Continuing the dialogue: Latino parental involvement in education
by Jen M.D. Matos
Last week’s contribution, Parents: The Latino Secret Weapon in Education, generated a great deal of engaging discussion. This week, I thought I would provide some further insight. Several main themes on this subject emerged from you, the readers. One theme cautioned me against making this dialogue about White vs. Latino parental involvement, and another theme was that Latino parents should just be seen as parents. One reader also suggested that Latino parental involvement means more than checking book bags and homework and that there are other ways to be involved.
You are all right.
This is not, nor should it be, a conversation about White parents vs. Latino 
parents. Nor should it be a statement on my part that generalizes what all of the White or all of the Latino parents are about, can do, are interested in, etc.
Instead, what I am introducing is a phenomenon in education where Latino parents are an asset. The research I have done on parental involvement traces the history of parental involvement to demonstrate that this concept was originally intended for White, middle-class parents.
