I chose to write my final exam reaction paper on the article "Do you know where the parents of your children are?" because I believe parental involvement in the school system and the education of their own children is an extremely important issue. Hugh McKeown mentions that parental involvement is limited to mostly White, English speaking, Christian parents and I would have to agree. Our society has been fashioned to put precedence on just that, the White community. .
I can still remember the school systems that I attended announcing "parent - teacher conferences". The teachers would stress to use to make sure to tell our parents to attend and if they did we would get extra credit points. I even have observed such practices during my teaching observations. From what I gather it is almost a bribe to get the parents to attend, even though they would rather not. I see it as a reflection of a lack of importance on the parent's behalf to be involved in the child's education. .
Parent involvement with the school can be beneficial along a number of lines. For one, it not only shows the child that education is important, it reveals to the child that what they are doing is important to their parents and in that manner it becomes a motivational tool. In our society, the people in power (in this case the parents) always lead by example and if the parents are not active participants in the child's education, the student could receive the mixed message that education is not too important. .
I believe that it is our job as educators to not only lead by example and motivate our students to learn, but it is always our responsibility to provide the parents with a comfortable and accepting atmosphere in which they feel they can become actively involved in their child's educational success. However that is accomplished is up to us and our peers. If needed we could turn to one of our greatest and lest used assets, the students, for their input on how to make their parents feel comfortable with becoming a part of the school community.