Book Review

Yolanda C. Padilla, MSSW, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, and Assistant Director, Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at Austin Latino High School Graduation: Defying the Odds offers a special perspective on the loss of a homeland by focusing on the experience of Latino youth. It illustrates the personal meaning of cultural and economic marginality for Mexican origin students within the U.S. educational system that extends well beyond the immigrant generation. By listening to the stories of young high school students and their families, the authors reveal how the culture of Mexican youth interacts with a school system that fails to integrate them, emphasizing for them the experience of being strangers, permanent outsiders in U.S. society. The book fills an important gap in our understanding of the social context of Latino/a educational integration. This ethnographic study of 100 Mexican children, identified as at risk of dropping out of school, and their families uncovers the dynamics that influence the likelihood of high school completion. Based on in-depth interviews roughly across the fouryear period of the youth's high school years, the authors observe that certain factors play an important part in school failure: academic tracking, inadequate school retention policies, gang involvement, teen pregnancy, lack of attention to imnúgration and subsequent generational transitions, the misuse of the GED, and barriers associated with the educational system. The authors dedicate a chapter to each one of these problems and conclude with specific recommendations for administrators, teachers, and social services staff. This book makes an excellent contribution to the literature in the broader area of Latino/a social and economic incorporation in U.S. society. The authors ' focus on high school graduation as the nexus to future attainment and life chances is well-founded. The placement in low-paying occupations and the consequently high poverty rates among Latinos/as are directly related to their low educational levels. According to 1992 demographic data, 28 percent of all Latinos/ as fell below the poverty level in comparison to 11 percent of non-Latinos/as. At the same time, only 51 percent of Latinos/ as over 25 had completed high school in comparison to 80 percent of non-Latinos/as (Valencia & Chapa, 1993). High drop-out rates are considered a major cause of Latino/a low educational attainment. What the authors bring that has been lacking is the voice of Latino/a youth and their families concerning their struggle to function within an educational system that does