no formal education, and I'm not sure how far she actually went in high school. When I was about pre-school aged, I stayed with her during the days while my parents were at work. She and I had the greatest times and she made sure that I was learning things when I was there. She's the reason I knew all of my states and their capitals before I went to kindergarten and the reason I knew how to read and count to 100 before I started school as well. She was a brilliant woman and her love for learning rubbed off on me--God rest her lovely and intelligent soul (I'm crying now, thank you).

As you can see, My father has always instilled in me a need for formal education. When I was younger, my mother did stress the importance of reading and writing and imaginative play (she loved it when I pretended). My daddy didn't push me, but he always had a way of letting me know what he expected out of me. Even though I knew he couldn't afford college, and he knew that I knew, he always believed in me. He knew I was bright and that I would make the grades to get scholarships. My grandmother gave me the boost that I needed to get ahead in school. She sparked my interest in learning and she made it an enjoyable experience. That, to me, is the most important factor--making learning enjoyable and not adversive. She also made me see that education is really where you find it and what you make of it. She was a teacher--my teacher and she was a learner herself.

As a student I am passionate about what I pursue in learning. I am ambitious and to say that I am an overachiever would almost be an understatement. I ask questions--I'm very inquisitive and I always have been and when I have questions, I pursue their solutions stealthfully. It drives me crazy to think that there may be others out there who are ahead of me when it comes to knowing. I know, that's incredibly silly, but I cannot help it. Part of this comes from the fact that I want so much to make my daddy proud of me and while I know that he is (he tells me all the time), I still can't shake it. As a student, I am ridiculously organized and I owe this to my father who is even more meticulous than I. I come from a long line of hard workers and people who may not have had a lot of book knowledge, but who were extremely brilliant and who had infinitive amounts of common sense. Looking at this, I feel proud of myself. I am proud of who I am and where I have come from. I will never, ever deny the fact that I come from Boone County, West Virginia, I am a coal miner's daughter, a coal miner's granddaughter, and a farmer's granddaughter. My family passed on to me a strong work ethic and a desire to know and learn. They have helped me to see the significance of education and hard work. All of these things I have with me today and I have carried them with me thorughout my college career and it's these things that I will pass on to my children.

Heather Perdue