Latino Congregations and Youth Educational Expectations

Racial Expropriation in Higher Education: Are Whiter Hispanic Serving Institutions More Likely to Receive Minority Serving Institution Funds?

“…Many of these inequities persist. Despite high levels of educational aspirations and expectations (Bohon, Johnson, and Gorman 2006; Langenkamp 2017; Sanchez et al 2016), Latinxs continue to have the highest rates of high school noncompletion (Krogstad 2016). Despite increasing rates of college enrollment, they also maintain the lowest rate four-year college degree attainment of any major ethnoracial group in the country (Gramlich 2017; Krogstad 2016).…”

Breaking with an anticollege tradition: Latinx Pentecostal students and college choice.

“…Only one known study took the anticollege aspects of Pentecostal communities into specific consideration when researching Latinx education. Sánchez et al (2016) found that Latinx Pentecostal students are more likely to have lower educational expectations than Latinx Evangelicals; however, they did not find significant evidence of religious hostilities toward education motivating their Latinx Pentecostal participants. Rather, they suggest that larger numbers of Pentecostals come from low-income backgrounds which negatively impact educational expectations.…”

“…This provides support for our findings that suggest a progressive shift among younger Latinx Pentecostal students who are breaking from an anticollege attitude, possibly influenced by a Latinx cultural experience that may amplify a drive for equity and community advancement. Further, our study speaks to the work of researcher Esmeralda Sánchez, who after highlighting the “toxic rhetoric against higher education attainment” that she personally experienced in Latinx Pentecostal churches (Sánchez, 2014), was unable to find a significant level of anticollege attitudes impacting college expectations of Latinx Pentecostal students (Sánchez et al, 2016). We offer a possible explanation of generational shifts within Latinx Pentecostal communities where traditional anticollege attitudes coexist with the college aspirations of younger generations who seek to challenge the systematic oppression of their communities.…”

“…Pentecostalism, historically and to this day, continues to thrive predominantly in low-income areas (Garneau & Schwadel, 2013). Sánchez et al (2016) encouraged further research seeking to understand how Latinx Pentecostals interact with their education processes. In response, we offer a phenomenological approach to make a further contribution to the topic.…”

Aspiring to Do All Things Through Him Who Strengthens? Quixotic Hope, Religiosity, and Mental Health in Emerging Adulthood

“…Although less voluminous than work on religion and educational attainment, there is also some research suggesting that higher levels of religiosity should encourage youth to aspire to high academic goals, with some exceptions. One prior study found church attendance to be associated with higher academic aspirations in a sample of Latino youth (Sanchez et al 2016). Goals that on the surface may appear to have little to do with spiritual needs may in fact be perceived by people of faith as having spiritual character and significance (Trask and Goodall 2018).…”