Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—When I graduated from an Ivy Leage law school, my parents, like any proud African-American parents threw me a graduation party to celebrate my tremendous accomplishment. And as the one who went through four years of rigorous undergraduate studies, followed by three years of an equally rigorous juris doctorate program, and spent a summer memorizing the law to become a licensed attorney in one of the toughest jurisdictions to get licensed in—New York, I can attest to just how tremendous my accomplishment is. Many a party and social gathering were skipped so that I could hit the books, graduate at the top of my class, and secure my future as a corporate attorney at a prestigious law firm just like so many of my fictional heroes had done: Claire Huxtable (The Cosby Show) and Maxine Shaw (Living Single). That’s not to say that I did not have fun in college and law school—naturally when time permitted I spent time with my friends like any young person would do—but as a true nerd at heart intellectual pursuits were my version of fun. At my graduation party in the midst of celebration and much fanfare, a fellow BUPPIE (black, urban, professional person) made a point to tell me: "I hope you're done with your education. You don't want to educate yourself out of marriage." Had a woman said that to me, I would have likely shrugged it off as cattiness and/or a case of the green-eyed monster, but coming from a male all I could think was "Ouch!" Good natured at heart, I laughed it off in front of him, but looking back five years later when the party has long been over and I am sitting in my fancy corporate office, in my fancy corporate suit, working for my fancy corporate clients, I wonder: with each educational pursuit I endeavored on, had I taken one more step away from marriage?
Read the rest of this article in MIMI's Love Africa, Always issue, in the article Educating Yourself Out Of Marriage?
(Photo Credits: © Photodisc / PunchStock) (Model Used Solely For Illustrative Purposes)
