I saw many women like this in my college classes, who had either married right out of high school or dropped out of college early after getting pregnant and deciding to stay at home, often under immense pressure from their former husbands. Most of them had several adolescent or teen kids to support on their own, absolutely no work history or viable skills, and desperately struggling to keep up with things like remedial algebra after their husbands dumped them with no warning.

In order to prioritize my education, I had broken off a relationship with a man who aggressively tried to convince me to drop out of school and have kids with him. Seeing so many of these women with the exact same story was a chilling reminder that I’d made the right decision.