A Qualitative Exploration of Gang-Involved Latino Boys' Educational and Career Aspirations in K–12

• In Event: Linkages Between Education and the Criminal Legal System

Abstract

Objectives. K-12 school districts struggle to engage over one-million gang-involved students in building the social and academic skills to prepare them for their futures. School personnel often opt to suspend, expel, transfer, or use other punitive criminal (in)justice methods to mitigate the risks of having “gang kids” in their schools (Brotherton, 1996; Rios, 2017). These criminal justice-lead practices contribute to gang-involved youth feeling dismissed by educators, leading students to drop out or be pushed out of school before earning an educational credential (Pyrooz, 2014). In a nationally representative sample, Pyrooz (2014) found that only 50% of gang-associated youth graduate from U.S. high schools, and less than 5% earn a college degree. Huerta et al. (2020) found that counselors often withhold valuable college information from gang-involved youth because educators believed these students did not warrant concerted investment or support to reach college. These practices contribute to gang youth living in poverty, experiencing employment instability, and deep involvement in the criminal legal system (Gilman et al., 2014). Ultimately, educators are encouraged to move away from traditional criminal (in)justice practices and embrace new strategies to engage youth to break away from gangs and to help students access technical information for career preparation. This paper offers a unique student-level perspective to answer the following research questions: (a) What future careers do gang-associated Latino boys want to pursue? (b) What educational credentials do gang-associated Latino boys believe they need to pursue specific career fields?

Theory. This paper applies Oyserman and Markus’s (1990) possible selves (PS) frames to show how gang-involved Latino boys make sense of their futures. PS is guided by three dimensions: hoped-for, expected, and feared selves that manifest in the lives of Latino boys as involuntarily living with their parents throughout adulthood or being poor for the rest of their lives (Huerta, 2022). This paper centers on hoped-for selves that can represent aspirations to enroll and complete college to “become somebody” by earning “good money” (Carey, 2022).

Methods. This narrative study centers on in-depth and individual semi-structured interviews with 28 Latino middle and high school boys who disclosed their gang involvement in [redacted] County across three urban alternative schools. I use three-cycle coding, open, axial, and then selective coding.

Findings. Seven of the 28 students hoped to attend a four-year college or university; an equal number planned to attend a two-year college, vocational, or trade school. Over half of the participants still have not decided to attend college or settle on a specific trade school, college, or university. In this paper, I center on two interconnected findings 1) career opportunities after high school and 2) educational credentials needed for specific careers.

Scholarly significance. Community colleges and four-year universities have a unique opportunity to engage gang-involved youth who often need to be considered college material. Instead of allowing criminal (in)justice practices to dictate the lives of gang youth in K-12, education personnel should consider this population worthy of educational opportunities and eventual postsecondary education credentials.

Author

• Adrian H. Huerta, University of Southern California