The Population, Society and Inequality Series presents

"The Social Dynamics Channeling Latina College Graduates into the Teaching Profession"
with Glenda Flores, Assistant Professor, Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, UCI

May 22, 2012
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Social Science Plaza B, Room 4250

Based on interviews with 40 Latina teachers in Southern California, Flores' talk explains why college-educated Latinas, the daughters of working-class Latino immigrant parents, are disproportionately entering the teaching profession. Teaching has traditionally been a white woman’s occupation, but it is now the number one career drawing college-educated Latina women, who are entering the teaching profession at greater rates than African Americans or Asian Americans. While racial uplift, gender and family socialization help explain why college-educated Latinas are going into teaching, Flores argues that particular social dynamics channel Latina college graduates into the teaching profession: scarce financial resources for the pursuit of higher education and the obligation to “give back” in Latino working class families; the feasibility of completing professional preparation and the perception of teaching as an occupation less marked by the class and racial discrimination found in other professions; growing demographic demand for bilingual teachers; and family social networks that lead to school jobs. In her talk, Flores will explain how Latina college graduates navigate their educational and career choices with collective-informed agency and strong obligations to family members. To best understand why Latina/Chicana  college graduates are increasingly concentrated in the teaching profession, Flores advocates an intersectionalities approach that takes class and collective-informed agency seriously.

This event is sponsored by the Gender, Work and Family Research Group.

For further information, please contact Sandy Cushman, scushman@uci.edu. or 949-824-3344.