College, Career, and Community Readiness: Latino Student Experiences and Perceptions of Community Engagement in Oakland

• In Event: 487 - Section on Teaching and Learning Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Efforts in Professionalization

Abstract

While the role of schooling has long been argued as reproducing social stratification and inequality (Bowles and Gintis, 2011; Oakes, 2005), current rhetoric demonstrates the “current neoliberal turn” (Lipman, 2012) by framing the purpose of schooling as human capital development—preparing students for their role in the labor market—at the expense of other foci such as developing the skills necessary for democratic participation. In an attempt to foment youth democratic engagement, Oakland Unified School District leadership has attempted to include “community readiness” to their list of graduation requirements. This interview-based study of Latino students in a social-justice centered high school in the Fruitvale area of Oakland explores how youth conceptualize community, the issues they find most urgent, opinions as to their causes and the role they feel schools should and do play in fomenting democratic and civic engagement.

Author

• Dinorah Sánchez Loza, University of California-Berkeley