A number of these parents describe very negative experiences they had when they were students and then dropping out of school. Jill recounts stories of her schooling and feeling disempowered because she could not keep up with her classmates. She lacked support from home as well as school. Finally, she gave up completely and dropped out of school after grade 10. Julie also had a difficult and non-supportive home situation. Although she managed to remain for high school, she was moved to a modified program. As an adult, she was tested and rated at a sixth grade equivalency level.

The low-income parents' level of educational achievement places them with lower educational qualifications than the middle class for the most part and they may not have the academic skills to support their children if they require assistance with schoolwork. Also, many of these families have serious health issues, as outlined previously, that cannot be overlooked. For some, their stress level may be high and at times they simply are not in a physical or mental state to be able to offer support for the children, even though they are capable of doing the work.

These parents who were not successful with their own educational endeavours may be ill-equipped to encourage and support their children's educational pursuits. It is evident that Jill's negative feelings about her own schooling have carried over to give her a sense of uneasiness towards the school and she expresses a kind of apprehension or even fear about her son's education.

Beth describes how she really loved school as a child until she missed time in grade 4 due to an illness. As she says, "Then I failed grade 4 because I was sick and then after that it just started going downhill…I was in the hospital for 49 days…because I missed so much they wanted me to repeat." That started a downward spiral in her interest in school. As the years went by, Beth missed more and more classes, but by her choice this time rather than illness, "I missed more time than I was there…Yeah…jigged [skipped classes]. There was only one course that I really liked [in high school]. And it was about the only course that I passed [at the regular academic level.]" Beth was then placed in a modified program with fewer academic demands. Her husband, Doug, also had a difficult time in school. He claims that "A lot of people were picking on me so…one day…I had a lot of trouble at school so I quit. And I told them, 'you're all crazy, I quit!'"