Fostering Critical Hope and Optimism With Urban Youth

• In Event: Social Justice in Youth Spaces

Abstract

Hope and optimism are associated with health and psychological benefits, success in school, resilience, and protection against depression (Seligman, 1991). Creating a framework of “false hope” versus “critical hope,” Duncan-Andrade (2009) calls into question the kind of hope teachers are aiming to foster in students and argues that hope not grounded in critical reflection can have negative results. Using Duncan-Andrade’s (2009) conceptualization of hope, this mixed-methods analysis (as a part of a larger four-year study of over 400 youth of color attending six charter high schools in five northeastern cities) examines the differences that emerge in the expressions of hope and optimism from students attending two of these schools and the role they play in navigating inequality and bias.

Authors

• Madora Soutter, Boston University

• Pauline Elizabeth Jennett, Boston University

• Scott Clifford Seider, Boston University

• Daren Graves, Simmons College