Inconvenient youth: A critical exploration of marginalized adolescents' perceptions of traditional high school

Abstract

This qualitative study was designed to explore the dropout phenomenon through marginalized adolescents' retrospective perceptions and experiences of care and belonging, power and privilege within the traditional high school environment. In addition, this study examined the role these constructs may or may not have played in the participants' decision to leave the traditional high school prior to graduation. Critical theory provided the theoretical perspective for this study with the intent to add to the depths of emancipatory knowledge within the fields of dropout research and marginalized youth. This study authorized student perspectives and presented authentic voice uncovered in qualitative data through individual interview sessions. Along with the extensive use of quotations, I used the poetic representation of data by writing found poems with the goal of building an emotional bridge between the reader and the participants. Findings indicate that marginalized adolescents' success at school may be related to experiences of care, belonging, power, and privilege. In addition, findings reveal that early school leaving may be an act of resistance to school ideologies and hegemonic structures.