When Boys Become Men: Latino Middle School Boys and Identity Development

• In Event: De Niños a Hombres: Understanding the Educational Pipeline of Latinos From Middle Through Graduate School

Abstract

Current literature that attempts to understand the educational experience of Latino students focuses largely on the high school experience of these students and vastly skips the experience of Latino middle school students (Valenzuela, 1999; Stanton-Salazar, 2001; Gibson, Gandara, & Koyama, 2004; Conchas, 2006). This study aims to expand the literature on the middle school experience of Latino boys as they transition from childhood into adulthood. Specifically, this study aims at answering the following questions: How do young male Latino students come to think of themselves as men? How does the identity development process impact the academic development of Latino middle school students? How do students begin to situate themselves in the larger context of the community, outside of school?
Using theories of social capital (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995; Stanton-Salazar, 2001) and racial identity formation (Tatum, 1992; Helms, 1995; Phinney & Cantu, 1997), this paper aims to understand how young Latino males come to think of themselves as men and the roles that schools play in their racial and academic development. Through this framework, I analyze how students begin to construct their identity and how they begin to position themselves in the larger community.
This study employed a “basic” qualitative research design that took place in the Bay Area in Northern California in Spring of 2011 (Merriam, 2009). Participants attend Dolores Charter School, a 5th through 8th grade school that is predominantly Mexican-American, with a majority of the community being first or second generation immigrant families. 12 students were identified with help of the school staff and participated in the initial focus group interview, from which six students emerged, who participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Students discussed how they felt about their schools, their communities and peers during the focused group. Follow up questions from the focus group were answered along with questions about family and future career plans during individual interviews.
Findings from this study show that students are conscious about the role that race and gender play in their schooling and in their community, in particular how being Mexican American is perceived by adults around them. Most students had adopted negative views towards their school and teachers because they believed that their teachers were racist and gave preference towards females and students who were on non-Mexican origin. Students are becoming aware and adopting a certain beliefs as to how boys their age should act. This included acting tough around their peers in order to impress them and having a general dislike towards their schooling. Finally, students were at different stages in the development of their career aspirations, referencing parental and peer influence in the development of their aspirations.

Author

• Eligio Martinez Jr, University of Washington