As an only child of an immigrant, lower-middle class, family from China, I was always told that education comes first. And only if I could succeed in grade school would I be admitted into a prestigious university, and then be offered a good job. Since elementary school back in China, it was engrained in me that I needed to receive highest scores on exams and report cards in order to succeed. Once, I had received a 98 on one of my math final exams.