Obstacles That Prevent Parental Involvement

 Parental involvement in education is a wonderful thing, but sometimes there are things that prevent parents from getting involved. For instance, a parent that went to college is more likely to be involved in their child’s education than one who did not attend college. Those parents who did not attend college may feel as though they can’t contribute to their child’s education because they didn’t pursue a higher education for themselves. If parents are unable to help their child on their homework, then they can still get involved in their school activities. Even something as small as asking how school is going can cause an impact for the better on their child’s education. Another obstacle that parents have to face is poverty levels. Studies have shown that parents that are above poverty level are more likely to be involved in their child’s educational process than one who is below poverty level.  With the economy the way it is today, it’s understandable that parents might have to work longer hours or take jobs that prevent them from helping out with activities at their child’s school, but they can still get involved in other ways. Even the minimal amount of involvement in education from the parent may cause a major turnaround in their student’s performance at school. Also, African American and Hispanic parents are less likely to get involved as well which can lead to the stereotype that those nationalities have acquired over the years (Parent Involvement in Schools). Another obstacle is the race or language of the parents. Generally if a parent doesn’t speak English, they are less likely to get involved with their child’s education by going to school functions or meetings. According to researchers, schools should be, “providing communications to families in a language and at a reading level all families can understand; ensuring adequate representation of the entire community of parents on school advisory committees; and distributing information provided at workshops to the families who could not attend” (Parental Involvement in Education- Research on Parental Involvement, Effects on Parental Involvement, Obstacles to Parental Involvement, Controversies, Current Issues). The biggest obstacle preventing parents from getting involved is their mindset. A lot of parents believe that they only need to be involved throughout their child’s elementary years, but in reality, they need to be involved throughout their child’s entire education (Carvalho). Though there are many obstacles, there are different programs set in place that accommodate those obstacles.

Some say that peer pressure has more of an effect on how well a child does in school, because how else can the discrepancies within families be explained when the parents are equally involved? In my family, my parents have been involved in my brother’s, sister’s, and my education. However, whereas I am a straight A student, my brother and sister are not. They still have the capacity of being straight A students, but when I asked them why they didn’t work hard to get the good grades they replied with, “We’re not nerds.” There has been astigmatism placed on getting good grades that is preventing students from reaching their full capacity. When a student has to change their answers so that not all of them are correct because they feel as though being smart and getting A’s isn’t “cool”, it’s a sign that things have gone too far.  If more parents were active in their child’s education then they might not deem it necessary to hide their potential (Peer Pressure Affects Academic Performance).

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http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/pdf/39_PDF.pdf