University education and Black youth

In Statistics Canada’s recent report, Changes in the socioeconomic situation of Canada’s Black population, 2001 to 2016, René Houle writes that “one of the main challenges” faced by members of Canadian Black communities is that Black youth—especially young men—“are less likely to have attended a higher educational institution and to have earned a post-secondary diploma.” This finding is quite telling since in an earlier release, Canada’s Black population: Education labour and resilience, it was found that in 2016, 94 per cent of Black youth, compared to 82 per cent of the rest of the population, all aged 15 to 25 years, indicated they “would like to obtain a university degree.” And while 78 per cent of all these young people thought “they will obtain a university degree,” only 61 per cent of Black youth thought they would. The difference in these percentages should be concerning. Hence, we might ask: is it that Black youth overestimated their academic abilities and over time have come to realize that the ways in which they applied themselves to their schooling and education was not enough for them to obtain a university degree? Is it that they did not have the necessary support from parents, peers, and community members that caused them to give up on pursuing a university education? Is it that the education system failed to be responsive to the schooling and educational needs, interests, expectations, and aspirations of Black students, thereby contributing to their failure to meet the academic requirements for university? In responding to these questions, we must take into account the fact that compared to their counterparts, more Black youth expressed an interest in obtaining a university education. This is consistent with the many studies that show Black youth and their parents strongly believe in education, and more so, post-secondary education, as the means by which they will be able to gain the opportunities needed to become socially and economically successful in the society. Furthermore, in the same Statistics Canada study, it was noted that while “44 per cent of Black individuals said they were 'always' able to bounce back quickly after hard times,” only 33 per cent of their peers in the rest of the population felt the same. This was considered to be evidence that the Black population has “strong levels of resilience.” How, then, might we explain that, despite their “university degree” aspirations and their “resilience,” Black youth continue to be least likely to obtain university degrees? Numerous studies have shown that during high school, Black students are discouraged by teachers and guidance counsellors from enrolling in academic programs that would prepare them for university. Consider the experience of Hyacinth Gaynair, who wrote in The Huffington Post in 2017 that after being “an exceptional student” in elementary school and earning “an 85 per cent average after three difficult years” in high school, the guidance counsellor directed her into “trade school” since that “would be suitable for perceived skills.” Having rejected this suggestion, at the time of her writing she was a doctoral candidate at an American university. And in a study a colleague and I recently completed, we found that Black students in Toronto were the racial group least likely to attend university, and of those who attended, only about 50 per cent of them graduated. Hence, despite the growing racial diversity of today’s student population and universities’ claims of being inclusive, the whiteness and the colonial structure of the system remains. As such, systemic racism, and anti-Black racism in particular, are likely to continue to affect Black students’ pursuit of a university education. This situation has far reaching implications for the Black population insofar as in the coming years 70 per cent of jobs are going to require individuals to have post-secondary education. Without university education, there will be widening disparities in the employment and earnings of Black people, which in turn will have further impact on the level of educational attainment of their children. Evidence points to the fact that it is not simply lack of individual motivation and efforts that account for Black youth not attaining a post-secondary education. Rather, a system of inequity evident in teachers’ low expectations, institutional streaming practices, and societal, social, and economic conditions account for their level of educational attainment. This is sustained by systemic racism, and anti-Black racism in particular, which the protests over the past three months—including the recent two-day Scholar Strike by academics—are demanding be addressed. So, if indeed, the situation of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized people is to be addressed, then governments and political, business, civil, and educational leaders must do more than voice agreement that systemic racism, anti-Black racism, and anti-Indigenous racism exist in the society. This acknowledgement must be accompanied by actions designed to remove the institutional, societal and systemic conditions, and related legislations, policies, programs, and practices that operate as impediments to the post-secondary educational success of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students. Carl E. James holds the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora in the faculty of education at York University and holds cross-appointments in the graduate programs in sociology, social and political thought, and social work. The Hill Times