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Although I believed that in choosing education and money one can give back to one's family and contribute to one's self achievement, I also realized that there is a certain amount of loss within one's relationships that goes with committing to education and money that is not worth the sacrifice. Education and money can alienate individuals from their loved ones. In a story we read in class called “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez, he described that in prioritizing school, he ended up distancing himself away from his family because they weren’t as educated and could not understand or relate to his new way of thinking. In turn, they’re relationship developed into an awkward power dynamic between the educated and not educated rather than a comforting familial relationship in which both would be able to freely communicate on the same level which ended up being detrimental to their relationship. Likewise, in our summer reading book Class Matters, there was also a story in which a woman transitioned from being in a low-income family to foster care with a wealthier family. After transitioning, she was unable to feel comfortable about her life because she grew up with a “human capital”, the knowledge associated with one’s class, and thus, mindset far different from those of her wealthier classmates and peers which in this sense, made her feel alienated. Now, although these experiences may not be applicable to every relationship, imagining myself in this role of having to choose one or the other helped me recognize the importance of family/love above all else.

In the end, the whole process of choosing made me question if there were really benefits to maintaing one’s social class: do we really want social mobility? Is giving up the feeling of one's relationships and comfortability within a group comprised of people like ourselves worth sacrificing money and education for?