Parents: the Latino secret weapon in education
by Jen M.D. Matos
When I was a little girl, my mother looked me straight in the eye and said “Jennifer, you’re going to school until you have gray hair!” I remember thinking “Wow. I am going to be old—at least 40 years old by the time I completed school.
This decree from my mother was one early indicator that mom deeply valued education. However, mom didn’t just say she valued education, she showed me. Every night, before she started her 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at the hospital, she would check my homework for neatness and completion and perform a “surprise inspection” of my book bag. If I didn’t finish a math problem, that problem would greet me at breakfast.
When the nuns at school sent home letters to parents asking permission to “paddle” us if we got out of hand, my
