Leaving the Barrio and Entering the Culture of College: Padilla Testimonios

Abstract

This study uses a testimonios research methodology to explore the familial origins of educational resilience and to report on the entering into the culture of college by four brothers in a Latin@ family, all of whom earned advanced degrees and pursued careers in psychology, medicine, literature, and law. In addition, LatCrit, a theoretical framework that derives from critical theory and critical race theory with added dimensions of language, immigration, ethnicity, and culture, offered an analytical lens. The matriarch of the family is highlighted to show the positive impact on the brothers’ educational trajectory as a result of her advocacy for their education and her strong sense of ethnic pride. His working-class background, which created the essential family stability and which provided the economic support for a Catholic school education for his sons, characterizes the patriarch. The family testimonios address the value of education, tenacity despite an absence of college counseling or role models, the importance of strong family structure, and the role of a clear and strong sense of Latin@ culture and ethnicity in the lives of the brothers.