I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal  , eggs or toasts. While others had Cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different from other kids' too. But at least I wasn't alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mother as I did.               My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, then we be gone one hour or less---not one hour and one minute. And she always insisted upon us telling the truth. Now you can see how mean she was.               The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We had to wash the dishes, make beds, and learn to cook. We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath, while the other kids always wore their clothes for days. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.               Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We could not lie in bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school. Our marks in school had to be up to par. Our friends' report cards had beautiful color1s on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.               As the years rolled by, we were one by one put to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out.               My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You're right, our mean mother. She forced us to grow up into educated and honest adults.                Now I am trying to raise my three children. I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Because, you see, I had the meanest mother in the whole world. The author's mother wanted her children to   _   .
be top students in school and graduate with honor do their best at school and be educated and respected citizens stop seeing her friends who pretended to be sick to skip classes bring home color1ed report cards like her friends did