Amor sin condiciones: the impact of culturally responsive pedagogy on Latin@ students

All Latin@ students do not learn the same. The socioeconomic factors which impact the personal, cultural, civic, and academic development of Latin@ students varies significantly based upon the geographic region, the local community dynamic, and their relationships and treatment in which they experience their every day. Despite the varied environment's in which Latin@ students are raised, the consistently low educational performance rates leaving them academically two to three years behind their white peers, (McKinsey, 2008) coupled with high rates of incarceration and representation amongst gangs (Tello, 2011); a general perspective has developed a creating a stereotype that views Latin@ students through a deficit lens (Bourdieu, 1997). This cultural deficit hegemony has normalized the viewpoint that views Latin@ students as negative contributors to not only themselves, but also broader society. Therefore Latin@ students are left to combat a narrative of cultural deficit that has been imposed upon them. Contemporary research suggests it is culturally responsive program models based in the principles of Freirian critical pedagogy that will counter the cultural deficit hegemony that is limiting the achievement and development of Latin@ students. This study is designed to capture Latin@ voices, to highlight the impact of culturally responsive programming, and its potential to provide a counter narrative to combat the social deficit hegemonic framework that has left students combatting low expectations, hopelessness, and the persistent criminalization of young people.