How My Parents Raised Us: Education

My parents were never too strict with us when it comes to education. However, they expected us to finish school in a normal period of time since it was costly for them to pay for our education. My Mom kept on saying to us when we were little, "You don't have to get an 8 or 9 for your school reports. As long as you get a 6, then it's fine."

Mind you that in Indo at that time, "blue" marks (safe marks) started from 6 and the highest mark was 9 for school reports of each subject. "Red" marks started from 5 and below. The schools would make the students stay in the same grade if they get red marks for certain subjects, for example Mathematics. However, if the student only got one 5 for a subject that wasn't too crucial, then the school would let him/her go to the upper grade.

One of my closest friends told me that she used to be scared if she went home with a test mark less than 8, since her mother expected her to get high marks all the time. In elementary schools at that time, every one of our test had to be signed by one of our parents to make sure that the parents knew our marks.

I must admit that if I remember correctly, twice I faked my parents' signature since I got bad marks for the tests HI HI HI HI HI HI...

In Junior High School and High School, we didn't have to get our parents' signature for our individual tests, but of course they wanted one of their signatures in our school reports. Reports came either quarterly or every half a year.

In Indonesia, it's "easier" to find a good job in a big company if your university GPA is high enough. Usually recruiting companies ask for a 2,75 GPA (the highest GPA is 4,00 and it means that you ALWAYS get an A for each subject). Some international companies even ask for a 3,00 GPA (meaning that at least your average mark is a B for each subject). You CAN be recruited still even if your GPA is lower than they require as long as you know the boss he he he...

Of course GPA doesn't count much if you want to open your own business. The only problem if you want to open your business is finding the fund to do so he he he...And if you are into doing marketing in some companies (like the insurance company where my Dad worked), then you don't need to worry about your GPA.

Speaking of education, I don't know how it works here in Finland. Everything is SO different from Indonesia. For example: Over here it's a normal thing to do a job training and get some money from the government, whereas in Indonesia it's not possible to do that UNLESS you're accepted as an employee first.

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Back to my parents...I always remember the story that my Mom tells me about my brother. Mom kept on telling us, "I don't like lies. I don't want to be lied to. As long as you're honest with me, I won't be angry, okay?"

That promise "backfired" one day when my brother came to Mom and said, "Mom, don't be angry, okay? I want to tell you something."

Mom said, "Okay, I promise I won't be angry. What is it?"

My brother admitted, "I've got 4 for a test. Here it is."

HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...My Mom COULD NOT be angry since she had promised not to, right? Of course she was surprised, but she calmed herself down and said, "Okay, then that means you need to study even better for the next test. If you can get a good mark for the next test, then your average mark will still be blue instead of red."

One thing I admire about my Mom is how well she understands us. She knows that my brother is "slower" than me in learning things. I think mainly it's because he gets distracted more easily than me. Everybody has different ways of learning things and I'm quite a focused person, so I get things done faster than him.

My parents didn't force my brother to get into a "strict" High School since they knew it would only make him stressed out. So he went to a less strict school and he BLOSSOMED there!!! He found teachers who believed in him and that drove him to study hard!!! ;-D

Additional info: I was sometimes lazy to go to school, so sometimes I told them that I wanted to skip school and I only needed to type the letter of absence myself and ask for their signature to give to the school the next day (they always let me do it) HI HI HI HI HI...But usually I only took a "day off" from school during the semester or year since I didn't want to miss too much as I would have to catch up on everything later on.

I'm really GRATEFUL for my parents for their understanding, support, and hard work for getting us through university. They never forced us to choose a certain direction. I know I haven't always been an easy daughter to deal with (stubborn me!!!) but I can always count on them. I owe them EVERYTHING!!!

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Note to self: I should write them an email to thank them personally. :-)))

How My Parents Raised Us: Honesty

The other day my friends and I talked about how our parents raised us. I'm going to share something funny about it and I may write more on this topic.

Anyway, ever since we were kids, Mom would tell us, "I don't want you to lie about anything. I promise that I won't get mad if you're honest with me." I confess that I had lied a few times to my parents. Back in Elementary School, after our teachers graded our quizzes, we had to get our parents' signature and got the quiz books back to our teachers. A few times when I got bad marks, I faked my Mom's or Dad's signature HE HE HE HE HE HE...Yeah, yeah, I'm a bad girl LOL!!!!

But I've gotta say that my brother really heeded my Mom's words. One time he came up to my Mom and said, "Mom, didn't you promise me that you wouldn't be angry if I were honest to you?" And my Mom naturally said yes (probably she became suspicious already by then HA HA HA HA HA...)

Then my brother said, "I got 4 on a quiz today. Here it is."

My Mom was probably a bit disappointed, but she had promised not to be angry, right? So she said to him, "That's allright. Listen up, next time you'd better study hard. Even though you got 4 today, if you get 10 next time, then your mean score would still be 7, understand?"

Side note: Ever since we were kids, Mom said to us, "I don't need you to get a 9 or 10 all the time. I'd be happy even if you get a 6. As long as you don't get red marks in your report cards, then it's fine with me." ----> I LOVE HER FOR THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-D

There's another funny story about honesty. Back in Elementary School (still), on handicraft lessons, we sometimes had to make hard stuff. We couldn't possibly make them without our Mom's help ----> Mom's a VERY creative person (she's an EXCELLENT cook, she can make clothing patterns and she did make some clothes for me when they didn't have too much money to buy new ones, and she can turn scrap of fabric into something nice).

One day our handicraft teacher told us to make something hard and she told us NOT to do it with our parents' help. My Mom told me not to tell the teacher that she had helped me, and I heeded her words. Then my brother was taught by the same teacher and my Mom helped him make something. When it was time to submit the handicrafts, the teacher asked all the students in the classroom, "Did you get some help doing it?" and my brother said yes.

Yup...it seems that my Mom had really instilled honesty in my brother's heart and mind, whereas I had learnt lying by omission or white lies when necessary HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Ahem!!! *wink*

As I said before, my Mom's a storyteller. She never gets tired telling us about this story. Honestly speaking, none of us remembered about this, but I'm glad she loves telling us stories that we don't remember he he he he...