NEW AND EXTENDED INTERVIEWS

Congressman Cuellar spoke passionately about the importance of education in his own life and its role as a key ingredient to success later in life.

The greatest equalizer we have in society [is education].  To me its very personal…my father had only a sixth grade education and my mother a third grade…because in those days they took them out to work in the fields, the more hands you had, the more money you had working in the fields…different economy, different type of thinking at that time.

I’m the oldest of eight kids. My parents didn’t have much money, but they gave us a lot of support. They taught us three main things: one was the importance of faith; two was the importance of education; and three was the importance of hard work to get ahead in life.  So those three principles have been very important to me, and this is why education has been important, because my parents basically said, ‘If you’re going to get ahead in life and better yourself, you have to get an education.’

I took that to heart. This is why education has always been a top priority to me when I was a Texas state rep, Secretary of State in Texas, and of course, as a U.S. Congressman.  In Texas, when I was there we put more money into education—both public and higher ed—than at any time in the last 25 years. I’m the author of House Bill 713, which is the Texas Grant, the largest scholarship program in Texas history. So, this has been very very important, and a lot of it is personal…Like my parents said, education has been the greatest equalizer we have. They can take away the material things you have, but they can never take away education.