[psycr]

>> My mother didn't "sacrifice" everything for us, she worked hard; became a programmer; and didn't allow my sibling and I to work less then her.

That's what parent means by self-selecting, which is being used in the sense described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-selection_bias - a perfectly innocuous meaning.

(I say this as someone who has no pony in this race - I'm neither a resident, nor citizen, nor etc of the US)