Fracturing Opportunity: Mexican Migrant Students and College-going Literacy

Fracturing Opportunity demonstrates a simple yet profound idea - that educational opportunity is learned. And if it is learned, then it can be taught and taught more equitably. This book brings sociocultural theories of learning and development to bear on the persistent problems of inequality in college access, and presents an innovative framework for understanding and addressing the historic inequities that plague educational opportunity. Through ethnographic documentation of Mexican migrants' educational experiences, the book moves beyond traditional inquiry on aspiration, academic preparation, and college matriculation to explore the deeper, more fundamental sense-making processes that mediate how students among the most vulnerable cultural communities in the United States engage in college-going. This is an excellent text for educators and researchers interested in equal educational opportunity generally, Mexican migrant and Chicano education in particular, and scholars interested in applied critical sociocultural theory and critical ethnographic methods.