A Phenomenological Study To Engage African-American Youth Voice In Deliberations Regarding Their Response To Schooling

<p>To examine disparities in education, the researcher utilized a naturalistic approach to uncover how youth think, talk, and feel about their response to schooling. Findings are based on in-depth conversations with 12 inner city African-American kids enrolled in Urban, USA middle and high schools, rarely heard from in the scholarly literature. Students conveyed a belief system that schooling was the route to upward mobility, however, their responses to academic exercises seem to suggest an indifference. Primary findings suggest that students' (a) sense of safety and family tradition were key factors of student school selection; (b) understanding of how levels of success correlate with the opportunity structure was limited; (c) decision to not give voice was an attribution of respect for their teachers; (d) choice for "social life," often to the neglect of schooling, was to have a balanced teen experience rather than opposition to schooling. Future research recommended was to help students discover how their own contradictions impact their educational opportunities.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education Evaluation and Research

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Coulter, Donna Michelle

Contributors dc:contributor

• Karen Tonso

• African-American
• community forces
• education
• social life
• violence
• youth
• African American Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/645

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wayne.edu:oa_dissertations-1644