Terrence Foushee - On his parents involvement in his education (clip)

Kathryn Wall: You had mentioned your parents and your brother. Was education something that, coming up, your family took very seriously?

Terrence Foushee: Oh yes [laughter], definitely. So, my parents have never played about education and I think it’s funny that I say that because I consider myself a classic underachiever and my parents never enabled me to underachieve. I always said about my mom and dad, is that they took every approach to help me break through some of the barriers that held me back as a student. They tried sometimes light parenting. They tried strict parenting. They tried the balance, but, you know, I was difficult. But my mom joined the school board in ‘97. She was somebody who constantly corrected my English. As a kid, if I said ‘brung’ - which was like one of my favorite words cause I know you brought it and don’t say that word when you’re out in public. She was always present. She contacted teachers. She made sure that she found out what was going on in class. Then in high school her relationship with Mrs. McClelland, Ms. McClelland I feel like she knew my grades before I did. I think she knew the grades before the teachers would know. If something was going on, she would contact my mother. I had people within all of the schools that I could trust but also that my parents trusted and they made sure that they were constantly in the know of what I was doing in class. So, that makes a difference when you know that your behavior is not just being monitored by yourself or when you get home, but at school you know that there are teachers that know your parents and know that if I’m not showing myself in the most positive way, that they were going to tell my parents and there was going to be some sort [of punishment].