The society is full of jobs that need knowledge to fill, in contrast, there are very few people with knowledge. You don't even need a diploma from a prestigious school, which is enough for rural children to eat national food. I remember when I was in junior high school, the head teacher was transferred from a township. The best teacher, his proudest achievement, was that last year, 0/5 students in his class were admitted to the technical secondary school, which means that those who go to college are really favored in the upper reaches of the food chain. Even if the state does not include distribution later, with the continuous expansion of reform and the entry of foreign capital into the private economy, college students still show considerable value.
Our parents are witnesses to this historical process, and this difference is unforgettable for them. They waste and delay themselves for various reasons, but they never want the same thing to happen to their children. Therefore, for the previous generation, this mentality of wanting children to succeed is not completely critical. However, it is impossible for parents with a little sense of responsibility not to care about their children's academic performance.
It's just that this change of fate is very different today. Good jobs are too scarce today, and there are too many so-called college students. It's hard to say how much college can change your destiny compared with high school graduates. Education plays an increasingly weak role in changing your destiny, unless you can keep rolling in and climbing. But that's for a few people.
The space-time environment in which our parents live is so different from ours, which is also the root of many misunderstandings and tragedies.