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LeAnn JacobsLeAnn Jacobs is twenty-six years old.
She and her husband have been married ten years and do not have children. Although an excellent student, LeAnn dropped out of school at
the age of sixteen while in the tenth grade. I
was married at the time and I said, “Well, I’m married, I don’t have to
go.” So, I got the big head and
quit. I liked school for awhile,
then when you’re a teenager you don’t like it no more and my mom had a hard
time keepin’ me in school. I
said, “Well, my mommy don’t have to tell me what to do,” so I got married
and just quit. In LeAnn’s case, neither of her parents finished high
school, nor did her sister who also married young and dropped out.
LeAnn’s mother tried unsuccessfully to keep her daughters
in school. ‘Cause
she wanted different [for us] than what she had.
She was growin’ up hard and she wanted her kids to have better than
what she had.
I mean, my Mom’s smart.
She helped me on my high school work, and she just went to the eighth
grade.
She helped me on my history and she’s good in history. Even though her mother obviously encouraged LeAnn and
helped her with school work, she was unable to prevent both LeAnn and her sister
from dropping out of school.
LeAnn stayed home briefly after her marriage but started working at age
seventeen and has been employed in the hotel where she currently works since
that time. I
used to clean and mop at the lounge and then I was a maid and now I’m in the
office. I’m a desk clerk now.
That’s easier on the body, but when you’re dealin’ with the public,
it’s hard. ‘Cause some of ‘em’s
hateful and some of ‘em’s nice. And
you have to say, “Yes, sir,” and “No, sir,” no matter what.
In addition to her full-time work at the hotel, LeAnn also
does lawn work with her husband in the evenings and on weekends. Rather than being “extra” income, this additional work is
necessary for their financial survival and demonstrates the work ethic necessary
to individuals living in poverty. I
work six days a week. And I don’t
get home to sometimes 7:00 or 8:00 [o’clock].
I cut grass for extra money on the side.
I get more money cuttin’ grass than I do here.
Sometimes it takes me and my husband about an hour, sometimes it takes us
two hours. We double up.
Sometimes we do two yards and sometimes we do one.
It’s accordin’ to how much time we have to do it.
If we’re behind, we double up and do two yards a day. Even with both of them working full-time, it is difficult
for LeAnn and her husband to survive financially.
She related, “When you’re makin’ minimum wage--$5.15 [an hour]--you
have to get a lot [of hours]. Even
though I don’t have kids, it’s still hard to make a living.”
While LeAnn values education and indicated she would like to complete her
GED, she does not see it as an essential requirement for intelligent behavior
and job competence.
From her perspective, hard work and a positive attitude are far more
important characteristics. I
mean, it’s good goin’ to school and everything, but you really don’t have
to have a high school education to be smart.
You really don’t. You have
to want to work. You have to have
pride in your work. You know, I had
pride when I did my rooms when I was a maid.
I made sure the beds was clean, put new sheets on it and stuff like that. If you don’t have pride then you’re not goin’ to do a
good job. You have to have a
attitude in wantin’ to do it. If
you don’t want to do it then you might as well stay home and let somebody else
that wants a job do it. As
her comments clearly indicate, LeAnn has a strong work ethic.
LeAnn’s positive school experiences and above average high school
grades also indicate that she would most likely succeed in a GED program within
a reasonable time frame.
Her decision not to pursue further schooling, therefore, represents her
assessment of formal education relative to her financial needs, allocation of
time, and personal goals rather than shame at previous
educational failures or a lack of motivation.
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