Realistic attitude strengthened goals
Joe E. Young
Age: 69
Occupation: Retired

Where did you receive your education?
Carver High School (now Carver Elementary Academy), Amarillo College, other vocational courses in lithography and photography.

How has your education played a role in your life today?
My education has helped me obtain jobs in the private, state and federal sectors, as well as my own business as a barber.

What was your greatest educational challenge and how did you overcome it?
Finances. I was raised in a single-parent family and money was tight. I did part-time work. I attended AC and eventually entered the U.S. Army, where I attended stenography school and learned printing. Later in my life, I obtained a barber's license.

What is the value of your education?
It helped me maintain a job that afforded me a decent livelihood until retirement. One can not expect a Cadillac job with a Volkswagon education.

What would you say to someone who is undecided about continuing their education?
To not continue your education would be one of the biggest mistakes of your life. Without an education earning potential decreases. The higher the level of education, your earning power increases. Education makes you more employable.

When did you make education a priority?
When I realized my choices of jobs was limited to only menial types of jobs. I realized that even vocational or technical training was better than no type of education at all. Going through unemployment lines and being offered the lowest-paying unskilled jobs gave me incentive to do what was necessary to obtain higher paying jobs.

What made you realize the importance of education in your life?
When I was on a job and watching younger, less experienced workers with degrees being promoted over me. Without a certain level of education, I could not even apply for certain jobs within my place of employment.

Did you ever think about quitting? What made you keep going?
When I saw others passing me by who had degrees or at least a vocational/technical education in their chosen fields.