Immigrant parents have extremely high expectations for their children's educational pathways and research has shown that children internalize these expectations and use them as motivation to succeed.
But family is a complicated influence. In research by Fuligni and colleagues they found that while feelings of family obligation aided children in school, family obligation behaviors (amount of time spent helping family) could have the opposite affect.
In a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center on "Latinos and Education" we again see a conflicting influence. While Latino parents were more likely to
say that children should go to college after school than other parents, the most common response for why Latino young adults did not continue their education was that they needed to support their family.
It seems reasonable to believe that when families are better supported through policy we will see less of a gap between educational expectations and educational attainment.
But family is a complicated influence. In research by Fuligni and colleagues they found that while feelings of family obligation aided children in school, family obligation behaviors (amount of time spent helping family) could have the opposite affect.
In a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center on "Latinos and Education" we again see a conflicting influence. While Latino parents were more likely to
say that children should go to college after school than other parents, the most common response for why Latino young adults did not continue their education was that they needed to support their family.It seems reasonable to believe that when families are better supported through policy we will see less of a gap between educational expectations and educational attainment.
Absolutely. The root causes have been known for a long time. We're just too slow getting around to doing something about them. Life assistance to families in poverty can remove the need for financial contribution by the children. That life assistance isn't always money, either. Removing the high cost of health care can free up family dollars and (indirectly) improve the stats on education.
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