Fighting for Crumbs: Access and Exclusion at Elite High Schools in the United States

• In Event: (Re)Claiming Cities and Schools: Gentrification, School Closures, and Access to Opportunity

Abstract

The model minority myth has emerged as a daunting force in US politics and contemporary discourse. Few studies, however, examine the model minority myth at the high school level, particularly as notions of merit are resisted. This qualitative study examines online news articles and government documents vis-à-vis efforts to eliminate “merit-based” admission at Lowell High School and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. I employ critical discourse studies and critical studies of race to examine (1) how does the model minority myth reproduce neoliberal multiculturalism? and (2) how does the model minority myth shape contemporary discourses about social change? Findings show that the reemergence of the model minority myth differs from its earlier iterations during the 1960s-1980s.

Author

• Omar Davila Jr., Santa Clara University