Extended Essay

Some parents perceive and attribute success to how they’ve turned out and who they’ve become. In some cases, this can subtly hint to the student to drop out of school and care for family and siblings, and in other cases, it can be of encouragement to become successful, and this usually occurs in traditional and/or financially unstable families. Such teachings do not entail academic success, they are demonstrated, incorporated and stressed upon in a student’s life, thus forming their framework, who they are, and how they perceive the world. Consequently, such traditions and parenting leads to more kids who drop out from school, some because they feel bad about not being there and want to support their families, and others because they want to become like their parents who are of course, in a way, their role models. Other parents promote education even if it is not how they were raised, this is because they realise that culture has evolved (acculturation) and that it’s best to allow their kids to achieve a degree that in the long term could sustain and maintain them. Student engagement is an essential component of academic resilience (Jeremy D. Finn and Donald A. Rock, 1997), but with cultural and family traditions that are taught and passed on, student engagement becomes mediocre, and hence academic success is not achieved. The book ‘Con Respeto, bridging the distance between culturally diverse families and schools’ (by Guadalupe Valdes, 1996), observed ten families who lived in a semi-rural area near the U.S-Mexican border, in which the adults were Mexican-born. Valdes learning about their work experiences, struggles to find housing, involvement in their children's education, their cultural values, and more. She found that the hig...

... middle of paper ...

...ion students who are from immigrant families received higher grades in English and mathematics than their fellow classmates of native families. A small fraction of the success of immigrant students was attributed to their socioeconomic background and status. A more significant correlation of their achievement found in the strong emphasis and strive for success shared by the students and their parents. Such support allows for the student to succeed academically, and since thriving for and towards success in taught immigrants from a young age it becomes a part of their schema, ideology and who they are. Family are responsible for the school they choose to have their kids attend, such decision could either possibly or negatively impact a student’s academic success as their school environment and teacher also play a role who they become and whether or not they succeed.