Senior Capstone ℅ 2018

5-24-2018

Home Environment Affecting Latino Students: An Autoethnography

Joceline Lopez-Oxte
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, jlopez101467@laleadership.org
 Lopez-Oxte 1

Senior Capstone ℅ 2018

Home Environment Affecting Latino Student: An Autoethnography

Abstract
In the form of an autoethnography, the author examines the epiphany of a latino students home
environment that contributes to a constant struggle in receiving a higher education. The author
informs and explains three different factors such as parent participation, low income, and a home
environment that add up and contribute onto why latino students home environment affect them
in receiving a higher education.

Keywords:​ ​higher education, low income, parent participation, home environment

Acknowledgments
I want to thank my mom and dad for helping me in the work by leaving my alone and being able
to work on the paper in peace, I would also like to thank my sister for helping me edit the
multiple drafts I gave her. Thank you Mr. Robinett, Sidney, Ilene, Nicole, Ricardo, and to others
that also helped to correct my drafts to prepare for my final edit.
 Lopez-Oxte 2

Home Environment Affecting Latino Students: An

Autoethnography

Joceline Lopez-Oxte 
Los Angeles Leadership Academy HS, Los Angeles, California, USA 

In the form of an autoethnography, the author examines the

epiphany of a latino students home environment that contributes to
constant struggle in receiving a higher education. The author
informs and explains three different factors such as parent
participation, low income, and graduation rates that add up and
contribute onto why latino students home environment affect them
in receiving a higher education.

The Incident
The Thanksgiving dinner aroma filled the kitchen, my family and I were all sitting

around the dinner table eating the meal that my mother prepared for us. My parents were arguing

again, everything was the same, the only thing different was that we were actually eating dinner

together as a family. The argument this time and for the past two months were whether my sister

was going to college near or away from home. They didn't know the process of applying for

college or what the cost was going to be. My sister was trying to find every scholarship she could

and seek anyone who can help her when applying to colleges, but it was hard when neither my

mom or dad went to college and had no experience in this area.

“They won't even let me choose if I want to go out-of-state, I wanted to go to a school in

London, at least I can visit London in the future,” my sister said to me while we ate our dinner. It

was true that our parents did not want any of us to go out of state for many reasons. One reason

is because out-of-state schools are substantially more expensive and my parents don’t make
 Lopez-Oxte 3

enough money to afford to send us out-of-state.

Not essentially knowing what to expect for college, my parents wanted us to be as close

to home as possible. Though there are parent school meeting where they can get more

information about college, both my mom and dad cannot go due to getting out late at work.

“There was a meeting last week for parents where they went over the school year for seniors and

deadlines for college applications,” I heard my sister say to me from my right, “Did you stay?” I

asked. “Obviously, but my mom and dad won’t understand the importance of everything that I

will have to do.” she said. It was absolutely true that my parents would not get the important

facts and dates about her senior year since they couldn’t attend the meetings, insinuating that

they will not get the full understanding of how important certain deadlines are. I was simply glad

that they allowed my sister and I to go to certain field trips during the weekend to scout colleges

when other parents didn’t let their kids go. At least we were able to receive more information and

were able to ask any questions we had about college.

“Melissa dropped out, so did Oscar,” she said, “they got jobs at the mall, one in Target

and the other at Subway.” Melissa and Oscar were my sister’s friends/acquaintances and were

both seniors who were supposed to graduate that year. After she said that, all I can think about

was getting a job to help my parents pay rent or at least the electricity bill, but I told myself that

even if I got a job I won’t let it interfere with my education.

While my sister and I talked my parents continued to argue with one another. I don't

bother getting in between them like I used to, my siblings and I just let them argue while we ate.

Their bickering was giving me a headache and all I wanted to do was lay down and continue to

sleep. I remember clearing thinking that night of all the challenges my parents and my sister will
 Lopez-Oxte 4

have to face trying to further her education, after thinking that I thought “this will be happening

to me real soon.” Then and there I realized the multiple factors of a Latino student’s home

environment that were affecting us from reaching a higher education. 

Analysis

Introduction

Many view and understand Latin ethnicity based on stereotypes one had heard or seen in

books, movies, and the media. As stated in the dictionary, stereotype is a widely held but fixed

and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Stereotypically, Latino

students are associated with being part of “the hood”, which is another name for a bad

neighborhood. They are also associated with drugs and other negative stereotypes that others

affiliate them with. Due to the stereotypical thoughts and “facts” associated to latino ethnicity,

Mark Hugo Lopez research and states that “more than three-quarters (77%) of Latinos ages 16 to

25 say their parents think going to college is the most important thing to do after high school.

Just 11% say their parents think getting a full-time job after high school is the most important

thing to do” (Lopez, 2009).Latino parents do not want to live up to the stereotypes that their

children and themselves are associated with which is why education is one of the most important

choices in a Latin family, it is a way to get obtain a better education to receive a well paid and

stable job as well as being a way to break through the stereotypical barriel they are faced with.

Study of Focus

Low income is not having or earning enough money, parent involvement is the

participation a parent has towards their child whether its school or life wise, higher education is

wanting or trying to achieve a education above high school, home environment indicates a
 Lopez-Oxte 5

person’s stay-at-home life that contributes to their living surroundings and these entire keywords

are many of the important factors that execute the struggle a latino student faces in trying to go

beyond high school. Written in a research paper report named “Latinos and Education:

Explaining the Attainment Gap”, Mark Lopez informs that there are more than 56 million people

in the United States that are of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity in California, 38.9% of the

population is of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, in Los Angeles 48.9% of the population is of

Hispanic or Latino ethnicity (Lopez, 2009). There are multiple factors that prevent Latino

student from receiving the full educational experience. From examining Latino students’

financial struggles, parental involvement, and graduation rates, it is clear that Latino students’

home environment affects their reaching for a higher education.

Financial Struggle

Many Latino students who struggle academically come from low-income families. As

stated in Patricia Gandara and Frances Contreras book ​The Latino Education Crisis: The

consequences of failed social policies​:

Immigrants and children of immigrants comprise roughly one-half of the Latino

population in the United States an although almost all young children of immigrants(90

percent) are citizens themselves, more than one-quarter have parents who are not

documented, and 56 percent live in families designated “low-income” (because they earn

less than double the federal poverty level). In short, young children of immigrants have

higher levels of economic hardship that children in native-boran families. In addition,

these children of immigrants receive lower levels of benefits than do children of

native-born parents.
 Lopez-Oxte 6

With many Latino students coming from low-income families paying for college is a struggle,

especially when the most popular jobs undocumented parents can have are working in the

garment, factory, warehouse industry with other low paying jobs that can barely pay the essential

bills. It also does not help that many jobs don’t pay minimum wage, the minimum wage being

$12 an hour. According to Marta Tienda and Faith Mitchell in their book ​Hispanics and the

Future of America​ “After high school, the cost of higher education and immigrant parents'

unfamiliarity with the complex policies and practices of the U.S. education system foment low

rates of Hispanic college attendance, particularly at four-year institutions.”​ ​ Many parents not

having enough money and not understanding the U.S education system cannot send their kids to

college causing many to drop out.

Parental involvement

Most parents of Latino students are not as involved in traditional school activities.

Writing in the journal “Barriers to School Success for Latino Students”, Marrero states that

Latino parents consider engagement in the education of their children as participating in home

based activities outside of the school that assist students, and not necessarily on the traditional

model of engagement such as fundraising, school activities, and PTA membership. Latino

parents work many different hours and days to provide for their family, many do not have the

time required to attend the required meeting for additional academic information. Family

participation is one of the many main factors that help a child succeed in school, without their

support children would not feel the need to finish or continue their education. In the journal

“Parenting Influences on Latino Children’s Social Competence in the First Grade: Parental

Depression and Parent Involvement at Home and School” the authors state that “Educational
 Lopez-Oxte 7

involvement of parents is particularly beneficial for low-income Latino children because parents

often lack high-quality resources to help children succeed in school” (Valdez, Shewakramani,

Goldberg, & Padilla, 2013). Parents are the majority reason why students want to continue their

education.

Graduation rates

One stereotypical characteristic that people have on Latino student is their inability to

graduate high school. There is a logical explanation why the ​“national high school dropout rates

have indicated that Latinos have a 300% higher chance of dropping out than their Caucasian

counterparts at 4%”(Marrero, 2016). The reason being that many Latino students have had to

postpone educational aspirations in order to financially support their family members. It is not

forced when a student decides to work, “in a Pew Hispanic Center study, nearly 74% of

respondents explained that their studies were hindered by a need to work in order to provide

economic support for their families” (Lopez, 2009). Many latino students dropout of high and

not complete into college due to the language barrier that hold them back. As done in a research

in 2014, “ Mothers were asked to indicate their language of preference for the study activities:

the majority of mothers (99% of MA and 86% of DA) chose to be interviewed in Spanish”

(​Calzada, Huang, Linares-Torres, Singh, & Brotman, 2014).

Opinion

It is clear that Latino students’ home environment affects their secondary education. Not only are

they a step back in having knowledge of college awareness beforehand. They are also limited

when it comes to the cost of a university as well as the students not having the traditional support

of parents when it comes to their involvement in their children’s school. Language is another
 Lopez-Oxte 8

factor that sets students back, some are not as fluent in english their peers and their parents have

an even more difficulty with it.

Conclusion

Due to not being as privileged as their counter caucasian part, ​“Latino families value

education and work in diverse forms to contribute to their children’s success. Often, this is

overlooked by school personnel because this involvement does not fall within traditional

definitions of engagement” (​Marrero​, 2016). Latino families view education as a pathway to

their children’s success, they will try to be a part of their education and support them as best as

they can. Although their involvement is not viewed in the traditional sense where they are

involved in PTA meetings and other activities, it is one of the only way that can be involved in

their own way. These are some of the most well known and majority of the factors that

contribute a latino student from reaching a higher education.

 Lopez-Oxte 9

Reference

Calzada, E. J., Huang, K., Linares-Torres, H., Singh, S. D., & Brotman, L. (2014). “Maternal

Familismo​ and early childhood functioning in Mexican and Dominican immigrant

families”. PubMed Central. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244907/.

Gandara, P. C., & Contreras, F. (2009). ​The latino education crisis: The consequences of failed

social policies​. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Lopez, M. H. (2009). “Latinos and Education: Explaining the Attainment Gap”. ​Pew Hispanic

Marrero, F. A., (2016). “Barriers to School Success for Latino Students”. ​Journal of Education

and Learning​, Vol 5, 180-184. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1097395.pdf​.​Center.

http://assets.pewresewp-contentarch.org//uploads/sites/7/reports/115.pdf.

Mitchell, F., & Tienda, M. (2006). ​Hispanics and the Future of America​. Washington, DC:

National Academies Press.

Valdez, C. R., Shewakramani, V., Goldberg, S., & Padilla, B. (2013).​ ​“Parenting Influences on

Latino Children’s Social Competence in the First Grade: Parental Depression and Parent

Involvement at Home and School”. ​North American Journal of Psychology.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654068/.