Work all through the weekend except the Sabbath."(Ruth McBride, 108). At the time Ruth McBride would have told one she was being over worked which was ultimately responsible for what helped her to succeed in life. If Tateh had not of made Ruth work all those long hours and study with tutors outside of school, she wouldn't have been the strong independent woman she came to be along with her strong views on education.
Ruth's dedication to her children's education stems from her Jewish background. People always say they never want to raise their children like their parents raised them, but that's not always the case. One might go about it a different way but almost everyone ultimately follows the same path to some degree as their parents did. Even though Ruth does becomes a converted Christian, when it comes to her children's education one can definitely see those deep Jewish roots shine through bright as day. Like her father, any old school wouldn't be ok for her children. Ruth McBride only wanted the best education for her children, and would stop at nothing to do her part in making them the most successful bunch of scholars they could be. "She invariably chose predominantly Jewish public schools" (James McBride, 88). This wasn't to make her children "who were half black" have a more difficult time fitting into school, which they inevitably did, but to make sure her children got the best education. At the time the inner city schools that her children would have been attending were extremely under funded and didn't have much to offer in terms of extra circular actives which she found important. The distance of the schools that the McBride children attended were nothing more than daily chores. "By age twelve, I was traveling an hour and a half one way to junior high school by myself, taking two buses in each direction every day."(James McBride, 88). Ruth wasn't just adamant about going to school.
