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[quote=Anonymous]Eastern European immigrant parents here. Dad worked in steel mills all his life, mom was a seamstress.

I pretty much heard every day of my life that education was the ticket out of physical work, and that the only door that boys could open for me was the door to a car or a bedroom. They harped on us getting straight As, but couldn't do much beyond that in that their English was quite poor (like, I had to fill out insurance forms for them and write out how to spell 'thousand' and 'hundred' when they got a checkbook) and they didn't have more than a high school education.

We were the most important thing in their lives and they did all they could to help us succeed. When the principal of the Chicago public school told them to move the suburbs because their kids were smart and couldn't get a good education in Chicago, they moved to the suburbs despite the cost.

Mom worked as a lunch mom and school and learned about how the American educational system worked. When my mom learned how important ACT/SAT scores were, she found a tutor and made sure we scored well. She heard about scholarships and told us to go to the library and figure it out and apply for them (I probably applied for upward of 30). They told us they couldn't afford to pay for college but would help as much as they could, so we needed to work hard and save summer job money to help pay.

They taught us to value family, hard work, and the meaning of a dollar. I am so grateful for all that they did for us.

Education is really the key. [/quote]

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