Rex Young (University of Virginia) on Educational Opportunity

The dreams of a college education and the opportunities that come with it have eluded far too many in Appalachia, Biloxi, Harlem, and so many other forgotten crevasses in our country. I epitomize a modern dream, not deferred, but denied to too many of my ‘could be’ classmates. But I got lucky.

In two months, I graduate from the University of Virginia. I anticipate a job on the presidential campaign trail and then I must find the right law school. But this isn’t about me or the decisions I make. This is about the decisions so many others will never have the opportunity to consider. And that is the biggest flaw in America.

My mother stocked Dollar General Store shelves for 25 years to provide health insurance and put food on the table. My father installed propane tanks and fireplaces, dug ditches, and took on any work he could find. This image provides a more accurate glimpse of the future for many of the classmates I graduated with in May 2008—likely without the health insurance, unfortunately.

As often mentioned in reference to income inequality, there are the haves and the have nots. This is a powerful and sad truth. More depressing, however, are the haves and have nots of an education. I am not condemned to a coal mine or black lung disease. I am no longer subject to mercury-filled groundwater, enslaved to a retail store cash register, and I am not an apprentice learning the trade of the shovel and stake-driver like my father. I am free. I have a college education. I can do anything I want. And I want others to be able to say the same.

rex@virginia.edu