An average student spends approximately seven hours in school every day. However, children need further support beyond the school curriculum in order to grow their full potential. Therefore, parents play a huge role in their children’s success. Parent involvement occurs in different forms both at home and school, yet illegal parents often face language obstacles that limit them to actively participate in their children’s education. While these cases are mostly common in rural districts, Harlem, New York, has a huge population of Spanish-speaking families. In Harlem schools, for instance, where most parents are actively involved in their children’s growth and educational development, yet a huge number of Spanish-speaking parents had a challenge in participating in traditional ways (Kumpfer, 241). This paper has focused on qualitative observation to offer a programmatic examination of the support provided by schools to offer parents the necessary support needed to properly support their children in education.
Parent Integration in Schools
Is parent integration necessary? Initially, Harlem was traditionally dominated by the white English-speaking population. The inner area was the stomping ground for most illegal Spanish families. It was later rebuilt in dense blocks in the early 20th century. A huge turnover of the African-American population led to a rapid increase in the settlement of various minority communities. More than half of the children in Harlem were from a minority background. The high-block flats dominating the area are usually considered for the poor. Even though there are clear benefits that come along with parent involvement, a majority of parents in Harlem cannot take their traditional roles since they cannot speak English. The major barriers facing Spanish-speaking families are communication barriers, cultural obstacles, and structural limitations. Communication is a fundamental aspect necessary for engaging in childhood education, and this problem automatically prevents a huge number of parents from participating in a conventional manner. Moreover, this leads to reduced trust and understanding that is often compounded by the low educational accomplishments of many parents.
Community Integration
How can community integration improve the lives of Spanish-speaking parents in Harlem? To improve the success of parent involvement, Harlem must develop strategic plans to move forward. For a parent to offer necessary support both in and out of school, progress must be encouraged in individual capacities. Encouraging individual relations between parents and their children would allow systematic change at the district level. Schools can effectively unify these efforts and take the problems faced by these parents. It is important to encourage individual relationships in order to build trust in order to eliminate the rigid categories of “school” and “parent community.”(Yoshikawa, 67) Community leaders and educators should reach out to parents in order to make them feel they are important to society. To accomplish this, community leaders and educators need to recognize the cultural differences between the parent communities and show them how to effectively involve themselves in childhood education.
Despite the multifaceted problems faced by Spanish-speaking parents, Harlem has many people dedicated to supporting this community. However, recent studies have provided a fragmented ideology, inspiration, and necessary actions. Numerous channels exist, from translated journals to literacy nights, as well as various community programs. This demonstrates that the society cares about the issue. However, the coordination between the various initiatives is more challenging than designing effective ways of including parents. If the currently fragmented factions are interconnected, the current support systems can be effectively applied to assist the set agenda, improve parent involvement, and establish sustainable improvement that can offer better educational results.
Work Cited
Kumpfer, Karol L., Virginia Molgaard, and Richard Spoth. “The Strengthening Families Program.” Preventing childhood disorders, substance abuse, and delinquency 3 (1996): 241.
Yoshikawa, Hirokazu. “Long-term effects of early childhood programs on social outcomes and delinquency.” The future of children (1995): 51-75.
