Can a good argument be made for encouraging working class parents in particular to pursue education? What I'm trying to get at is this... I get the feeling that, had I come from a more privalidged background, I might have had a lot more support through my school years. My parents received a very poor education and "knew" they weren't really going to amount to much. As a result I was never really helped with school work and was encouraged to follow a trade rather than get further education.  As if that was the best of what could be expected from a person of our social status. I've seen the same thing happening with the vast majority of my relatives and others that I grew up with. I hated that sort of working environment and wished I had taken a different path. Although others may be satisfied with that sort of outcome, surely having more options is better. I now do social work in my community which, although satisfying, is sometimes challenging as I see lots of suffering that being better educated would have avoided. I have children of my own now, and it worries me that at some point I'm not going to be able to help them with their school work, that they'll assume that they're not capable of achieving great things, and that they are being held back from a better life just as a result of being from my family. I love my parents who really did their best for me and are proud of my achievements. But they argue "hey, the world's always going to need people to do the lesser jobs....". Surely this can't be right?