Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 MINORITY BOYS SCHOOL DROPOUT AND CONTINUATION SCHOOL 2 Literature Review Literature Review It is expected that every student enrolled in high school works hard towards the completion of their high school diploma. However, research indicates there was a 5.4% drop out among the minority groups, in which 6.4% of the overall status dropout rate is that of the male youth. Among the Africans, Hispanics, and American Indian Natives, the dropout rates among the boys are 8%, 10%, and 11.6%, respectively (Musu-Gillette, De Brey, McFarland, Hussar, Sonnenberg, & Wilkinson-Flicker, 2017). These dropouts often join continuation schools later in life with the hope that they will get an equivalent of their high school diploma. The theoretical framework of this research is based on the phenomenological approach, in which the aim is to examine the occurrence of school dropout among minority boys and their performance after joining continuation school. One of the theories that explain why minority boys drop out of school is the Critical Race Theory. The model argues that education opportunities are often affected by an individual’s race and racism (Colbert, 2017). Based on this theory, minority groups are often faced with issues such as poverty and racial discrimination in schools, which causes some of the male students to drop out of school. Racism victims in school feel inferior to the whites and sometimes feel like they do not deserve a quality education, and they end up falling behind in school. Cultural production theory, on the other hand, explains why the dropouts choose to go back to school. The theory holds that the education system helps to level out the playing field so that people get equal opportunities to make their lives. The approach provides an essential perspective as to why minority boys dropouts join continuation schools and complete their learning process. According to Bania, Lydersen, and Kvernmo (2016), non-completion of high school mostly results from different problems, most of which are health-related. In research in which the authors carried out among the youths in the Arctic, they found out that dropout rates were higher among males. Additionally, minority males often drop out due to mental issues. Based on the article, education affects an individual’s employment opportunities and income, as well as the quality of life, which explains why the dropouts choose to join continuation schools later in life. Hernandez and Ortez (2019) undertake research in which they analyze the experiences of some Latinas who are enrolled in continuation school. Based on the writers’ claims, continuation schools have put in place strategies that enable the students to cope and realize that they have an opportunity to succeed just like any other individual. Additionally, due to the improvement in the prospects for quality education presented to the marginalized groups, the article indicates that there are .

1. Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW 1
MINORITY BOYS SCHOOL DROPOUT AND
CONTINUATION SCHOOL 2
Literature Review
Literature Review
It is expected that every student enrolled in high school works
hard towards the completion of their high school diploma.
However, research indicates there was a 5.4% drop out among
the minority groups, in which 6.4% of the overall status dropout
rate is that of the male youth. Among the Africans, Hispanics,
and American Indian Natives, the dropout rates among the boys
are 8%, 10%, and 11.6%, respectively (Musu-Gillette, De Brey,
McFarland, Hussar, Sonnenberg, & Wilkinson-Flicker, 2017).
These dropouts often join continuation schools later in life with
the hope that they will get an equivalent of their high school
diploma. The theoretical framework of this research is based on
the phenomenological approach, in which the aim is to examine
the occurrence of school dropout among minority boys and their
performance after joining continuation school.
One of the theories that explain why minority boys drop out of
school is the Critical Race Theory. The model argues that
education opportunities are often affected by an individual’s
race and racism (Colbert, 2017). Based on this theory, minority
groups are often faced with issues such as poverty and racial
discrimination in schools, which causes some of the male

2. students to drop out of school. Racism victims in school feel
inferior to the whites and sometimes feel like they do not
deserve a quality education, and they end up falling behind in
school.
Cultural production theory, on the other hand, explains why the
dropouts choose to go back to school. The theory holds that the
education system helps to level out the playing field so that
people get equal opportunities to make their lives. The approach
provides an essential perspective as to why minority boys
dropouts join continuation schools and complete their learning
process.
According to Bania, Lydersen, and Kvernmo (2016), non-
completion of high school mostly results from different
problems, most of which are health-related. In research in which
the authors carried out among the youths in the Arctic, they
found out that dropout rates were higher among males.
Additionally, minority males often drop out due to mental
issues. Based on the article, education affects an individual’s
employment opportunities and income, as well as the quality of
life, which explains why the dropouts choose to join
continuation schools later in life.
Hernandez and Ortez (2019) undertake research in which they
analyze the experiences of some Latinas who are enrolled in
continuation school. Based on the writers’ claims, continuation
schools have put in place strategies that enable the students to
cope and realize that they have an opportunity to succeed just
like any other individual. Additionally, due to the improvement
in the prospects for quality education presented to the
marginalized groups, the article indicates that there are high
chances of success for students attending alternative schools.
Shea and Giles (2016) claim that students who enroll in
occupational therapy programs have the ability to succeed. They
usually have a goal of achieving in life and will sometimes opt
to get postsecondary education. However, the success of school
dropouts who join continuation school is highly dependent on

3. the programs that they have to go through at school. For
instance, students are sometimes taken through occupational
therapy programs, which are meant to help in a smooth
transition between the two levels of education. Additionally,
students learn not to allow their social class, ethnicity, race, and
religion, among others, to prevent them from successfully
getting their high school diploma. What is more, continuation
school helps in creating self-awareness, which improves success
rates.
References
Bania, E. V., Lydersen, S., & Kvernmo, S. (2016). Non-
completion of upper secondary school among female and male
young adults in an Arctic sociocultural context; the NAAHS
study. BMC public health, 16(1), 960.
Colbert, J. L. (2017). Examining the Phenomenon of Dropping
Out of High School Through the Perspectives and Experiences
of the African American Male. Theses and Dissertations.
Hernandez, E., & Ortez, J. E. (2019). “I am Not a Failure”:
Embracing the Assets of Latinas in Continuation High
Schools. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1-14.
Musu-Gillette, L., De Brey, C., McFarland, J., Hussar, W.,
Sonnenberg, W., & Wilkinson-Flicker, S. (2017). Status and
Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2017.
NCES 2017-051. National Center for Education Statistics.
Shea, C. K., & Giles, G. M. (2016). Goals and expectations of
continuation high school students transitioning to postsecondary
education. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 4(4), 5.
Student’s Last Name 2
Student’ Name
Karen Seneferu
English 102-01
4 October 2019
Segregation: Alive & Visible
(Introduction)Nikole Hannah-Jones details her experience of
racial segregation in her essay “Choosing a School for my

4. Daughter in a Segregated Society.” Her options are between
predominantly white private institutions or under resourced
schools for black and Latino children. Hannah-Jones resists the
two-tiered system by desiring to place her daughter in the
segregated, low income schools in hopes to integrate the school
economically. Her and her husband Faraji demonstrate privilege
because they have a choice between two structures of education.
This is an opportunity many families of color do not have.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling segregation as
unconstitutional in Brown v. Board, economic and social
segregation between white, black or brown students exists as a
result of America’s racist history.(Thesis) School segregation
results from ignorance towards the social wounds that remain
long after a policy is overturned, housing discrimination, and a
disproportion of power in the hands of a dominant race who
pass laws and policies to execute systemic racism.
(Point1)Despite segregation being overruled legally,
separation and discrimination still exist as side effects of racist
policies. This currently affects the availability of opportunities
for black and brown people in schools. (Illustration A)Hannah-
Jones points out that when segregation was overruled in 1954,
white New Yorkers believed in their progressivism over the
“backwards” South, an example of liberal naivety. Legally
segregation between white and black students was overruled.
This was thought of as a victory among liberals in coastal cities.
Hannah-Jones turns this victory inside out. She states that in
actuality schools were strategically placed in deeply segregated
areas of New York. Hannah-Jones writes,(Illustration B) “At a
meeting of the Urban League around the time of the decision, he
[Kenneth Clark] charged that though New York had no law
requiring segregation, it intentionally separated its students by
assigning them to schools based on their race or building
schools deep in segregated neighborhoods” (5). (Explanation)
Clark states black children were attending worse schools than
other black children in the South, proving the ignorance of
democratic New Yorkers. Ignorance to the disparity perpetuated

5. and inherited by black and brown people is detrimental to the
opportunities available to them. Issues are thought of as
resolved because of legal overruling, but the residue lingers,
left and then ignored. This leaves black and brown individuals
in a liminal space between being ahead of their ancestors but
not yet free. White people in power do not see or willfully do
not acknowledge the side effects years of segregation and the
deprival of opportunities has on the current youth of black and
brown students. Segregation is still perpetuated despite the
removal of the policy and it is retained through social means for
reasons rooted in racism.
(Point 2)Racial segregation correlates directly with
housing discrimination towards black and brown people.
(Illustration A)Hannah Jones interviews the Macbeths, a veteran
family who moved into the Farragut Buildings in 1952. The
Farragut buildings were initially set up to house veterans
returning from war and their families. At the time the project
housed both black and white people. By the 1960s, white people
had the advantage of using Administration insured loans to buy
themselves out of the projects. Black people were prevented
from buying homes, even after discrimination became illegal in
1968, because provisions in deeds prevented the sale to black
buyers. Hannah-Jones states, (Illustration B) “They [the
McBeths] continued to rent while many of their white neighbors
bought homes and built wealth. Scholars attribute a large part of
the yawning wealth gap between black and white Americans —
the typical white person has 13 times the wealth of a typical
black person — to discriminatory housing policies” (14).
(Explanation) Housing discrimination prevents families and
people of color from moving out of impoverished
neighborhoods. In turn, children are born and raised in those
same neighborhoods their predecessors were unable to leave or
fully own. Black people are unable to build profit from their
assets for their descendants to inherit. From the beginning, the
housing system was designed for black people to stay separate
as well as unable to build wealth to expand beyond their

6. assigned parameters. This means the residential system and the
economic system denying financial help to black families has
inherently black and white people are not equal, and therefore
do not deserve fair treatment.
(Point 3)In America, the people in power are historically
white. The policies and laws being passed are to the advantage
of those in power. (Illustration A) Hannah- Jones details a
rezoning she attends at a Brooklyn elementary school. The
education council holds a meeting to vote on the integration of
schools in the district. Parents of students attend the lower
income schools worry about their kids who were there from the
beginning being forgotten in the wake of white children being
hurriedly accommodated by the council. A petition was signed
for half of the seat to be guaranteed for children of lower
income to ensure that the school would be truly integrated. The
rezoning was approved but the seats held for 50 percent low-
income was set-aside. Hannah-Jones states:
(Illustration B) This rezoning did not occur because it was in
the best interests of P.S. 307’s black and Latino children, but
because it served the interests of the wealthy, white parents of
Brooklyn Heights…the plan would send future students from the
only three Farragut buildings that had been zoned for P.S. 8 to
P.S. 307, ultimately removing almostall low-income students
from P.S. 8 and turning it into one of the most affluent schools
in the city. (17) (Explanation) The rezoning was seen as a
success on the road towards integration, but in actuality its
white children that fill the seats that black and brown children
once filled. The president of the council David Goldsmith, a
white man, didn’t see the value of holding low income seats for
students in one school. The black and brown body once again is
displaced in favor of the white body. Under the guise of
progress towards integration, minority children suffer the
disadvantages of white policy makers in power. Black and
brown children are unable to receive the same education and
priority as white children. Their future selves are placed in
further social, economic and financial inequality— perpetuating

7. the cycle of systemic racism.
(Reintroduction)Nikole Hanna-Jones explains how the
segregation is perpetuated by society even after policies are
removed. She expresses the impact segregation has not only on
her daughter, but the lives of all black and brown children who
are subject to an education system rooted in racism. American
social, economic, and financial systems were created in favor of
the white body and white people inherit this power. Black and
brown people inherit social segregation and policies that place
them at an inherent disadvantage. The wounds black and brown
people carry must be repeatedly recognized by those in power in
order to be repaired. (Restatement of the thesis)True integration
means low-income children of color must have an equal number
of seats in any space they have with white children, then
opportunity is truly shared. Otherwise, the basis of America’s
democracy remains fractured and its values a lie.
2
2nd Essay Prompt
April 4th-200 Points. I don’t accept late papers.
Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands: La Fronterais a personal
narrative that is a mix of cultural criticism, summary of history
poetry, prose – sometimes all on the same page as hybridity.
She focuses on self-identities as Mestiza, Chicana, feminist, and
lesbian. Her work is based on borders. In her book, Anzaldua
encourages proactive identity as a form of construction,
destruction, and reconstruction towards liberations.
This assignment is an argumentative essay where you will write
about yourself as a subject of interest. This first-person

8. narrative is designed for you to identify the multiple ways you
function in society. Like Anzaldua, you will critique how you
live in the world. You will establish an argument about your
identity as student, non-white, white, female, male, gay,
class,privilege, passing, immigrant, religious or spiritual
person, atheist, agnostic, artist, activist, and any other forms of
identity not mentioned here. Consider #RaceAnd to get a sense
of how to analyze yourself; then pull quotations from
Anzaldua’s text to ground your arguments.
Again, in this paper, you are required to write in first person
“I.” However, the form of the essay still has the four parts:
Point, Illustration A, Illustration B, and Explanation, except
your point and explanation will be in first person. You will still
summarize quotes from the reading, except it is Gloria
Anzaldua’s text. Don’t write your essay like you do your
homework, however, with the PIE lettering in front of the
sentences.
This essay is not a summary of the reading, so please don’t
write Anzaldua’s name in the point or the explanation sections.
You will also implement the MLA format. Here is the link to
make sure you are clear about the form If you don’t have the
MLA format, points will be deducted for each error. Make sure
to watch the video and apply the steps to your essay before
writing.
Introduction and Thesis
1st paragraph:
1. Write a summary of Anzaldua’ book. Include the writer’s

9. name and title of the book; the book is either underlined or
italicized. The summary is five sentences long before you
introduce thesis.
2. Answer the question to get your thesis:
How do your varying identities shape your reality? The thesis
is no more than two sentences.
Body of the Essay
2nd paragraph:
1.POINT 1.
What is one of the ways your identity shapes your reality? No
more than 2 sentences for the point.
2. (ILLUSTRATION A).
Write a summary of the quotation; you do not have to begin
with the writer’s name. If you don’t introduce the writer in the
summary, put her last name in the parenthesis (Anzalduz, 23).
Summary is 5 sentences.
3. (ILLUSTRATION B).
Insert a five-lined quotation. This means each one of your
quotations must be a block quote. Watch the link. Don’t put pp.
pg, or p inside theparenthesis.

10. 4. EXPLANATION:
A. Why is this quotation important to identity? (2-3 sentences)
B. How does the analysis of the quote relate to you? (2-4
sentences)
3rd paragraph:
POINT 2.
1.What is another way your identity shapes your reality? No
more than 2 sentences for the point.
2. (ILLUSTRATION A).
Write a summary of the quotation; you do not have to begin
with the writer’s name. If you don’t introduce the writer in the
summary, put her last name in the parenthesis (Anzalduz, 23).
Summary is 5 sentences.
3. (ILLUSTRATION B).
Insert a five-lined quotation. This means each one of your
quotations must be a block quote. Watch the link. Don’t put pp.
pg, or p inside theparenthesis.
4. EXPLANATION:
A. Why is this quotation important to identity? (2-3 sentences)
B. How does the analysis of the quote relate to you? (2-4
sentences)

11. 4th Paragraph
POINT 3.
1.What is last way your identity shapes your reality? No more
than 2 sentences for the point.
2. (ILLUSTRATION A).
Write a summary of the quotation; you do not have to begin
with the writer’s name. If you don’t introduce the writer in the
summary, put her last name in the parenthesis (Anzaldua, 23).
Summary is 5 sentences.
3. (ILLUSTRATION B).
Insert a five-lined quotation. This means each one of your
quotations must be a block quotation. Watch the link. Don’t put
pp. pg, or p inside theparenthesis.
4. EXPLANATION:
A. Why is this quotation important to identity? (2-3 sentences)
B. How does this analysis of the quote relate to you? (2-4
sentences)
Conclusion
5th Paragraph:
1. Reintroduce the introduction with the writer’s name. Do not
include the title of the book. (4-5 sentences)

12. 2. Reintroduce the thesis. (1-2 sentences)