Non Negotiable

We are getting ready to take Robbie to Boston over spring break to look at three universities. He will be applying to colleges in the next 4-6 months and wants to make an 'educated' choice.



This is an exciting time for Robbie and I realized that since the day he was born (or maybe even before) that he was going to HAVE to attend a four year college out of high school.

What Robbie doesn't understand is that this is a privelege, not a right. He has numerous peers who come from different circumstances who's path is less certain.

Last Friday, I braved the unknown and chaperoned his AP Art History class on a trip to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Huntington Library in Pasedena. This was an exercise in understanding Robbie better. I saw him in his 'natural' habitat, interacting with his peers, and I closed the day with a sense of satisfaction in his development.

I also spent time asking his peers about their plans for the future. These are the cream of the crop students, exceptional in the fact that they are enrolled and enjoying a AP level course in a fine arts. The stories were varied. There as the female senior who's dream is to live in London and who will attend Saddleback so that she can do the Cal State Fullerton program that will allow her to live abroad (apparently her parents have a small fund of money). There is Kelsey, who, odd, quirky and very much a fringe personality is taking classes (alot of them) at Saddleback College now, in her junior year, so that she can graduate with her degree AND an AA so that she only has two years of university to recognize her dream as becoming a marine biologist. Then there was Mark...shy...hanging behind, always a watcher, never a participant...who, when asked about the future, shrugged his shoulders and said.."I dunno...I haven't thought about it much".

Robbie...he knew, and knows, that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where he goes, as long as he does. That the 4 year degree is not just a means to an end (a step in the direction of life long career success) but a unique transitional point between childhood and adulthood. A sheltered and unique writ of passage that will forever change him.