**3. Institutional barriers to socio-educational integration**

Students' educational perseverance and success are the result of their social experiences and academic pathways, which are formed through the relationship between their individual projects and their commitment to the institution they attend [25]. In other words, perseverance and dropping out can be considered as an effect of the quality of the experiences resulting from the individual's interaction with the school. Integration, which can be defined here as the process by which students engage intellectually and socially in the community, is a decisive factor in persevering in school. As for the academic path of students from immigrant backgrounds, research has identified a number of phenomena likely to have a negative effect on and even compromise integration success. These phenomena may occur prior to their entry into post-secondary studies (preadmission), at the time of transition, or over the course of their studies.

In Canada as elsewhere, even before they access higher education, many students of immigrant origin are likely to have had school experiences that were unfavorable to success. This is the case for members of racialized groups. They are relegated to special education and vocational streams more often, which strongly reduces their chances of admission to postsecondary education, particularly university [10, 16, 26]. This aspect deserves to be highlighted because vocational high school graduates who access postsecondary studies, particularly university, are rare [27], as are vocational college graduates who obtain university diplomas [28]. Studies conducted in the

provinces of Quebec and Ontario highlight the early downgrading of Black students and their subsequent overrepresentation in the category of students with adjustment problems and special needs [29].

Contrary to government discourse, the recent implementation of accountability policies since the 2000s has particularly contributed to increasing educational inequalities based on students' social and ethnocultural origin [30, 31]. Far from improving the social inclusion and success of all students, the use of standardized tests and competition between schools rather marginalizes students from socioeconomically disadvantaged families, racialized ethnic minorities (especially those from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America) and Indigenous communities. For these students, such practices are said to constantly fuel anxiety, frustration, humiliation, and feelings of incompetence, which can drive them to dropping out [32].

A study conducted by Anisef et al. [33] in Ontario province (N = 8,443) revealed that students who had been placed in enriched streams in high school had 9.36 times more chances of accessing postsecondary education than their peers in regular streams. Yet, while a growing number of students from immigrant backgrounds are in enriched streams [34], certain groups are excluded from them in subtle ways. This is the case of students whose competencies in the language of instruction are deemed inadequate and of those who belong to racialized groups of Southeast Asian, Sub-Saharan African, and Caribbean origins [10, 17]. A recent study by Kamanzi [35] in Quebec province showed similar findings: Black students from families who had immigrated from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean were markedly less likely to attend a private or public school offering enriched programs in all or some of the subjects taught. Conversely, they are overrepresented in public institutions exclusively offering regular (basic) programs and are more likely to have repeated a grade or experienced adaptation or learning difficulties. Although they demonstrate resilience and perseverance until college, they are less inclined to graduate from it and access university because of previously vulnerable academic pathways.

Beyond educational competencies, students' academic integration into is conditional to his/her access of information that they and their parents can use to develop future projects aligned with their values, and those of other members of the community. While certain students from immigrant backgrounds benefit more from resources that come from their families (academic, cultural, and social capital), facilitating their pathways to and in postsecondary education, others must demonstrate greater autonomy and resilience to structure their role as students.

Qualitative studies reveal that access to information is a major obstacle. It is a recurring theme in the discourses of the young Canadians of immigrant origin investigated by Magnan et al. [36], who, when the time came for them to make decisions regarding postsecondary studies, were, along with their parents, mistakenly presumed by school personnel to be equipped to decode the mechanisms of the transition from high school to college or university. Such presuppositions can in certain cases lead to obstacles, such as the feeling of being unable to fulfill admission conditions for the postsecondary education program of their choice [37]. This situation particularly concerns students from the Caribbean and Latin America [37, 38].

Immigrants face many other obstacles associated with the quality of their social networks. Among these obstacles are constraints related to a misunderstanding of the admissions process, a lack of information about learning assessment requirements, language tests, and the need for extra courses [39]. Many of the students that were interviewed also reported that they received little aid or services when they needed them and that they dealt with university personnel ill-disposed to listening to them and taking the time to support them [39, 40]. Everything seems to indicate that these students continually face hidden systemic discrimination [22–24].

*Perspective Chapter: Behind the Exceptional Educational Pathways of Canadian Youth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99963*

## **4. Structural barriers and systemic discrimination**

Though the sociopolitical context for welcoming immigrants to Canada is undeniably more favorable to their integration than in other countries of immigration, research has demonstrated that inequalities persists in a number of areas, including education. Though certain groups of immigrants are, for example, overrepresented in university education, others are underrepresented [33]. A study by Abada and Tenkorang [7] based on data from the ethnic diversity survey conducted by Statistics Canada in 2002 revealed that the rate of university attendance at eighteen years of age is higher for students of Chinese origin (54%) and from Southeast Asia (44%), but lower for members of Black communities (31%), in comparison to Canadians by birth (36%). Based on data from a longitudinal survey (the Youth in Transition Survey), Kamanzi et al. [8] and Thiessen [13] came to similar conclusions. According to Thiessen [13], the low level of academic competence and higher education attendance observed in young people from Black and Latin American communities is the effect of interacting cultural and structural factors. Their schooling is undermined by both cultural values that are often unfavorable to educational success, and the poor living conditions of their families. Other work has highlighted the existence of systemic discrimination toward certain ethnic groups through ethno-cultural grouping practices [23, 41]. Such practices particularly affect students from Black communities, as the work of Henry and Tator [23] has shown. Potvin and Leclercq [42] have noted common institutional practices that consist of relegating these students from the youth sector to the general adults education sector (short vocational training), precluding them from pursuing higher studies. Belonging to a racialized group, particularly a Black community, is a major factor of vulnerability, primarily because of the lack of diversity in schools' teaching and administrative staff (associated with a lack of role models), the Eurocentric character of the curricula, and the students' day-to-day experiences of discrimination and racism [23, 36, 39, 43].

Numerous studies in Canada describe perceived discrimination and racism selfreported by students from immigration backgrounds [38, 39]. In quantitative terms, the study by Abada, Hou, and Ram [16] on inter-group differences in university completion in fifteen racialized groups of second-generation immigrants (born in Canada, but whose parents are immigrants) reports that 50% of these students have felt marginalized because of their ethnicity, their culture, the color of their skin, their accent, or their religion. According to the same authors, the feeling of exclusion experienced since childhood, affects academic perseverance and success.

In qualitative terms, examples of perceived discrimination and racism have also been reported by students. Among other things, they refer to a stigmatization of *otherness* founded on a lack of linguistic competence or accent [39], an unexpected, increased categorization of "minority" status and racial difference by the majority group [39, 44], and violence (harassment, bullying, and threats) experienced in the academic environment [23, 45]. In addition, the prejudices and ideology of the dominant group, and the stereotypes, prejudices, and pure and simple ignorance of the teaching staff in relation to the *Other* [racialized students] contribute to provoking stress, despair, and a feeling of alienation in immigrant students and have a negative effect on their school performance. This at least is what can be deduced from a qualitative study of 22 students from Southeast Asia conducted by Samuel and Burney [46] in an Ontario university. According to these students, the outsized importance accorded to Eurocentric curricula elicits feelings of exclusion and marginalization. Even when elements of the curriculum are not Eurocentric, the students observed a penchant for Anglo-Saxon assumptions and premises. Similar perceptions were reported in studies of immigrants from the Caribbean, Central Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa [38, 44, 45].

Of all students belonging to racialized groups, Black student in particular are most at risk of experiencing discrimination, which considerably reduces not only their chances of accessing postsecondary studies, but also their perseverance in them. Qualitative studies conducted on these students reveal how constantly they are faced with racial stereotypes and prejudices: they describe teachers and, more broadly, academic staff tending to underestimate the students' levels of academic engagement and consequently their academic competency [38, 44]. At the high school level, students mentioned the fact that guidance counselors pushed them toward less demanding and less valued studies, such as lower-level courses, with the effect of restricting and even eliminating their chances of being admitted to university [38, 44]. Once in postsecondary studies, their risk of dropping out is the highest (29%), as shown in a study conducted by Abada and Tenkorang [7] in the province of Ontario. Far from being arbitrary, the prejudices and stereotypes these students face are, in part, anchored in systemic racism and exercise a negative effect on these students' feelings of confidence and motivation and, consequently, on their perseverance and success in school [19].

### **5. Success and perseverance of racialized students: where resilience and destiny meet**

Research recognizes in human beings the ability to produce and mobilize protection mechanisms that enable them to overcome situations of adversity or bypass them to succeed [47]. Commonly referred to as the concept of resilience, this phenomenon refers to the capability and ability of a n individual or social group to return to a stable state after disruption caused by personal constraints and environmental factors [48]. In the world of education, resilience refers to students who, despite obstacles related to their personal difficulties or obstacles related to the school and family environment, manage to cope and succeed in their studies [49]. Referring to certain of these students' ability in situations of ethnic or racial discrimination to overcome various discrimination-related obstacles and succeed in adapting exceptionally, Anisef and Kilbride [50] speak of *ethnic resilience.*

Recent research has shown that these students manage to procure resources independently — despite the multiple obstacles barring their access to the information they need to make informed decisions throughout their education up to postsecondary studies—demonstrate motivation for success, and reverse teachers' negative image and low expectations of them—in short, to take control and make it on their own [38, 39, 44, 46, 51]. However, research emphasizes that there is price to pay, often a heavy one. Despite the fact that they are often relegated to second-rate programs and institutions, some of these students use them as a springboard to "get out" and access the most prestigious, or at least the most desired, choices. They even manage to strongly affirm their ethno-racial identity and make it an instrument in structuring their academic and professional careers [38, 39, 44, 46, 51]. However, as mentioned above, many do not escape structural obstacles and end their educational pathways by shortening studies or simply dropping out because of various forms of segregation and systemic discrimination.

Though academic aspirations and commitment to studies are essential conditions to accessing postsecondary studies, they aren't sufficient to succeed and obtain a diploma. Just as it is important to recognize the *compensatory advantage* of resilience, it is also important to take into account the *cumulative disadvantage* that the academic pathway presents in elementary and secondary school [52]. In other words, depending on the scope of the social and academic exclusion mechanisms at work in the context, the former may prevail over the latter and vice versa.

*Perspective Chapter: Behind the Exceptional Educational Pathways of Canadian Youth… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99963*
