“Here's Your Diploma, Mom!” Family Obligation and Multiple Pathways to Success

Abstract

This article focuses on the different pathways that Haitian students follow to eventual success despite tremendous challenges. The authors give special attention to the notion of pathway and differentiate various avenues to attain success. Constant motivated achievers maintain a strong focus on academic goals and make sacrifices to achieve them. Persistent strivers have not achieved as readily or as highly as the previous category and, despite their effort, tend to do poorly in academic tests. Another group, not identified in previous writings, consists of late bloomers who did not do well in high school, often drifting along with average and low grades but who eventually come to recognize the value of education. The parent-child relationship is shown to play an important role in promoting effort. The desire to fulfill an obligation to one's parents through education, the authors argue, is based on Haitian cultural conceptions and social practices related to family.