What does this mean?
Stereotype: Low income parents do not care about their children's education, and they are seen as not competent enough to help with homework, and they do not encourage achievement.
- What tends to happen, as a result of this stereotype, is that it leads to the families involved feeling disrespected, unimportant, and incompetent when it comes to their child and their education. This only leads to less involvement from the parents or caregivers, and resulting in them being more weary of the public school system. It is a constant cycle, with actions of the parents and the school systems reinforcing the stereotype.
historical Background
Traditional family ideal- heterogeneous family, with their own children, an authority figure, aka a father earning the family wage, and a stay at home mother. Women's roles are primarily in the home, while the man's is in the public world of work. There is also the separation of work and family.
“Two elements of the traditional family ideal are especially problematic for African-American women. First, the assumed split between the “public” sphere of paid employment and the “private” sphere of unpaid family responsibilities had never worked out for U.S. Black women…If one assumes that real men work and real women take care of families, then African-Americans suffer from deficient ideas concerning gender. In particular, Black women become less “feminine,” because they work outside the home, work for pay and thus compete with men, and their work takes them away from their children.”(Black Feminist Thought, Pg. 47)
Therefore, most often African American families do not fit into the traditional family ideal, they are often everything that it is not. This highlights one of the reasons that causes this cycle of lack of involvement. The schools may be thinking of the traditional family ideal, so when parents or guardians of their students do not fit into this, it creates a disconnect and there is a lack of trust between the school and the family.
“Two elements of the traditional family ideal are especially problematic for African-American women. First, the assumed split between the “public” sphere of paid employment and the “private” sphere of unpaid family responsibilities had never worked out for U.S. Black women…If one assumes that real men work and real women take care of families, then African-Americans suffer from deficient ideas concerning gender. In particular, Black women become less “feminine,” because they work outside the home, work for pay and thus compete with men, and their work takes them away from their children.”(Black Feminist Thought, Pg. 47)
Therefore, most often African American families do not fit into the traditional family ideal, they are often everything that it is not. This highlights one of the reasons that causes this cycle of lack of involvement. The schools may be thinking of the traditional family ideal, so when parents or guardians of their students do not fit into this, it creates a disconnect and there is a lack of trust between the school and the family.
examples in at-risk
Afternoon Tea: Dorothy lives with her mother, no father figure. In an effort to enhance her daughter's education, her mother enrolls her in a weekend program. In one incident, the women in the program have the girls write an essay about a woman of their choice, and all the girls wrote about their mothers. The program leaders don't like their essays, and ask them to "...think of dynamic women, women who were the first of their kind ever to do something, women who broke race and gender barriers."(p.35) Dorothy responds with "My mother was the first woman in her family to leave Jamaica and come live in the U.S."
The program leaders don't believe that the mothers of the girls could be strong role models or break boundaries, because of their backgrounds and where they live. They are probably almost all single mothers, maybe even were young mothers, so this makes them incapable of being a "dynamic woman". They have these assumptions, and this can create the cycle of lack of involvement, trust, and animosity.
Pan is Dead: Peter is very smart and gifted, his mother's response to this is "You think it's good. I'd like to see how you feel when you've got to take off work to go up to his school because every time you turn around some teacher's calling you to come get him!"(p. 51)
Peter's mother doesn't have a good relationship with the school. She sees her son's gift as a curse, and too much fuss. It is a big deal for her to take time off work to deal with school issues, because she is raising her two children on her own.
The program leaders don't believe that the mothers of the girls could be strong role models or break boundaries, because of their backgrounds and where they live. They are probably almost all single mothers, maybe even were young mothers, so this makes them incapable of being a "dynamic woman". They have these assumptions, and this can create the cycle of lack of involvement, trust, and animosity.
Pan is Dead: Peter is very smart and gifted, his mother's response to this is "You think it's good. I'd like to see how you feel when you've got to take off work to go up to his school because every time you turn around some teacher's calling you to come get him!"(p. 51)
Peter's mother doesn't have a good relationship with the school. She sees her son's gift as a curse, and too much fuss. It is a big deal for her to take time off work to deal with school issues, because she is raising her two children on her own.
In the news
How and Why Urban Schools Fail to Engage Parents of Color
“Since the positive correlation between parent involvement and student achievement has been well documented, the under-representation of urban parents appears to be solely their fault. Conventional wisdom is that schools bend over backwards to get every parent involved, but for whatever reasons (ignorance? fear? unconcern? other priorities?) many urban parents choose not to do so. "They" are the problem. "They" don't know what's important. If "they" really loved their children... and so it goes. That communication from the school may be misdirected is never a consideration.” Huffington Post Article
Improving the Conditions for Teaching and Learning
This article looks at some of the results of a survey on needs of children in schools and the involvement of parents and how this is affecting them in school. Students who do not have health supports, and may come to school unhealthy or hungry have a much harder time focusing on their learning. And although parent involvement has increased, the survey states that parent involvement and support is much lower in high-need schools. The article also discusses some ways in which to improve the learning conditions for children.
"How then should our schools and our communities respond to the twin challenges of parent engagement and a lack of health and social supports, especially in schools serving low-income children?"Huffington Post Article
Bill Gates- “How do you Make a Teacher Great”
Over 30% of kids never finish high school, over 50% for minority kids. Even if you graduate from high school, if you’re low income, you have less than a 25% chance of ever completing a college degree. Higher chance of going to jail than of getting a four year degree
“Since the positive correlation between parent involvement and student achievement has been well documented, the under-representation of urban parents appears to be solely their fault. Conventional wisdom is that schools bend over backwards to get every parent involved, but for whatever reasons (ignorance? fear? unconcern? other priorities?) many urban parents choose not to do so. "They" are the problem. "They" don't know what's important. If "they" really loved their children... and so it goes. That communication from the school may be misdirected is never a consideration.” Huffington Post Article
Improving the Conditions for Teaching and Learning
This article looks at some of the results of a survey on needs of children in schools and the involvement of parents and how this is affecting them in school. Students who do not have health supports, and may come to school unhealthy or hungry have a much harder time focusing on their learning. And although parent involvement has increased, the survey states that parent involvement and support is much lower in high-need schools. The article also discusses some ways in which to improve the learning conditions for children.
"How then should our schools and our communities respond to the twin challenges of parent engagement and a lack of health and social supports, especially in schools serving low-income children?"Huffington Post Article
Bill Gates- “How do you Make a Teacher Great”
Over 30% of kids never finish high school, over 50% for minority kids. Even if you graduate from high school, if you’re low income, you have less than a 25% chance of ever completing a college degree. Higher chance of going to jail than of getting a four year degree
Detroit Public Schools No Joke for Cosby
Bill Cosby helps out Detroit Public Schools
Bill Cosby helps out Detroit Public Schools
Sources
Ackerman, Patricia A. "How and Why Urban Schools Fail to Engage Parents of Color." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-a-ackerman/how-and-why-urban-schools_b_885366.html>.
Altadenaschools. "Bill Gates: "How Do You Make a Teacher Great?" Part 1." YouTube. YouTube, 18 June 2009. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnfzZEREfQs>.
Blank, Martin J. "Improving the Conditions for Teaching and Learning." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-j-blank/improving-the-conditions-_b_1345650.html>.
"Detroit Public Schools No Joke for Cosby." YouTube. YouTube, 01 Sept. 2009. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvxz7nHAH8>.
Hill, Collins Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
"Parent Involvement." Inner City Schooling. University of Michigan. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mitchellyellin.356/home>.
"Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children's ElementaryEducation." Nova Southeastern University (NSU) a Private, Research University. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR5-3/mcdermott.html>.
Altadenaschools. "Bill Gates: "How Do You Make a Teacher Great?" Part 1." YouTube. YouTube, 18 June 2009. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnfzZEREfQs>.
Blank, Martin J. "Improving the Conditions for Teaching and Learning." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-j-blank/improving-the-conditions-_b_1345650.html>.
"Detroit Public Schools No Joke for Cosby." YouTube. YouTube, 01 Sept. 2009. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWvxz7nHAH8>.
Hill, Collins Patricia. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
"Parent Involvement." Inner City Schooling. University of Michigan. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mitchellyellin.356/home>.
"Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children's ElementaryEducation." Nova Southeastern University (NSU) a Private, Research University. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR5-3/mcdermott.html>.