Professor of Life!

I was walking back after doing my groceries shopping yesterday. Ikea truck passed by, a tagline is saying "You don't have to be rich to be clever", I was digesting it, and before coming to a conclusion, it had passed by my mind~

...........

Today, I was reading the newspaper. There are pages of articles on the top scorers for this year A level in Singapore. Beforehand, Congratulation for those who have seen the 'fruits' after all the hardwork! ... and keep fighting for those who do not see the expected result yet! Just remember that there is no hardwork that never pays! You either harvest it slightly later, or... it helps you to learn your strengths and weaknesses!

Somewhere in the article mentions about the debate which points out about the impacts of the parents' education on child's success in school.

I totally agree that parents with higher education background has the capability to help the children academically. Often, higher education means better opprotunities and better living standard! This benefits the next generation to grow up in the environment that full of learning opportunity and exposure to the experiences that not every child could have!

Oh yeah... how I wish that I was one of these lucky kids! The fact I am not... but because of that I have my story to tell!

My dad and mom definitely not a diploma degree holder, nor a diploma holder. I have never even seen their primary school certificate! This does not make them less valueable compare to the Master holders nowadays! They are just not fortunate enough. That's it!

My Dad was unable to go to school without worrying about the need to make it back to work. Yeah! He started to work since he was 9 and made a living with his own effort!

My Mom? Discrimination is the word! My grandma didn't see the need for her daughters to pursue higher education. So what she offered was to stay home and help in doing house chores or picked up some skills as a tailor! My Mom chosed the later and excel in it!

These were the reasons there are no titles come after their names! But... They are forever-learners!

My dad picked up English before, and the vocabs still stucked until now, and he managed to initiate a conversation with a canadian who visited our small town a few years ago. I was not home anymore that time, but I still remember how happy he was when telling me the story! Believe it or not... he is better in writing in chinese than me! Yeah... he still practices writing until now and believe it or not... he has a Bahasa Indonesia dictionary in his drawer (it was belong to my sis and me before). I am surprised to see that he is still flipping through it from time to time, making notes, and asking me (with the intention to test me) certain words that he had learnt from the newspaper and had researched for the exact meaning from the dictionary!

My mom... She had always told us... If I were a boy, I would have done this... I would have done that...! One thing about her is she is a professor in things that she does! She always does it very thoroughly with attention to detail. That what make her a good tailor. Unfortunately, I do not inherit that part from her, fully. =) But... I am glad that I had someone to help me out for my handcraft homework before. Haha...

Without her, personally, experiences the higher education life, she knows how important education is. I should give the credit for whatever I have achieved now to her! Whenever I said I wanted to sign up for classes, it had always been an 'okay!'. Lucky me~

So... parents' academic qualifications are not everything for a child's success in school! In my case, my parents might not have high academic records, but they show good samples to us, plant good values in us, give us options, allow two ways communication, grant us the chance to explore, and love us! That's all that matters!

Doing that, they might have seen us succeed after first attempt, but often they have also seen us falling (learning half way, quitting stuff, etx), failed somewhere in our life, must be heartbreaking for them, but most of the time, live goes on! We need to stand up and start again!

My Parents are professors of my life!