Case Studies in Social Death: The Criminalization and Dehumanization of Six Black and Latino Boys

To fully grasp the systems of oppression youth of color must navigate, educators must consider their experiences outside as well as inside the classroom. This paper adds to the small but growing body of literature across fields highlighting how Black and Latinx youth are simultaneously positioned by schools and the justice system as criminals that must be contained and removed from school and society. This paper argues that the concept of social death, which refers to social suffering as a result of criminalization and dehumanization, helps contextualize the process by which carceral oppression manifests in students’ lives. Based on an interview study with thirty adults who were first incarcerated as adolescents, this paper focuses on three Black and three Latino male participants’ experiences with social death in schools and their neighborhoods.

Mechanisms of Matriculation: School Counseling Resources and College Going for Latino Men

This study extends prior work on the college-going efforts of Latino boys and adolescents (Latinos) by examining the extent to which meeting with a school counselor is related to their college-going aspirations and whether they apply to and ultimately matriculate to college. The study utilizes social capital and social reproduction theories to hypothesize about school counselors’ role in Latinos’ postsecondary matriculation. Utilizing data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we used logistic regression to test the hypotheses that contact with a school counselor is related to an increased likelihood of intent to matriculate, application to 4-year institutions, and enrollment in college. We found that Latinos were just as likely as their White counterparts to aspire to college and just as likely to enroll if they applied. Moreover, those odds were not related to having visited a school counselor in ninth or 11th grade. We also found that Latinos who met with a school counselor in ninth grade were significantly less likely to apply to a 4-year institution while those who met with a counselor in 11th grade were significantly more likely to apply. We discuss the implications of our findings in light of existing research and make recommendations for future research and practice.

Rigor restricted: Unequal participation in advanced placement

Although participation in Advanced Placement programs has been expanding rapidly across the United States, participation among marginalized students generally, and boys of color in particular, has remained lower than for other students. In his observations at an urban high school, Suneal Kolluri found that, if they were going to put in the work required in these classes, Black and Latino boys needed to feel connected to the teachers and the curriculum. Some signed up for AP classes because they liked the teachers, but when they got the impression that those teachers didn’t believe in them, they disengaged. In addition, they didn’t see the value of the content presented in AP classes. Although teachers and counselors tried to motivate them by explaining that it would prepare them for college, the students were unconvinced that they needed this help.

Stereotype Threat in High School Classrooms: How It links to Teacher Mindset Climate, Mathematics Anxiety, and Achievement

As stereotype threat was initially examined in the tradition of experimental research, the effects of stereotype threat have often been tested by temporarily manipulating social identity threat mainly among college students. To extend the literature to adolescents’ naturalistic experience of stereotype threat, we examined 9th grade adolescents’ stereotype threat using National Study of Learning Mindsets data (n~= 6,040; 48.5% girls). Black and Latino boys experienced higher levels of stereotype threat in high school mathematics classrooms, as compared to black/Latino girls and white peers. When students perceived their teachers to create fixed mindset climate, students experienced greater stereotype threat. Stereotype threat, in turn, negatively predicted later achievement via heightened anxiety among black/Latino boys and white girls. The findings highlight the importance of forming mathematics classrooms that cultivate growth mindset and minimize the threat to students’ social identity.

Resisting the Neoliberal Role Model: Latino Male Mentors’ Perspectives on the Intersectional Politics of Role Modeling

This article reports on research with two Latino male youth workers who express strong criticism of their positioning as “positive” role models for struggling Latino boys in a Latino male mentorship program. Drawing from analytic frameworks attune to the intersectional politics of race and neoliberalism, this article centers the voices of these educators to raise important questions about the neoliberal logics commonly undergirding intervention strategies aimed at boys and young men of color. In particular, these youth workers outline the ways neoliberal notions of respectability and heteropatriarchy become the expected performances for Latino men working with Latino boys. They also describe the ways they resist the positive male role model label to challenge neoliberal definitions of Latino manhood.