BACKGROUND
We continue the discussion of our theme, ‘Who are you your students?’ We spend some time learning about the home and school connections of Mexican-American students. The articles are particularly interesting. The first one is by Holloway, Park, Jonas, Bempechat and Li. You will notice that I will refer to this article as Holloway et al., This is an abbreviation that is used in the APA citation style. Also, I am too lazy to write out their names. (hahaha). The second is by Goldstein and Kurpius.
Holloway et. al., (2014) examine the connections between home and school life from the student perspective. Data includes lots of interviews and discussions of students talking about conversations with their parents and their home lives. Here’s a bit of the abstract.
Relatively little research has examined the ways in which immigrant Latino parents can effectively support their adolescent children’s schooling. To address this gap, we conducted in-depth interviews with 32 Mexican-heritage 9th graders. Students identified parents’ advice giving as the most salient form of involvement. Parental advice emphasized the importance of persisting in school, avoiding hardship as experienced by parents, and exhibiting social competence in relationships with peers and teachers. Parental advice giving was transmitted most effectively in the context of parent–child closeness. The findings form a basis for fostering effective and sustainable parent–school partnerships.
It’s interesting, right? In the second essay, Goldstein and Kurpius ask similar questions but interview the parents of Mexican-American children. Here’s a brief descriiption.
Latinos, particularly Mexican immigrants, are the fastest-growing population in the United States but lag behind others in educational attainment. Parent involvement in their child’s education has been linked to positive student academic outcomes, but few studies have focused specifically on Latino/a parents. To identify and promote culturally salient parent involvement approaches for Mexican immigrant parents,
this qualitative strength-based study investigated motivations, actions, and culture of 11 Mexican immigrant parents of students who attended a selective college preparatory high school. The study found that a parent’s effort to help their children succeed is not dependent on high levels of parent education or income. Rather, the home-based strategies, many of which are rooted in the Latino culture, and specific
outreach by educators influenced parent involvement.
Finally, I want to add a background reading from Valdez. Her book chapter on the language situation of immigrants in the United States is landmark piece of scholarship in the area of English learners. I do not require an assignment from this reading. It’s too old, but I would recommend that you read it. Paired with the updated statistics on English language learners in Nevada, it is a powerful yet poignant account of bilingualism and language shift among the Mexican-American community.
LINK HERE FOR TEXT: McKay and Wong Ch. 2: Language Situation of Mexican Americans
(There might be minor organizational or spelling errors in this text as it is a scanned-to-text copy of the article)
There is a lot to learn about culture and its connection to schooling, but this will give you a start which will allow you to approach your students from a place of understanding.
TASK
In approximately two pages, answer ONE of the questions below.
How do Goldsmith and Kurpius (2018) and Holloway, Park and Jonas (2014) draw the reader in through the use of consejos? In what ways does consejos make you feel as if you are part of the family and the broader tradition? In your answer draw on responses from both articles. Fully explain your thinking and reactions. (2 pages minimum)
OR
It’s possible to view the lives of the parents as bad examples and lacking cultural capital. In what ways does this article defeat the deficit perspective and buoy the funds of knowledge perspective? (2 pages minimum)
MATERIALS
1. Holloway, Park and Jonas (2014) article: My Mom Always Tells Me I Should Follow the Rules
2. Goldsmith and Kurpius (2018) article: Fostering the Academic Success of Their Children: Voices of Mexican Immigrant Parents
READING NOTES
Holloway, Park and Jonas (2014) and Goldsmith and Kurpius (2018) write about the broader topic of family and school connections. Holloway et al. (2014) examines the perceptions of students while Goldsmith and Kurpius (2018) reports on the beliefs and experiences of parents. Both researchers use the word, “consejos.” Goldsmith and Kurpius (2018) define the term below.
The meaning goes beyond the notion of advice for the purpose of solving a problem … Consejos implies a cultural domain of communication, imbued with emotional empathy, compassion, and familial expectation”(p.314). According to Espinoza-Herold(2007), Spanish-speaking parents’ use of consejos (along with dichos, or proverbs) is an example of their “strong oral traditions [in which] meaning is transmitted inter-personally and inter-generationally, and social discourse is embedded in highly contextualized situations (p. 268).
Throughout both studies the researchers give lengthy accounts of parents describing their hardships that they attribute to not understanding English and only having a limited education. Both researchers argue that when one looks behind the scenes, consejos is a tradition that helps students to succeed.
