Latin Americans in a Canadian Primary School: Perspectives of Parents, Teachers and Children on Cultural Identity and Academic Achievement

Newcomers of ever increasing diversity, if not themselves of high socio-economic status, are seen by many Canadians as struggling -- with some success -- to ensure a brighter future for their children. Yet some minority immigrant children do not eagerly scramble for better lives; for some immigrant groups and cohorts, high-school performance proves elusive, and the educational system in fact seems consistently to undermine motivation. As Monica, a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl in our study said, “First I thought I was going to be a ballerina; then I thought I was going to be a singer; then I thought I was going to be a painter; then I thought I was going to be a doctor for people, then I thought I was going to be a doctor for pets; then I thought I was going to be nothing”.