Abstract
While the number of students of Color enrolling in U.S. schools continues to grow, educators, particularly male teachers of Color, are not. Many efforts aim to recruit more teachers of Color, but little is known about what motivates them to become teachers, and exceptionally less about Latinx male teachers. This qualitative study explores how high school Latinx boys (N = 9) describe why they aspire to become teachers. The three themes that emerged were: (1) interpersonal impacts; (2) societal impacts; and (3) supporting of family. The first refers to participants aspiring to create personal connections with their future students, as some of their teachers have done with them. The second theme is that they view becoming teachers as a way to create an impact in their community and across generations. The third theme explained the role families play in providing support, inspiration, career choice autonomy to the students, and a desire to give back for their sacrifices. This study is an important step in understanding why Latinx boys aspire to become teachers. Doing so would help inform recruitment efforts by highlighting what Latinx males aspiring to become teachers find appealing about the career and ultimately help diversify the teacher labor market.
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Notes
- 1.
In this chapter, People of Color refers to people who experience similar forms of marginalization due to their non-white racial and ethnic identity within this U.S. context. The term is capitalized to confer respect to this racial identity and highlight the agency of this group.
- 2.
In this chapter, I will not italicize Spanish words in order to promote linguistic equality and to not suggest otherness of the language.
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Gaytan, J. (2021). “I’m Not Really in It for the Pay. I’m in It to Help Inspire Other Students.” Why Latinx Male High School Students Aspire to Become Teachers. In: Murti, L., Flores, G.M. (eds) Gender, Race, and Class in the Lives of Today’s Teachers. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73551-7_3
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