Values ​​are one of the most important traits passed down from parent to child. Parents often pass on lessons, whether they intend to do so or not, unconsciously acting as conductors of a current that flows through their children and into subsequent generations. This is the case of Ruth, the mother of James McBride and subject of his memoir The Color of Water: despite her disgust at the treatment that Tateh inflicts on her children, Ruth perpetuates her values ​​in parenthood, whether she like it or not.A value Ruth instills in her children the vitality of education to improve their lives. When expressing her opinion about the efforts of some white people to make money, she insists: “You don't need money. What is money if your mind is empty! Educate your mind! (McBride 33). As evidenced by her prioritizing education over money, she is serious about raising her children to be above average. She sees a one-way street on which a good education leads to money but not the other way around; the permanence of education trumps the ephemeral nature of money. This emphasis on wisdom over wealth reflects Tateh's education of Ruth as a child: "This gentile school will teach you nothing that you can use[.]" [...] He paid for we took private lessons in sewing and knitting. and record-keeping[.] […] He was short of money, but when it came to that sort of thing he was not cheap” (80). Although Tateh emphasizes the importance of money much more than Ruth, he is willing to pay more for his children to take private lessons in what he considers important, textiles and organization. Similarly, Ruth states that it doesn't bother her that her children don't have much money as long as they get a good education. Ruth and Tateh both hold the middle of the paper on time or suffer the consequences. Everyone has rigid expectations of their children; failure to meet these expectations results in serious corporal punishment. James McBride's mother, like Tateh before her, holds to her values ​​of education and religion; according to McBride's depiction in The Color of Water, she enforces them with an iron fist, instilling them in her children as Tateh did with her, Dee-Dee and Sam, although more out of tough love than out of pride. Despite Tateh's materialistic tendencies, Ruth maintains balance by inheriting his recognition of the dominance of education and religion over wealth in terms of quality of life. Ruth and Tateh's worldview is passed down from generation to generation, from parent to child, like all values, whether or not parents and child consent to the continued moral journey through time..