| Many poor secondary school students in Nicaragua have 'beaten the odds,' and are attending secondary school even though research would predict that they would already have dropped out of school. They come from poor families and attend under-resourced public schools. Why do they stay in school, especially in low quality schools? What are these students' views?;The motivation to stay in school comes from the students themselves and their families---schools do little or nothing, either formally or informally, to promote student continuation in school. The students have developed a schooled identity with which they declare their aspirations even when they cannot actually attend school. They take full responsibility for their successes and failures, despite the lack of responsiveness of schools to their needs. The youth continue to attend school, the most logical vehicle for social mobility and hope for a better future.;This thesis looks at three Managua secondary schools and 23 youth who attend, or attended, those schools. It looks at the regional, national, local and family context of youth experiences, and at schools and their impact on youth decision-making. It considers resistance theory, social capital, and schooled identity as a way to understand youth. It listens to student voices to better understand the way that youth construct their schooled identity. It looks at youth experiences within the context of the schools they attend, and looks at the connection between individual meaning making and the institutions of schools, and the way in which secondary education contributes to the idea of social mobility and to social mobility itself. |
