Debunking the Grit Narrative in Higher Education examines pressing structural issues currently impacting African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latinx, and Native American students accessing college and succeeding in U.S. postsecondary environments. Drawing from asset-based work of critical race education scholars such as Yosso, Ladson-Billings, and contributing author Solórzano, the authors interrogate how systems and structures shape definitions of academic merit and grit, how these systems constrain opportunities to attain access and equitable educational outcomes, and challenge widely held beliefs that Students of Color need grit to succeed in college. Dominant narratives of educational success and failure tend to focus mostly on individual student effort. Contributing authors explore the myriad ways that institutional structures can support Students of Color utilizing their strengths through critical perspectives, asset-based, anti-deficit perspectives to access postsecondary environments and experience success. Scholars, scholar-practitioners, students affairs professionals, and educational leaders will benefit from this timely edited book as they work to transform postsecondary institutions into entities that meet the needs of Students and Communities of Color.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction: The Problem with Grit
Deborah Faye Carter, Rocío Mendoza, and Angela Locks
Part I: Contexts and Foundations: The Origins of Grit
Chapter 2: Critiques of Grit as a Measure of Academic Achievement in STEM
Higher Education
Deborah Faye Carter, Juanita E. M. Razo Dueñas, and Rocío Mendoza
Chapter 3: Challenging Everyday Structural Racism: A Critical Race Analysis
of Grit in STEM
Daniel G. Solórzano
Chapter 4: The Grit Narrative: Shifting the Gaze and the Danger
Stephanie Waterman
Chapter 5: Sometimes Youre Gritty, and Sometimes Youre Not: The
Racialization of Grit for Asian Americans
Jacqueline Mac, Rikka J. Venturanza, Megan Trinh, and Varaxy Yi
Part II: College Structural Barriers and Research Studies
Chapter 6: More than Grit: Toward Critical Race College Retention and
Persistence for Latina/o/x Students
Nancy Acevedo
Chapter 7: Gritty Enough?: African American Science, Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics (STEM) Student Success Factors
Melissa M. Mahoney
Chapter 8: Beyond the Bootstraps Mentality: The Fallacy of Grit as a Measure
of Success for Black and Latino Men in California Community Colleges
Julio Fregoso
Part III: Educational Practices Supporting Achievement
Chapter 9: Returning to Campus: Equity Minded Approaches to Degree
Completion
Sabrina K. Sanders and Su Jin Gatlin Jez
Chapter 10: A Counternarrative to Grit through Scholarship on Latinx/a/o
Students and HSIs: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Kathleen Rzucidlo, Stacey R. Speller, Jorge Burmicky, and Robert T. Palmer
Chapter 11: Holo i ka Auwai, Flowing with the Power of the Stream:
Empowerment-Based Evaluation and Research
Anna M. Ortiz and Maenette K. P. Benham
Chapter 12: Centering the Student in Undergraduate Research as a Retention
Strategy
Rocío Mendoza, Elyzza M. Aparicio, Deborah Faye Carter, and Angela M. Locks
Chapter 13 Conclusion: The Problem with Grit is White Supremacy
Rocío Mendoza, Deborah Faye Carter, and Angela Locks
Contributor Bios
Index
Angela M. Locks is Executive Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Academic Affairs and Professor of Educational Leadership and Student Development in Higher Education at California State University, Long Beach, USA.
Rocío Mendoza is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Redlands, USA.
Deborah Faye Carter is Associate Professor of Higher Education at Claremont Graduate University, USA.
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