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“You Will Do Better Then I Did” The Positive Actions Black Parents Employ To Influence Their Child’S Choice To Attend College, Meagan Mitchell

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This study employs an anti-deficit perspective in exploring how the parents of first generation, low-income African American students positively influence their child’s choice to attend college. This study examines the positive direct and indirect actions taken by African American parents with limited monetary resources to encourage their child to decide to attend college when they have not finished a four-year degree themselves. A qualitative approach that includes a critical narrative inquiry design was adopted to deconstructing the stories of the various families and provide a space to uncover assumptions about knowledge, power and reflexivity. Furthermore, this study deconstructs the participants’ …