Full Description

Help Your Children Succeed in High School and Go to College is a guide for Latino parents that stresses the importance of education and provides a framework for parents to put their children on a college-bound path. It explains the American educational system, how parents can get involved, how to help children stay focused and motivated, scholarships available for Latino children, student loans, choosing the right college, and the college application process.

Table of Contents

Introduction
- A Note for Parents with Undocumented Children

Chapter 1: Let’s Get Some Inspiration

Chapter 2: The Basics
- Choosing a High School
- Raising the Academic Bar for Minority Students
- Requirements
- Attendance
- Grades and Grade Point Average
- Learn About Key Exams and Programs
- Tracking, Streaming, Ability Grouping
- Volunteering

Chapter 3: Other Ways to Fulfill High School Requirements
- Long Distance Learning
- Night School
- GED

Chapter 4: Extracurricular Activities and Summer Programs
- Extracurricular Activities
- Summer Programs

Chapter 5: Parent Involvement in High School
- Identifying Mentors
- Keeping Communication Channels Open
- Choosing Courses
- Getting to Know the Teachers
- Special Education in High School
- A Word on Handling Ethnically-Biased Situations
- Identifying and Supporting Your Child’s Vocation

Chapter 6: How to Help Your Child Stay in School and Out of Trouble

Chapter 7: Parents Who Have Been Separated from Their Children

Chapter 8: Options for Postsecondary Education
- Universities
- Colleges
- Community Colleges/Junior Collegs
- Technical/Vocatonal Schools

Chapter 9: What Colleges Look for in an Applicant
- Good Grades
- A Challenging Course Load
- Good SAT and ACT Scores
- Extracurricular Activities
- College Application Essay
- Letters of Recommendation
- The Interview
- Diversity and Other Important Factors
- Early Action or Early Decision

Chapter 10: Paying for College
- Financial Aid
- Saving for College
- One More Word About Paying for College

Chapter 11: Putting College on the Calendar
- 9th Grade
- 10th Grade
- 11th Grade
- 12th Grade

Message of Encouragement

Excerpt

How to Help Your Latino Child Stay in School and Out of Trouble

Excerpted from Help Your Child Succeed in High School by Mariela Dabbah ©2007

In the last few years, statistics have shown that more and more Latino kids drop out of school—or sometimes they never enter school if they are recent immigrants—to join a gang. The fast growth of urban gangs is worrying authorities and parents alike. Confronted with a lack of sense of community and belonging, young people look for an alternative that can end up being a very bad choice. This is also an increased risk for children who grew up separated from their parents and join them in the U.S. after many years.

How do you make sure your children do not get involved with the wrong people? For starters, you must talk to them and learn to listen to them. Talk to them when they are young, and never stop communicating. Always try to find out about their interests, their concerns, their dreams, and their fears. Make them feel loved, important, and worthy. Be aware that one of the reasons children join gangs is to “be someone.” Do not give them the chance to need to be someone in a dangerous environment. Help them reach their best potential by staying in school.

To find out information about different Latino gangs, how and where they operate, their colors, names and specific tattoos they wear, visit The National Alliance of Gangs Investigators’ Association (www.nagia.org).

Obviously, the best way to help your teenagers stay in school is by staying involved with their education. Again, do not think that because they want their independence, you should back off completely and ignore what is happening in school and in their lives. Teenagers need to be supervised. If you can’t be home when they get out of school, make sure they sign up for after school programs. You need to know where they are and with whom at all times.

As Jocelyn’s parents smartly point out, it is essential for you to either be home when the kids come back from school or for you to enroll them in after school programs. The secret is to supervise teenagers so that they are not hanging out with other teenagers alone
during all their free time.

You should also take into consideration that children who attended several years of school in Latin America tend to have a hard time adapting to what is usually a faster-paced system. This is a school system where teaching is less personal than in their native countries where teachers know each student personally and treat them as if they were their own kids. As Ms. Venegas points out: “Here, there are thirty to forty students per
class and teachers need to do a roll call in order to remember each students’ name.” If, on top of it, they don’t speak English, you can understand why they may feel quite lost in school. Although they will get extra help on the different subjects—usually a second
teacher in the classroom will work with them—they will need all the support at home that you can give them to make the transition a little easier.

We all know how challenging adolescents can be. Try to not take things personally, though. If all of a sudden your child doesn’t talk to you as much as he or she used to, don’t assume immediately it is because there is something wrong with the relationship. Respect their new need for privacy. They are developing their own identity and part of the process is to assert their independence. The key here is to find the balance between supervising them and allowing them a certain level of independence.

Through these difficult years kids deal with a lot of psychological and physical changes, peer pressure, and emotional ups and downs. It is important as a parent that you show them your strength and support, and most of all that you love them and are interested in
their well-being.

Things You Can Do to Help Your Child Stay out of Trouble: The Checklist

There are many things you can do to increase the chances of your children staying in school and doing well in their studies, while at the same time, staying out of trouble.

? Look for smaller schools where instruction is more personalized. This will help your children feel supported and challenged.

? Look for schools where a second language and Latino culture are valued and considered pluses and where they will not be teased or, worse, discriminated against.

? Beware of your children’s strengths and weaknesses in each subject early on, so you can get them the help they need.

? Beware of test dates and preparation requirements.

? Make your house the place where your children hang out with friends. This way, you will meet your children’s friends and you will be able to better control where your children are and how they spend their time. To accomplish this, suggest that they invite their friends to watch sport games at your house, organize little parties, informal dinners and weekend get-togethers where you welcome your children’s friends and maybe even their parents.

? Participate in school fairs, fundraisers, and so on, just as you would with your younger children. When your kids see you around school all the time, they know you can easily talk to any of their teachers.

? Make it a habit of going to school and finding out your children’s attendance, behavior, and grades, even when the school doesn’t call you. The teacher may tell you that your children are too quiet or that they do not have friends. This may indicate that there is something happening that you may not have noticed at home.

? Establish strict rules and limits. Although they rebel against them, teenagers need and want limits. It shows them that you care about them. For example, many teenagers stay up until very late at night and do not get enough sleep. This affects their school attendance and grades. So, you should limit the amount of time they spend watching television, text messaging, chatting on the Internet, playing video games or talking on the phone.

? Use things that give your children pleasure as an incentive when they achieve certain goals. For example, allow them to spend time with their friends in the evening if they prepare for a test and ace it. Take away these privileges if they don’t perform as expected.

? Try to keep a balance between being your children’s friend and being their parent. Parents who are just friends of their kids have a hard time parenting them.

? Make sure there is someone home when they return from school or that they are enrolled in extracurricular activities which keep them busy.


The best way to help your children stay in school, however, is to catch any signs of trouble early on. Doing that requires close attention on your part and a willingness to modify some of your own behavior whenever necessary.

For starters, you should always observe any changes in your children’s behavior—for example, they don’t pick up their cell phone when you call them, they answer in a bad manner when you ask something, how they dress, their eating habits, and their sleep patterns. The key to your observation is that you should avoid any criticism. When you criticize children, you push them away. They will implement their changes without you knowing about them. For instance, they may leave the expensive clothes they bought with drug money at a friend’s house, and you will never find out about it.

So, if you see any changes, ask your children questions like, “Are you making a statement wearing a bandanna?” or “Do you feel you have to wear those baggy pants because the other kids wear them?” There is a big chance that some of the changes with which your children are experimenting have to do with their age, and not with the fact that they have joined a gang or gotten into trouble.

The same is true if your children’s grades begin to drop. Explore the cause instead of criticizing or punishing them. Ask questions, such as, “Do you think you need help in this area?” or “Are you getting enough sleep?” “I know you can do better, is there something
bothering you?”

Many times criticism takes the form of comments, such as “I don’t know who you take after! You have nothing in common with me/this family” or “Your grandfather would be so embarrassed by your behavior.” Comments like these may make your children feel that they do not belong in the family and are more likely to push them in the wrong direction. Instead, your goal is to show concern and to provide a welcoming environment so they feel they can talk to you.

Many experts suggest that you organize fun outings with your family. Find out what your children enjoy and do it as a family. That way, they don’t feel that they can only have fun with people outside the family. Another area where you might need to modify your own behavior in order to handle teenagers growing up in the United States is in allowing them to have social time outside of school. Many teenagers feel that they have no time to hang out with their friends outside of school. If you fail to help them build time in their schedule, they will cut classes and eventually drop out. After establishing clear rules, you also need to allow time and privacy for your children to communicate with their friends.

Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Customer Reviews: