ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the significant educational and life experiences of low-income mainstream youth engaged in post-secondary education (PSE). These underprivileged youth are under-represented in PSE in Hong Kong. This chapter examines how the senior secondary school experiences and academic results of these students shape their aspirations for future educational and career pathways. Unlike middle-class students who often have family and friends who receive PSE and are familiar with its conventions and expectations, these low-income youth have less knowledge, options, and capital to navigate their future aspirations. Lacking the essential social and cultural capital to negotiate the demands (Bourdieu, 1973), however, each student shows awareness of their habitus and successfully mobilises resources to serve their personal PSE dream. Their voices represent a unique educational trajectory that needs to be explored.
