UC Riverside

Abstract. In this paper, we investigate how the high school experiences of Filipinos in the 1990s affected their trajectories towards college in relation to Latinos versus Asians. Filipino American students remain invisible in the literature surrounding race and racism – especially in literature surrounding K-12 schooling related to academic achievement and persons of color. These students share similar school experiences with Latino students, yet Filipino American students are rendered invisible to these inequalities through their categorization of being Asian. Through eight qualitative interviews, analysis of newspaper articles from the 1990s, and the examination of yearbook pages of some of the participants, this study finds that institutional, social/cultural, and familial factors all shape Filipino students’ educational experiences that greatly vary in results and impact trajectories towards college.