Social Constructionism
Growing up, my brothers and I spent a lot of time with one of my moms brothers. He was the fun uncle who would take us to the movies and buy us each our own slice of pizza from Costco! This uncle also served in the U.S. Army at this time and always talked about how great it was, the benefits of being in the Army, how it helped him pay for college, and a lot of other things. In 2002, he even did a 1 year tour in Iraq in 2002. Well, my brothers experienced the externalization of joining some military group if they needed to pay for college.
As my brothers got older, they began to meet more young hispanic men joining the Army, Airforce, Navy, or Marines so that they could pay for college; my brothers experience the objectivation of joining the military. My brothers started looking into college and were overwhelmed with the costs of tuition, books, housing, etc. My family comes from a lower middle class and there were 3 kids going to college by the time the third graduated from high school; my brothers did not see how they could pay for college. They talked to my uncle again about how the military could pay for their tuition and the life skills they would gain from entering the military.
It would not be long before my brothers would begin to internalize this culture of young hispanic men entering the military to pay for a college education. Noel, the older of the two, worked for ayear after graduation to save up for college, and pretty soon was overwhelmed with never saving enough to pay for tuition, he lost the vision of pursuing an education. He soon realized that he did not like his job and needed an education; in May 2007, he enlisted himself into the U.S. Marine Corps. Nick, the younger of the two, followed a similar pattern only it took him 6 months after graduation that he enlisted himself in the U.S. Marine Corps. in December 2008. Currently, Noel is doing an 8 month tour in Afghanistan, when he returns, he will begin his college education. Nick is attending college and next year will be going to Afghanistan as well.
Noel in Korea (2008)
