How Mexican immigrant adults in a new destination community experience educational aspiration: a phenomenological inquiry

Abstract

Today, like no other, is a milestone for not only me, but also for so many who have touched my life. I first want to thank my best friend and the love of my life, Tim. It is because of you, I no longer allow others to define who I am. Thank you for pushing, pulling, demanding, and sometimes begging me to go beyond and insisting that I learn how to believe in myself. Your love is like no other. You are the keeper of my heart; you are my soulmate, the light in the darkness, and the passion that feeds my desire.Thank you for listening, letting me yell, scream, cry, and laugh with you, to you, and at you! You never doubted me, even when I doubted myself, always believing in my capabilities. A wise man once told me, "You can do anything you put your mind to." He was wrong. We can do anything we put our mind to. I love you.Cole, Cale, and Cade…I tear as I think of the sacrifices you have made on my behalf. I thank you for supporting me, loving me, and believing in me. I am so proud to be your mom-blessed to watch you all grow and develop into wonderful young men. I cherish the unconditional love, hours of laughter, jokes at the supper table (even when I did not get them), and emotional strength the three of you give to me each day. I ask each of you to do something for me. Cole, never give-up on your dreams, embrace your strengths, and keep fighting for what is right even when you do not understand your purpose; Cale, continue to be compassionate, hold tight to your values, and always believe in yourself; Cade, stay true to yourself, love yourself, accept your faults, and press onward. I love all of you very much! vi To my mom, you are my best friend, my cheerleader, and my role model. Thank you for all the times you kept after me to push forward, for the hours of talks over glasses of wine, and the daycare moments so Tim and I could get away. We have been through a lot, but have seen the benefits of persistence. You have taught me to not give-up on my dreams, to not take no for an answer, and that sometimes things work out for the bestmottos to live by in today's world. I love you with all my heart! I would like to thank my committee chair, Katherine Richardson Bruna, and my committee members, Lyn Brodersen, Sharon Drake, Larry Ebbers, and Constance Beecher for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. Dr. Bruna, you were my rock, my advocate, my mentor! Thank you for never giving up on me and pushing me to find my creative side, a piece of me I never thought could be possible! Thank you so much for always being there when I needed to talk, cry, celebrate, or share my frustrations. Dr. Ebbers all I can say is thank you for believing in me! You are an amazing person who saw my potential, something I never could see in myself-until I met you. Dr. Drake, I will always remember your email after taking the GRE, telling me that I did great-even when you had no idea how I did. Your intuition and timeliness is impeccable. Dr. Brodersen, you are an inspiration for all women in leadership. I am so proud...

It Takes a Village: Listening to Parents

“…Sarker, Karim and Suffin (2017) [2] explored the gender inequalities in tertiary education caused by parental attitudes and their educational aspiration. Wilson (2016) [3] looked at the phenomenological perspective of educational aspiration of the Mexican immigrant to a new world where qualification for skills jobs opportunity is far beyond Year 12 certification. In Zhou, Li and Jordan (2019) [4]'s work, issue of parental interest for their children to study abroad was well discussed, but not related to the growing concern of a whole community on the issue of educational aspiration of their children.…”

“…Typically, in the literature exploration, the word educational intent, attainment, interest, motivation, ambition, expectation and others were interchangeably used to connote educational aspiration without any clear definition of the terms [3]. Moreover, these studies were more ethically and rurally focused unlike 'it takes a village' that explored demographics of the participants to understand the reason for low aspiration among the youths in NT.…”