Review of Con Respeto: Bridging the Distances Between Culturally Diverse Families and Schools : An Ethnographic Portrait (Paperback)

Finally! Finally we have an ethnographer who is able, or maybe just willing, to research the heart of the matter.Why do immigrant children have problems assimilating; why are they less likely to go to class; whyare they less likely to graduate; why do they feel marginalized?GuadalupeValdes attempts to answer these questions in her book Con Respeto byinterviewing and observing the lives of ten mexican-american families. Similar ethnographies have focused on the school environment --- what arethese immigrant children experiencing at school that would cause them to bemarginalized the way they are?Valdes, who still looks at the schoolenvironment, spends the majority of her time examining the families of theimmigrant students, and what their home life consists of.This deeperexamination proves very fruitful by clearing up possible misconceptions onecould have walked away with after reading books like Jocks and Burnouts,Gender Play, and Made in America.Are the parents responsible for thetriumphs, and in many cases, the failures of their children in school? Valdes would say, yes, but only partially.The schools, Valdes feels,could still do more, or at least communicate more effectively with theparents.

What can be done to make the learning experiences of theseimmigrant children more pleasant and more fruitful?Until now, themajority of literature has focused on what the school could do differentlyin terms of how they could better teach these children.Strategies havebeen mentioned like better understanding of the children's needs, or betterunderstanding of the children's culture, or more money and resources formaterials designed to use the child's own culture as a basis of thecurriculum.Valdes, on the other hand, makes a strong case that maybe theparents should be given a better understanding as to why education isimportant in the first place, thus empowering them to help their ownchildren succeed at school.

Throughout Con Respeto, Valdes illustrateshow the relationship between the parent and child could develop into onethat is discouraging to the child's education.She states that even thoughthe families recognize that school is important they often do not know why. She shows that as a result, these parents could send mixed signals totheir children and actually hamper their education.She also shows howparents might become fearful of the education their children are getting: will my children some day leave me, will my children stop respecting me,will they think I'm dumb.These beliefs by parents could also be harmfulto a child's education.

As to what should be done, the issue still seemssomewhat uncertain.There are plenty of good arguments for governmentintervention and for the "changing of families," as Valdes put it.Thereare also plenty of good arguments for the flip side:leave the familiesalone, or at least, don't intervene, which, by the way, Valdes acknowledgesas very important.Valdes makes it clear, in her final chapter, that shesupports neither side fully, and that what should be done is uncertain -- perhaps, Valdes reveals, people should just understand what these familiesare going through.

Product Description
This is the story of ten Mexican immigrant families and of how each goes about the business of surviving and learning to succeed in a new world. It describes how the parents prepare their children for a rapidly changing world so as to become competent adults.

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