Friday, October 30, 2009

Parental Involvement in Schools

Align Center            Most children in the United States live in a home where the parents or guardians have full time jobs. Some parents may even be working more than one job in order to support the family. Since the parents spend so much time at work, not much attention is paid to the children. Besides the fact that the children are ignored because of work, there are aspects of the children’s lives that are also neglected. The children’s school life is one of the aspects being ignored and probably the one being ignored most since the parents assume they are under the care of their teachers.

            Truth be told, even if parents wanted to participate in school activities, this would be impossible considering the demanding work hours. Especially for low-wage workers, their jobs do not usually have flexibility or leave policies that can be used to attend their child or children’s school activities. This is affecting the children negatively because national research has shown that parental involvement directly affects school achievement and results in lower dropout rate (Krischer). In effect to this result, twelve states are now requiring that employers give school-involvement leave.

            I think that this is an excellent achievement made by the twelve different states because I agree that parental involvement can help the children’s lives in many more ways than just academically. Since parents cannot address the issue, I think it is good that legislators have recognized the issue and are now addressing it. When the parents are involved more deeply in the children’s lives they can relate more to the kids and the kids in return feel more comfortable and more loved by the parents. School involvement is a great way for parents to get involved in the children’s lives while still having their work life.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/careers/story/1192136.html

http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/39ParentalInvolvementinSchools.cfm

http://cte.ed.gov/acrn/parents/schoolsuccess.htm#1

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx8Vbeqqpno&feature=related

5 comments:

  1. Yolanda Richard
    TAL 101
    Professor Diem
    Critical response 1

    In order to have a legitimate understanding and conversation about the educational involvement of parents and the effects this involvement has on the child, we must first define parental involvement. According to the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), parental involvement is defined as student and parent discussion about school, parental rules, after-school supervision, if the child takes extra classes after school, and money allotted for education.
    This opinion that children’s failure in school is directly attributed to lack of parental involvement needs further analysis. The author claims that since parents are not going to the schools and being a part of the parent teacher conferences, their children do not succeed. A constraint on fulltime working parents’ time is not the sole factor affecting performance of children in our educational system. There are factors apart from work that inhibit the parent from fully being engaged in their child’s academic life.
    Researchers have found that “parents’ socioeconomic standing is positively correlated with parental involvement in school. Parents with higher income and greater educational attainment are more involved than parents with lower socioeconomic standing.” (Turney and Kao) A parent’s ability to provide a tutor, for their child, or their ability to provide school supplies is considered a part of parental involvement. This opinion piece does not take into account the unemployed parent. If a parent does not have any means to provide these essentials for the child, then it will directly impact the child’s performance in school.

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  3. This opinion piece also assumes and discusses parental involvements in a vacuum where parents are native-born workers. The author does not take into account that “The United States is now attracting more immigrants than any nation in the world, with 1.2 million foreign-born entering the country in 2000 and 20 million entering since the passage of the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act that reduced restrictions on non-European immigration.” (Turney and Kao)
    We must take into account different kinds of parents, such as immigrant parents and widen the spectrum when we evaluate subjects like this. Studies show that “Immigrant parents are less likely to talk to their children about school than their native-born counterparts. But immigrant parents are more likely to talk to their children about college, and immigrant youths report feeling closer to their parents than their native-born counterparts.” (Turney and Kao) Immigrant parents are less likely to be involved in their child’s education than native-born parents, even from a similar background. (Turney and Kao) Immigrant parents who are not yet assimilated into the culture or language of the United States may want to be involved in their child’s academic life, but are inhibited by language and cultural barriers. Therefore, some parents actually feel forced to leave their children in the hands of their teachers because they feel inadequate to engage with them in the culture and language of their child’s school environment.

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  4. In conclusion, this opinion insinuates that parents are driven by work and that the failure of the child solely depends on his or her parents’ work schedule. It argues that parents need to take out more time to devote to their child’s education. However, the author does not acknowledge that parental involvement can also be affected by the parents’ socio-economic stance in society and their inability to quickly assimilate the American culture and language.

    Citation:
    Turney, Kristin. and Kao, Grace. "Home and School Involvement of Minority Immigrant Parents of Young Children" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal Convention Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Aug 11, 2006

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  5. We often blame students for making excuses as to why they aren’t doing well in school, and now it’s the parents making excuses. I agree that parental involvement in education plays a large part in how well children do in school. However, I disagree that it is mostly because many parents do not have the time to be involved because of work. I feel that many parents don’t make their child’s education a priority and use work as an excuse.
    From personal experience, I can say that if parents make their child’s education a priority, like it should be, then they will find a way to be involved as much as possible. My mother was a single parent of two girls who held multiple jobs, including full time and low income jobs. She ensured that her employers knew about her children and that she was very involved in their school activities. If she had to leave early in order to come to a soccer game or marching band competition she would go to work early the next day, stay later or would work on the weekends. Growing up in a family where we struggled like many other Americans, I feel that my mother made it her priority to make our education a priority.
    Making education a main concern doesn’t mean that parents have to join the PTA or booster clubs, just talking to children about education can help a child do better in school. Whether it be asking how their day at school was or telling them about the importance of education, can help them accomplish more in school. Also, knowing how your child is feeling about school can help you better understand how to help them do better. Talking to children about school also allows parents to know how their children are doing in school instead of having to rely on the teachers and administrators.
    Although many parents do struggle with their financial situations, work, and stress, I feel that no matter what, a child’s education should be top priority. Making time for your child’s education shows that you care and that it is important which will encourage them to do well because of how important it is to their future. So instead of telling students to stop the excuses, parents need to think about what excuses their making and how both students and parents can work together to ensure the best education for the student.

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