Mejor Evitar que Lamentar: The Impact of Violence on School Attachment in El Salvador

• In Event: 485 - Section on Sociology of Development Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Children, Violence, and Health

Abstract

This paper draws from a three year research project at two urban schools in a suburb of San Salvador to examine the impact of violence on students’ school attachment in El Salvador. Fieldwork included participant observation in grades six through nine and a survey, focus groups, and in-depth interviews with youth. The project aims to highlight the voices and experiences of youth from the developing world. The paper describes how schools are central in the lives of poor urban adolescents. These youth believe in the importance of education, enjoy going to school, and appreciate their teachers. For their part, teachers strive to care for their students and provide assistance when students experience personal troubles. However, young people’s attachment to school is an iterative process, built up or eroded during day-to-day interactions with teachers, peers, and staff. In El Salvador, this process disadvantages youth with community or family ties to gangs. Teachers interpret ordinary behavioral problems, such as being aggressive with peers, talking back to teachers or staff, or goofing off in class, as signals that youth are uninterested in getting an education. When these same youth have perceived gang ties, teachers may believe they only come to school for nefarious reasons, such as extorting other youth or recruiting them to gangs. Teachers target these youth with extra discipline. When these youth feel harassed, they remove themselves from school to avoid problems. In effect, schools become compliant in marginalizing the most at-risk poor urban adolescents, those with perceived ties to gangs.

Author

• Meghan Katherine Mordy, Colorado State University