Tensions, Contradictions, and Resistance: An Activist's Reflection of the Struggles of Latino Parents in the Public School System

Abstract

Substantial literature suggests that parent participation is beneficial to student success. Latino parents, however, have traditionally been underrepresented in their children's schools. Historically, this phenomenon has been explicated using deficit perspectives which have viewed Latino parents as culpable for their children's academic and social failure, arguments which have failed to capture the complexity of the relationship between these parents and the public school system. This article is a parent activist's narrative. Integrating personal experience and parental voices, it examines tensions in the relationship between Latino parents and the public schools. The author suggests that Latino parents can resist, challenge, and even transform contradictory and "oppressive" school policies and practices, particularly when accompanied by political consciousness.