There are many reasons why California leaders should save me and my peers a spot in college. One reason is the promise of a successful future can be had with a college education and should not be granted on the basis of achievement alone.

Some students do not do well in high school and yet go on to do well in college. There are many colleges in the State of California that take students at as low a grade point average as 2.0 on the scale of 4.0. Additionally, there may be underlying circumstances that the student may have such as a disfunctional family that moves a lot, has low income or is on welfare and/or the parents may not be college educated and not encouraging the student to perform to his or her maximum capacity. He or she may come from a household where there is abuse and substance abuse issues. In those instances, the student should not be denied an education since the State of California has many colleges and universities that provide counseling in financial aid planning and college career centers to guide the student.

Another reason why California leaders should save me and my peers a spot in college is that our generation is the next generation of leaders in both government and industry and in order for the State of California to produce successful and qualified leaders they should be willing to provide education for all of its students.

Our parents of 7 generations ago were prohibited from securing an education because of the laws governing slaves prior to 1863. The progress has been slow since then in instilling in some decendants of slaves of the importance of a college education and therefore, there may be a disproportionate number of people who will not be motivated to seek a college education as a result. Our leaders should not only save us a spot in college, they should actively go after the underserved and underrepresented populations in the state to ensure that the slave-mentatlity is not passed on another generation.