Hard Work and Perseverance Are Not Enough: How Merit Narratives Undermine Success for Urban Youth

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Angles, Lenses, and Filters: Narrative Spaces

Abstract

This paper analyzes interview data from secondary students to explore how youth make sense of the stories their teachers tell about success, Specifically, narrative inquiry is used to analyze how students “take up” stories told by their educators to understand themselves as students. The American Dream provides perspective as a cultural merit narrative enacted in schools. We then outline the tenets of meritocracy as a theoretical frame. Finally, we look at how repetition of the meritocratic myth lays the foundation upon which inequities are maintained in our schools (Kumashiro, 2008). We end this paper, by discussing the implications these stories have on student identity and student ability to navigate inequitable learning environments.

Authors

• Amy Michelle Olson, Duquesne University

• Gretchen Givens Generett, Duquesne University