This ethnographic research examines the sociocultural and educational experiences of migrant youth living in liminality in urban Yangon. Their liminality exemplifies the interplay between poverty, social-choice of dropping out of school and the militant culture of schooling. The research argues that narratives provide comprehensive understandings of the complex and multidimensional aspects inherent to dropping out of school in Myanmar: poverty; poor learning environments; an inherently militant culture of schooling; and ultimately, the foreseeable failures of these young people. By better understanding the context of "being" 'out-of-school' and the process of "becoming" 'dropouts' from their viewpoint, the author argues that more educational research needs to reconceptualize the meaning of schooling in the ever-changing lives and learning of youth in rapidly transforming societies in Asia and beyond.