...even though I was getting better education at home than any of the kids in Toyah, I'd need to go to finishing school when I was thirteen, both to acquire social graces and to earn a diploma. Because in this world, Dad said, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you go it. Jeannette Walls
About This Quote

The school system in the UK was not very good at all. The schools were very strict and strict rules were not made for the child's benefit, but instead for the benefit of the school administration. If a child did not do what they were told to do, they would be punished. If a teenager had an education that was better than an ordinary person's then they would be punished to compensate for that fact that their education was better.

While it is true that having a good education makes you ready to compete in the world, it is also true that if you are not prepared to compete fairly then you are less likely to win overall. There are many who have had an education better than the average person’s but still cannot compete fairly because of their own ignorance or lack of preparation.

Source: Half Broke Horses

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More Quotes By Jeannette Walls
  1. Sometimes it is very difficult to keep in mind the fact that the parents, too, have reasons for what they do-- have reasons, locked in the depths of their personalities, for their inability to love, to understand, to give of themselves to their children.
  2. When a child is forced to prove himself as capable, results are often disastrous. A child needs love, acceptance, and understanding. He is devastated when confronted with rejection, doubts, and never ending testing.
  3. ...even though we do not have the wisdom to enumerate the reasons for the behaviour of another person, we can grant that every individual does have his private world of meaning, conceived out of the integrity and dignity of his personality.
  4. What are the purposes of examinations anyhow? Are they to increase our educational attainment? Or are they instruments used to bring suffering and humiliation and deep hurt to a person who is trying so hard to succeed?
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