Hmm...I don't see that anyone has said or even implied "middle class" here. Certainly I didn't mean anything like that. My family was nowhere near middle class, although I wasn't aware of that at the time. My parents valued education and the acquisition and use of knowledge above all else, despite their both having dropped out of high school. My mother spent her life fighting with school districts to try and get the best education she could for us and for the kids who followed after we had all graduated. I don't think many (if any) of either side of my family ever went to college, but my parents didn't see intelligence and knowledge as having a lot to do with going to school--they worked hard to make the schools teach as well as possible, but they believed you can get an education regardless of the school and irrespective of wealth if you put your mind to it. Luckily, since we had a lousy school and no money, but tons of books.
