Negotiating success or settling for less? : deconstructing the underachievement of Afro-Caribbean youth in Toronto high schools

The academic underachievement of students from the African Diaspora in Canadian schools is not a recent phenomenon. Afro-Caribbean students are reported to drop out of high schools in Toronto at disproportionate rates. To uncover the social forces that contribute to these problems this paper will examine Afro-Caribbean patterns of community formation and the issue of systemic racism in Canadian society operating as a barrier to academic success. At an even greater rate Portuguese youth are leaving school prematurely. But unlike with Afro-Caribbean students racism is not an issue. Rather for the majority of Portuguese students in Canada the reasons behind chronic underachievement are rooted in the current education system, which views immigrants as different and the source of their own failure. This paper uncovers the subtle forms of racism that many underestimate and the huge role it plays in dictating the lives of many youth from the Black community.

Negotiating success or settling for less? : deconstructing the underachievement of Afro-Caribbean youth in Toronto high schools

The academic underachievement of students from the African Diaspora in Canadian schools is not a recent phenomenon. Afro-Caribbean students are reported to drop out of high schools in Toronto at disproportionate rates. To uncover the social forces that contribute to these problems this paper will examine Afro-Caribbean patterns of community formation and the issue of systemic racism in Canadian society operating as a barrier to academic success. At an even greater rate Portuguese youth are leaving school prematurely. But unlike with Afro-Caribbean students racism is not an issue. Rather for the majority of Portuguese students in Canada the reasons behind chronic underachievement are rooted in the current education system, which views immigrants as different and the source of their own failure. This paper uncovers the subtle forms of racism that many underestimate and the huge role it plays in dictating the lives of many youth from the Black community.

Honoring Languages: Review of Creole Composition: Academic Writing in the Anglophone Caribbean

In traditional Caribbean villages, the bell crier made important announcements from street to street. People listened and carried the news further. Like the proverbial bell crier, Milson-Whyte, Oenbring, and Jaquette, along with fourteen contributors announced “We are here. And we doin’ dis—‘write [ing] our way in” to academic spaces (Creole Composition, 2019, p. x). Creole Composition provides current perspectives on post-secondary composition pedagogy, academic literacies, and research across multiple academic disciplines. Indeed, this intersectionality addresses Browne’s (2013) argument that Caribbean vernacular orientations and practices fly beneath the radar of the discipline of Rhetoric and Composition. Caribbean institutions of higher learning must embrace Caribbean students’ creole-influenced languages.

Just a Unicorn

Kat J. Stephens is a higher education Ph.D. student at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She’s earned a Master of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in Higher & Postsecondary Education. Her larger research interests are social justice & identity development. As an Afro-Guyanese immigrant, her research interests reflects: Caribbean students, Afro-Caribbean racial identity formation, transnationalism, Black women students with ADHD & Autism, & gifted community college & transfer students. Her work here is inspired by her life and those of other Black women & girls in educational spaces. This poem serves to highlight her frustrations, while encouraging Black women to take space in disability centered environments, and universities to adequately support such individuals.

The Road to the Baccalaureate

International students are increasingly enrolling in U.S community colleges as a starting point to their higher education. However, limited research examines the factors contributing to their successful transfer to a 4-year institution and bachelor degree attainment. Utilizing longitudinal transcript data from a large community college district in Texas, this study uses hierarchical logistical regression to compare college experiences and transfer outcomes based on region of origin. Findings demonstrate that while Sub-Saharan African students have a significantly higher probability of transfer than Asian and Latin American students, the majority of bachelor degree recipients were Asian students graduating in STEM fields. Delayed enrollment into college and academic preparedness in math were negatively associated with transfer for Latin American and Caribbean students.

Living on the edge of African dreams: new identities for African and African diaspora Caribbean students in Brazil / Vivendo na fronteira de sonhos africanos: novas identidades para estudantes africanos e caribenhos da diáspora afro-caribenha no Brasil

This article presents the results of a survey among African and Afro-Caribbean diaspora students in Brazil. They are participants of the federal PEC-G program, which grants tuition-free undergraduate spots in Brazilian universities. Before starting their undergraduate programs, however, they come to UFBA for linguistic and cultural instruction for a period of 8 months. The survey and the discussion of the results encompass interviews with 25 students about their cultural experiences and their intercultural development over the initial period of 6 months. They present a complex interaction of an originally middle-class background with professional aspirations in their home countries to a lower social status in a country with a history of slavery and racism. Many stories illustrate the conflicts they experience and the coping mechanisms they develop to navigate a new environment in which they will be immersed for a long period (at least 4 more years) while retaining as much of their original affiliations and identity as possible, especially considering that they are expected to return to their home countries after graduation.Keywords: Portuguese as a second language, identity and language acquisition, immersion and language learning, racism in Brazil.Resumo: Este artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa com estudantes africanos e da diáspora afro-caribenha no Brasil. São participantes do PEC-G, um programa do governo federal que oferece vagas em cursos de graduação gratuitamente em universidades brasileiras. Antes de começar a graduação, no entanto, eles vêm à UFBA para um curso de língua portuguesa e cultura por um período de 8 meses. A pesquisa e os resultados apresentados cobrem entrevistas com 25 estudantes sobre as suas experiências culturais e o seu desenvolvimento intercultural nos seus primeiros 6 meses. Aqui se revelam interações complexas entre sua situação social de classe média com ambições de ascensão social trazida dos países de origem em contraste com um status social diminuído em um país com uma história de escravidão e racismo. Muitos relatos ilustram os conflitos vivenciados e os mecanismos desenvolvidos para navegar um ambiente novo em que eles estarão por um longo período (no mínimo mais 4 anos) ao mesmo tempo em que conservam o máximo possível de suas afiliações e identidades, particularmente considerando que o programa prevê o seu retorno ao final da graduação.Palavras-chave: português como segunda língua, identidade e aquisição linguística, imersão linguística, racismo no Brasil.

Social Support and Stress-Related Acculturative Experiences of an English-speaking Afro-Caribbean Female Student in U.S. Higher Education

This two-year qualitative single critical case study research investigated the stress-related adjustment experiences and academic progression of a female English-speaking Afro-Caribbean collegian in an American postsecondary institution through the lens of the “triple bind” phenomenon and the stress buffer hypothesis. Student development theory and research on college student outcomes have largely focused on Black students’ experiences and achievement outcomes through a homogeneous African American cultural lens. Minimal existing research has shown differences in the lived experiences and achievement outcomes between Afro-Caribbean students and domestic African American students in U.S. postsecondary education.

Bahamians as International Adult Learners Determined for Academic Success

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that impact the experience of Caribbean nontraditional adult learners encounter while pursuing higher education in the United States and perceived support systems needed by Caribbean adult learners to be successful. On this premise, this qualitative study was conducted. A total of 15 Bahamian students participated. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed utilizing open coding. The major themes that emerged with regards to influential factors that impacted their experiences were: (a) financial constraints, (b) lack of support, and (c) cultural differences and adaptation. As it relates to support systems needed by Caribbean students, the major themes that emerged were: (a) family, (b) faculty/mentors, and (c) a network of friends.