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One last thing…

award

Masters…here I come

I have been asked a question. “Why is learning important to you and how has it impacted your life?”

All I have ever wanted to do is get somewhere in life. I know that people have obstacles in the way as they go through life but for me, it feels like I must fight for every single thing I want.

Education never used to be important to me. I hated school and spent as much time away from school as I could. Its crazy to think that education ended up being something that saved me from a life I no longer wanted. I have no GCSEs. I left school with nothing. I left school a single mum and a ex drug dealer. I left school feeling stupid and that my options were limited and that there was no way I would ever be anything in life. Being involved in gangs and crime seemed like not just the only option but also the best option.

But I started to want a different life, and no matter what I did I could not break away from the streets. It was then I realised that I would have to start again. Go back to school and study.

So, I did. It was embarrassing at first, as I struggled to read what was in front of me. I had to learn to hold my temper and I had to study day and night.

I was a single mum of two, working full time and studying all night.

I remember the first time someone asked what I was studying, and I said Criminology. The person who asked me had been a friend for many years and he rolled around on the sofa laughing his head off. It still makes me smile. He laughed because me…studying criminology…well, at least I had a head start on it in some ways.

Do you know that when I studied my diploma in criminology, I didn’t have a computer for the first 7 months? I had written every single essay that had to be submitted. I had to rewrite so many pages because of my spelling. I used to be up till 4 in the morning and then up again at 7 for work and take the kids to school. My then boss said that I could take my work laptop home after finding me still at work at 7 at night trying to type up notes for my essay. That laptop saved me, and I was able to complete my work so much quicker.

That was in 2007. On me borrows school lap top. You know when I went and got myself a brand-new laptop. A nice shiny laptop to complete my degree? Never. I have never had a laptop that was just mine. I have always borrowed a work one and the one I am writing on right now is second hand. Not that it’s a problem, I am just saying that I have been working with blunt tools for some time.

And now I am about to start my masters…. maybe. I can get funding towards my masters by writing a blog about why education is important and how it has impacted my life.

So, let’s do this. Education is important because it gives people choices. It gives people a choice about who they want to be in life. Education is important because it can save lives. It can take someone who is living the worst life and give them something to grab onto. A reason to …be.

How has education impacted on my life? Well for many years It was a negative impact. My mm would get into trouble for me not going to school and when I was there, I just wanted to sell drugs or fight. I didn’t care about education really. Then I met this teacher called Rob. He showed me the film Shindlers list and…if you read the relevant blog…you will remember me saying that the film had such an impact on me that I started to engage in education. But then life took a big turn for me and choices were taken away.

Years later, education has had nothing but a positive impact on my life. Once I realised, I was not stupid but in fact have dyslexia…there has been no turning back. And the girl with no GCSEs is at the starting post for a master’s in advanced child protection. Let the new chapter begin.

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