Parents' Aspirations

Recent surveys of the Latino community point to deeply-held beliefs about the value of higher education. A study by the Pew Hispanic Center (2004) revealed that the majority of Latino respondents associated a college degree with success in life. Not surprisingly, 95% of the respondents also said that it was “very important” to them that their children attend college. In interviews with primarily working-class Mexican immigrants, Stanton-Salazar (2001) found that parents held great hopes for their children, and that these aspirations were communicated to the children in the form of exhortations to work hard in school. However, these messages did not actually increase the likelihood that the children would succeed academically. As Stanton-Salazar writes, “such a value-centered strategy of supporting their adolescents…did not directly translate into a support system that could yield needed institutional resources and support” (p. 105).

Similarly, in a study of parents’ influences on their children’s postsecondary planning, Wimberly and Noeth (2004) found that parents’ primary contributions came in the form of motivation, good intentions, and encouragement. However, parents were not always able to provide useful information and direction to their children. Tornatzky, Cutler, and Lee (2002) observe that lower educational attainment among Latinos, compared to that of Whites and African-Americans, may signify a lack of knowledge about how the U.S. educational system works. Chrispeels and Rivero (2001) found that, in fact, after receiving classes about the educational system, Latino parents became more active in helping their children realize dreams of higher education. Specifically, parents reported increased levels of engagement with their children and with their children’s schools.