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MA/PhD Theses Abstracts of Current Students & Alumni |
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Martinez-Ramos, Yolanda G. 1997. Migrant Farmworker Families, Cultural Capital and Schooling: An Anthropological Anallysis of Implications for Intervention.
Abstract: For decades social scientists and educational researchers have focused on the educational attainment of minority students. Explanations for the poor educational attainment of some minority students have often centered around intellectual capacity, limited English proficiency, environmental circumstances, educationally impoverished home environments or low parental involvement in the education of the child. Current societal and policy trends have once again focused their attention on the role parents play in the education of their children. In Florida, school reform for the 1997-98 academic year calls for great parental involvement. Although the legislature does not explicitly state what is meant by parental involvement there is a clear understanding among school personnel and teachers of what they expect from parents.
Migrant students sometimes constitute 80% or 90% of the student population in agricultural areas with a high migrant farmworker population. Migrant students are among the minority student population with the highest at-risk factors for school failure. The purpose of this study is to report data on interviews with Mexican migrant farmworkers parents about how they define education, the role they play in their children's education and what they believed teachers expected from them as parents. Furthermore, teachers and other school personnel were also interviewed about their perception on parental involvement and were asked to share some of their expectations.
In general, findings indicate that there is a disjuncture between what the mothers and teachers interviewed believe about education, what children should know to succeed in life and the role each plays in the process. The similarities and differences provide an insight into the adequacy of current educational policy. Special attention should be given to cultural, educational and economic circumstances in order to develop programs that more sensitively address the needs of Mexican migrant farmworker families and their children.
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