University of California Irvine Immigration and Education in America Discussion

In this discussion board, please engage with your classmates around the article(s):

Gonzales et al. (2015), Olivas (2010), and/or Pabon Lopez (2004).

You have two choices. You can either post a reaction to one of the papers (see my sample below) or you can react to another student’s post (I will provide a sample once someone posts).

My reaction

Paper: Gonzales et al. (2015)

I found Gonzales et al. (2015) particularly interesting and powerful. It provided another perspective to a common theme in this course, “the purpose of schooling.” I was so impressed by the rich qualitative data the authors collected; they were able to capture the tension that Labaree (1997) outlined in his work. For some, K-12 education serves as an engine of social mobility and, as Gonzales et al. (2015) poignantly describe, a place to help define one’s identity in the broader citizenry. For others, however, it intensifies social stratification and feelings of being an “outsider, looking in.” For undocumented students, the ladder intensifies post K-12 given the barriers they face to higher education (exclusion from financial aid, for example) and the reality of legal limitations outside the schooling environment. Both situations prevent undocumented students from fully utilizing (and embracing) educational goods that lead to the notion of “flourishing.” As an educator and individual committed to helping all students “flourish,” articles like this make me pause and think about ways to use my position and resources towards identifying structural barriers in the education system and advancing change.