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DISSERTATION WEIGHTED ASPIRATIONS: BECOMING A TEENAGE DROPOUT IN EL SALVADOR Submitted by Meghan Katherine Mordy Department of Sociology In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Spring 2020 Doctoral Committee: Advisor: Lori Peek Lynn Hempel Peter L. Taylor Marcela Velasco Copyright by Meghan Katherine Mordy 2020 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT WEIGHTED ASPIRATIONS: BECOMING A TEENAGE DROPOUT IN EL SALVADOR The vast majority of poor and low-income students in El Salvador drop out during middle school or early high school. This dissertation is dedicated to describing their experiences and understanding the reasons why so many of them abandon their education as teenagers. Because of the high rates of urban violence in the nation, it focuses specifically on urban youth. The findings are based on three years of qualitative fieldwork in two urban schools—La Laguna and Cerro Verde—in a densely populated city in the metropolitan region near San Salvador. I conducted over 200 days of ethnographic observations, student focus groups, teacher interviews, and a student survey at the schools. In addition, I interviewed in-depth 54 dropouts, 28 high school graduates, and 19 mothers or grandmothers. This dissertation has shown the roots of dropout as deeply entangled in family poverty, community instability, and school failure. The students at La Laguna and Cerro Verde came from very poor backgrounds, but, despite their daily hardships, they and their families had faith in education and very high aspirations to graduate high school. Most wanted to go to college and believed strongly they would achieve their dreams. The contexts of their lives, however, weighed heavily against these aspirations. The lack of living-wage jobs meant parents had very low or unstable incomes and few material resources to invest in their children’s education. The informal or blue collar work that parents did was also so stressful, tiresome, and physically degrading that it took a toll on parent-child relationships, ii adults’ relationships with one another, and health and wellbeing. Family economies were highly vulnerable to shocks. A parents’ illness, a broken marriage, or a loan coming due could deeply disrupt their ability to put food on the table. When youth saw their parents showing signs of distress many felt compelled to help out by working. Youth knew the outsized value their poor families could derive from even meager earnings and dropped of school to become wage earners of last resort. Household and community violence intensified the insecurity in poor youth’s lives. Children living in violent households suffered physically, emotionally, and educationally. Families living in violent neighborhoods limited their children’s contact with neighbors and friends. But some families experienced violence directly. Homicide, assault, threats, and police brutality devastated them, causing significant emotional and economic harm. Youth left school behind to help their families cope through what were sometimes extended crises stemming from the violence swirling all around. Schools in El Salvador have been idealized as an ameliorative for these worst aspects of poverty and tasked with the mission of providing poor children the knowledge and skills they need for gainful employment. But the situation at La Laguna and Cerro Verde showed the faulty foundations of this ideal. These schools lacked critical infrastructure, textbooks, and learning materials. Their overworked and under-trained teachers relied on outdated teaching methods and had no support systems for addressing students’ remedial issues or emotional and behavioral problems. As a result, students received very little quality instruction and learned much less than they should. A legacy of learning deficits trailed them as they passed from grade to grade. By middle school, many students lacked the basic skills they need to keep up with the curriculum. Low grades and frustration eroded their motivation to make an effort in the iii classroom. Some students became deeply disillusioned and frustrated with their lack of comprehension and dropped out of school to avoid these emotions. Others noted they could not pass and left before being flunked. A hostile school climate worsened conditions. Students could feel rebuffed and alienated by their teachers’ harsh talk and authoritarian approaches to discipline. Classmates often treated each other aggressively and fights were common. A significant number of students were threatened, harassed, or bullied by peers. Some youth experienced conflicts with teachers or peers over extended periods and, perceiving the abuse would continue or more harm could come to them, opted to drop out. In the end, the students’ and their families’ commitment to schooling was undermined by the compounding hazards of poverty. Families, schools, and communities did not have the resources needed to sustain these young people’s aspirations. This dissertation brings to life their voices and stories, displaying how a vicious circle of deeply structured inequalities batters against the dreams of poor and vulnerable children. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people. The person at the top of that list, to whom I owe the most gratitude, is my dissertation advisor, Lori Peek. She inspired this project’s focus on children and taught me qualitative methods. She became my chair even though I wasn’t proposing to do work in her area of specialization and she already had a full roster of graduate students to support as well as the incredible responsibility of leading a research center. Even with all those competing demands on her time, her support for me has been more than I could have ever asked for. She read countless proposals, memos, and long emails, spent hours with me on the phone, and revised numerous drafts of the chapters that follow. I am so deeply grateful for her sacrifice for me, but most of all I am grateful for her example. Lori, you have taught me so much more than Sociology. Your unwavering enthusiasm and compassion, your relentless drive to inspire and help the people around you, and the joyful way you take on the challenge of making this world a better place–I am inspired and uplifted by you every day. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life. I would also like to thank each the members of my committee for their participation in this project and for their advice and support. Lynn Hempel, your classes in social stratification and sociological theory were the most difficult and also the best courses I took at CSU. I had never taken a sociology class the day I first stepped into Clark B252 and had to admit I didn’t know how to say Weber. Thanks to you I learned how to think like a sociologist. Pete Taylor, your classes in classical theory and political and economic sociology shaped what I know about development and global inequality. Thank you for joining my committee towards the end of this project and for all the positive support and steady guidance you give to v me and to other graduate students. Your comments about the hope you saw in these pages, which I hadn’t noticed, has shaped what this dissertation has become. Marcela Velasco, I so enjoyed your course in political development that I asked you to join my committee. Your comments on my dissertation were deeply helpful as were your emails of support. Your words arrived when I most needed to hear encouragement–thank you. I would also like to thank Laura Raynolds and Doug Murray who were gracious bosses while I worked at the Center for Fair and Alternative Trade. Your research projects were inspiring to work on and your stories and advice about doing fieldwork in Latin America were incredibly helpful. Doug, I am especially grateful for all the long talks we have had about Central America and its history. Laura, your advice for me was always wise and kindly delivered–thank you for your concern and support. Thanks are also due to my classmates in the Sociology graduate program, who have long since moved on and are making their mark on the world. I am deeply grateful for your support and proud and envious of your achievements. Erica, Jennifer K., Michelle, Emily, and Katie – your friendship helped fill those early years with as much laughter and solidarity as there were lonely late nights trying to decipher Bourdieu. Jennifer T., your support over these last few years was such a buoy for me. Thank you. This project would not have been possible without the financial support I received from the National Science Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Program. The comments provided by the anonymous reviewers of my grant proposals were also deeply helpful in shaping the project’s design. I am also thankful for the research scholarships I was rewarded by the Rural Sociological Society and the Midwest Sociological Society. vi A special thanks goes to my family, the people I most treasure in this world. They made this project possible in countless ways. Mom and Dad, your kindness and love are why I am me. Your support has truly been unconditional and I am so grateful for the sacrifices you have made for me. Seeing your love for Amalia and how much she loves her Babba and Da has been beautiful and fun and one of the greatest joys in my life. Missy, my sister, my sounding board, and my supporter–thank you for being there when I need you most. To the Benitez family, you have made me your sister over the last fifteen years. During this project, you gave me food and shelter and the support and love. Canda, Consuelo, Corina, Lilita, and Mama Tere deserve special thanks for all the meals and long conversations.

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