Factors Affecting School Dropout and Completion in Mexico: Does Agency Matter?

This paper examines which factors influence the opportunities of completing upper-secondary education in Mexico, rather than dropping out of it. Drawing on Sen’s capability approach and Bourdieu’s sociocultural-reproduction perspective, two research hypotheses are formulated to provide possible explanations of persons’ decisions to reach higher levels of schooling. These hypotheses are tested using data from Mexico’s First Survey of School Dropouts, carried out in 2011. The results of this study indicate that the probabilities of completing upper-secondary education are associated with several factors: socioeconomic and demographic variables, the type of upper-secondary institution attended, human agency and educational experiences. The evidence presented in this study supports research hypotheses based on Sen’s and Bourdieu’s approaches. Regarding the hypothesis from the capability approach, the study data show that human agency is not only intrinsically valuable but also instrumentally important, for reaching higher educational levels. The findings of this study also bear out Bourdieu’s argument that cultural and economic capital contribute to explain why students make progress in school, although, this paper challenges Bourdieu’s view of the role of freedom of educational choice. Finally, some implications for educational policies are discussed in the last section of this paper.