How do my Parents Value Education?

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My parents are not professionals. In fact, they didn’t even finish their secondary level. My father went until fourth grade and my mother went until sixth grade.

My mother told me about her childhood life. She said that her ambition is to become a teacher, but instead of sending her to school, her mother sent her to a rich family to work. At the age of eleven, she started working for the family.

Her experience became her guide on how she’s going to raise her children. She doesn’t want us to experience the same life as she had. She keeps telling us that education can change the status of our life.

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
― Jim Rohn

There’s no magic on how my parents were able to send their seven children to school: four are degree holders, one is an associate degree, one is college level and the youngest is currently studying Marketing Management.

And yes, I am simply a proud daughter of them.

When our eldest brother started studying in college, some of our relatives objected. Neighbors gossiped that my parents were just so ambitious for sending my brother to college.

My parents knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but their determination was strong.

I saw how they worked for us. My mother selling eggs in the market and my father driving a tricycle. These are their regular source of income. But since my brother started studying in college, they started working at dawn. They were making homemade bread to sell. They cooked food to sell, and they did everything did to earn extra income.

When my brother finished his studies, my parents proved to themselves that they could do it, and since then they sent the rest of their children to school.

Our parents once told us:

“ We are not rich. We don’t have money in the bank nor hectares of land for you to divide when we are gone, but we gave you wisdom, knowledge and understanding by sending you to school. Use it, protect it and be thankful for having it because nobody can steal it from you.”

Educated parents are not about having a diploma in their hands or having a high degree in school, but it’s about how they educate their children to value education.

And, education is not only for professional parents and not only for rich parents. Education is for everyone who values education.