Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ’em About College: A Portraiture of Latino Military Veterans’ Educational Experiences

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

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to critically examine the educational experiences of Latino military veterans who graduated from one particular high school where a military going culture existed on campus. Three central research questions guide the fruition of the research:

1) What are the college pathways and post-secondary degree attainment rates for Latino military veterans?,
2) What are the educational life stories of Latino military veterans who graduated from the same southern California high school?, 3) How does race, gender and sexuality influence the life stories for Latino military veterans?

The theoretical framework employed in this study draws and builds from CRT and Anzaldua’s (1987) borderlands theory. CRT accounts for the role of race and racism in education while acknowledging the intersection of race, class, and gender (Solorzano, 1998; Solorzano, & Delgado-Bernal, 2001; Solorzano, & Yosso, 2000). This intersectional tenet of CRT is often overlooked, yet pivotal in informing how multiple social constructs play a role in shaping educational experiences for Students of Color. Consequently, the intersectional perspective of CRT is used with borderlands theory’s concept of La Facultad. Indeed, La Facultad captures a consciousness of borderlands that exists as an in-between state that refuses to privilege a single core identity, but rather speaks to a hybridity of identity that confronts racism, sexism, and homophobia (Roque Ramirez, 2006). These frameworks help ground this empirical study by underscoring the importance in examining intersectionality when researching the educational experiences of Latinos.

By borrowing elements of Lawrence-Lightfoot’s (1997) portraiture methodology to build an aesthetic whole narrative, participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview process. The rigorous analytic demands of portraiture allowed for context and voices of participants to be layered into the coding of the data. The data reduction process reveal several insightful themes including the perception that the military affords Latinos a space for cultivating a masculine self-identity. Other findings include that the military is an attractive option because it provides an immediate way to earn income and acquire funds to attend college in the future via GI Bill benefits.

This research significantly adds to the understanding of the Latino educational pipeline by highlighting a segment that often gets overlooked because Latinos who join the military after high school and later enroll in higher education follow a nontraditional pathway toward degree attainment. Other studies find that Latino high school students are heavily recruited by the military and use tactics that are counterproductive toward the goal of creating a college going culture (Schroeder, 2004; Ashford, 2005; Hardy, 2005; Merrow, 2005; Ayers, 2006). Coupled with a lack of information regarding college admission, inadequate resources, and a small number of college counselors, Latino students are taken advantage of by military recruiters who make promises of better opportunities if they join the military (Fann, Calderone, & McDonough, 2006). Consequently, military recruiters exploit Latino students who attend such schools and steer them toward military enlistment as away to afford college later by using GI Bill benefits

Author

• Eduardo Lara, University of California - Los Angeles