Students benefit from raising children
At USU, school doesn’t stop many students from making the decision to start their families. Some of these students raising children reported they are enjoying the benefits of having children, even while seeking their degrees.
Journalism professor Ted Pease said the sight of several students with kids impressed him the first time he and wife, Brenda Cooper, visited USU in 1994.
He said, “When we came to USU to interview for jobs, we were astonished when we went out for a Sunday morning run on campus, to see all the students who were obvious couples and had kids. ‘Babies having babies,’ I said.”
Some faculty members think this type of commitment compromises the attention students have for their studies, Pease said.
Despite the “funny looks” she said she gets with her kids on campus, having children while being in school is definitely something that people don’t understand until they experience it, said Michele Johnson, junior in FCHD.
“It depends on the person,” she said. “Some people think it wasn’t very smart of us,” but Johnson said she is confident that they made the right decision.
The reasons to have children while in school, according to some students, include bettering themselves, having a more fulfilling life and expanding their horizons.
That is an advantage to college students with kids, said Ashley Wadsworth, art sophomore and mother of two. She said that her experiences with her children help her learn what her classes teach her.
“I have a deeper understanding,” she said. “In human development (class), I would learn things and then do the experiments on my children.”
She said that learning by experience with her kids helps her remember what she learns in class.
Wadsworth said that having kids broadens her perspective and makes her appreciate school. She said that graduation will be a bigger accomplishment because it requires a bigger sacrifice.
She said that being a mom helps her comprehend the importance of what she studies. When she took a natural resources class, she appreciated the effort put into the cause for future generations, she said.
“I can feel my professors’ hope for the future more than I would if I didn’t have kids. They’re invested in the future,” she said. “I can feel that.”
Wadsworth also attributed having kids as the reason she tries hard in school. She said she could have tested out of her math class, but chose to take it so that she would be more prepared to help her kids with their homework.
For help with her own homework, Wadsworth said people are sympathetic and happy to help out in any way they can when they know that she is a student and a mom.
“When they find out, their mouths drop open,” she said. “They are much more willing to help.”
Selflessness is another one of the benefits of having kids that Wadsworth recognizes. She said that she is less concerned about the social aspects of college life than students who don’t have kids. Johnson also said that her social life is filled in by her home life. They both said that they value having their children, to put before themselves.
Johnson said that she and husband Ryan, junior majoring in history, felt that this was the best time to start their family. Ryan is in the army and he will be deployed upon graduation.
“If we hadn’t had a family now, it would be years and years before we could have one,” she said.
McEntire also says that having children enriches life. Both Michele and Ryan said they feel that having a family is the best way to progress beyond what school offers. They said they chose to have kids because that is important to them in their personal lives, and they didn’t believe that school should put the rest of their lives on hold.
Ryan said he simply enjoys the addition to his life and sees it as a benefit.
“I just am happy,” he said. “I love coming home to my family, to just spend time with my daughter and my wife. That’s just an advantage I never had before.”
–april.larsen@aggiemail.usu.edu