education in my family

In my family, especially my mom's side of the family education was the most important thing. She lived in a house with 7 kids total, 5 of them being her cousins. It was my moms dad's family, my moms uncle (dad's brother) and my mom's aunt ( dad's sister because her husband passed away) all living together along with my mom's paternal grandparents. Even though there were so many people in one mediocre size house, and none of their salaries being outrageously huge, they supported all the 7 children and made sure each one of them got a good education. That is why now all of the 7 children are doing so well in their respective lives.
My mom and 2 of her other cousins are living in the New York and Boston, working for big time companies at high positions. My moms brother is a very high ranked Indian Army Officer Engineer. He contines to study more and more by taking courses and even teaches children in the USA and Canada on the internet from his bedroom. My mom's 3 other cousins are still in New Delhi, India but each of them has a very respectable job and each one of them can support their own spouses and families from their income alone and still live a comfortable life.
The strong influence of education came from my mom's grandfather. Who after a certain age, lost his memory. He didnt recognize anyone nor was he able to do any work. However, he had such a strong will power that he re-taught himself everything he ever knew. He rememebered how to do his job, (accounts and finance), he taught himself how to read again. He served as a great influence for all his grand children. My mom said, that luckily all of her cousins, she and her brother really enjoyed studying as well, but seeing thier grandfather after all that he went through to stand up on his feet, get his job back and his respect was a great thing to look upto and thats why all of her cousins, brother and herself have a very strong will.
This is one story my mother always tells my brother and me, so that whenever we feel like giving up, we just remember my moms grandfather and we regain our self confidence. Perhaps thats why I am not only upset, but I am angry with myself when I do poor or not as well I could have on an exam or in a class, because I feel like I have no one but myself to blame and that I should have tried harder.