YPAR, Critical Whiteness, and Generative Possibilities. A Response to “Sam and Cristina: A Dialogue Between a High School Teacher and Student about the Commoditization of People of Color”

In this response to the article by Tanner and Corrie, the authors provide three critiques of the methodology and theoretical framing of the study with the hopes of informing future scholarship and practice. Specifically, the three critiques addressed in this paper include the integration of CWS frameworks and YPAR methodology, the application and description of CWS and YPAR frameworks, and the role of power in the relationship between educator and student that served as the central medium for the study

Why Honors? A Critical Case Study of Value and Status in Honors Education

The purpose of this study is to explore how staff and students in one honors college perceive and communicate the value that students receive as a result of their participation in the honors college. Examining the honors college experience through the lens of Bourdieu's Theory of Social Reproduction, with a particular focus on the acquisition of cultural capital, the study examines the ways that various structural, experiential, and reputational aspects of the honors college experience impact the ways that students value, and are valued by, the institution. The primary research question addressed through this research was, "what is the value of the honors college experience at the Saguaro State University (SSU) for honors college students?" Data for study was collected in the Fall and Spring of 2019 through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 26 participants, 14 staff and 12 students from the honors college at Saguaro State University. Data were coded and analyzed through the lens of Bourdieu's Theory of Social Reproduction, from which emerged the following three themes: 1) A disconnect between staff and student assessments of the value of the honors college experience for students, 2) The centrality of exclusivity to the value of the honors college experience, and 3) A difference in student’s perceptions based on both the student’s racial identity and their academic class year. Lastly, implications from the study spoke to the impacts of maintaining or reimagining the structure and impact of the honors college experience at SSU and focused on the ways in which honors education can serve as a mechanism for social reproduction or as a vehicle for structural change and equity in higher education