Parental Narratives and Racialized Schooling Experiences among Mexican Americans

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Educational Attainment

Abstract

Research on Mexican American educational incorporation has shown that their educational attainment improves from immigrant parents to their children, but that it stagnates between the second and third generations. The literature largely attributes the educational advancement of the second generation to the optimism instilled by their immigrant parents, while the educational stagnation of the third generation is due to the disillusioned prospects for upward mobility instilled by their U.S.-born parents. However, this literature fails to account adequately for the institution of schooling in explaining Mexican American educational stagnation. Using 41 in-depth interviews with Mexican American young adults, I examine the link between parental narratives and high school experiences among those with immigrant and U.S.-born parents. Specifically, I find that parental narratives differ for Mexican Americans with immigrant or US-born parents. While respondents with immigrant parents emphasized the exploitative working conditions of their parents as motivation to achieve academically, respondents with U.S.-born parents emphasized challenging negative Mexican stereotypes by succeeding in school as educational motivation. Moreover, Mexican American educational experiences illuminate a pattern of racialization through schooling. I contend that the racialized treatment Mexican Americans experience in high school compared to their Asian and White counterparts shape their educational trajectories beyond the educational drive inculcated by their parents. Consequently, my findings demonstrate that the racialized high school experiences of Mexican Americans trumps the educational motivation instilled by their immigrant or U.S.-born parents. This study informs assimilation research on Mexican Americans by exploring how racialization through schooling negatively shapes their educational progress.

Author

• Casandra Danielle Salgado, University of California-Los Angeles