This article argues that the "airlift" language often used to describe the eight hundred Kenyan students who attended US and Canadian universities between 1959 and 1963 is misleading. It assumes that the students were being plucked out of substandard education, yet these youth had received some of the most rigorous education in the…

This report is part of a series of documents released in conjunction with the United Nations' International Decade for People of African Descent (2015 to 2024) and Black History Month. It aims to provide insight into some of the key socioeconomic characteristics of Canada's Black communities. The first report in this series titled "Diversity…

Human capital theorists perceive of educational expansion as beneficial to individuals, corporations and national economies, while social closure theorists have claimed that inflation of credential requirements maintains traditional status inequalities. In this paper I argue that status inequalities are not only maintained by credential inflation,…

The study reviewed in this paper examined the impact of offering financial aid informational materials on the postsecondary expectations of high school students. Approximately 5,000 students from five low-achieving high schools in Ontario, Canada, were invited to complete an online survey about their postsecondary aspirations. About 1,600 students…

We provide further evidence for the two-factor structure of the 9-item Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI) using confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 289 Canadian adolescents and 310 Singaporean adolescents. Examination of measurement invariance tests the assumption that the model underlying a set of scores is directly comparable…

Introduction: University students need to cope with a complex new life role and to achieve academic success. This article explores the academic performance and psychological well-being among university students in a western Canadian city. Method: Using a convenience sample, a total of 501 undergraduate students in Regina, Saskatchewan took part in…

Data from ESL students' records in Vancouver are examined in the light of the BC Ministry of Education's claim that ESL high school students are more successful than students whose first language is English. We argue that the academic achievement of well-to-do students whose parents are skilled workers or entrepreneurs may mask the completion…

This study examined patterns of help-seeking for educational and career planning issues in a sample of 483 students in grades 11-12 from two schools in southern Ontario. Although counsellors were the most common source of support for educational issues, very few students sought their assistance for career issues, choosing to turn to family members…

Youth from single-parent families report lower educational aspirations than those from two-parent families. This study explored the influence of background factors (gender, grade, parental education and SES), parental involvement with education, academic self-concept, and peer influences on educational aspirations. The participants were Canadian…

The reasons that some high school graduates choose to continue their studies and others do not are not well understood. Certainly there is universal agreement about the benefits of post-secondary studies accruing to both students and society as a whole. Increasing levels of education are associated with, among other things, better job…

Black Canadians share many aspects of the historical experiences of African Americans, but there are also important differences. One similarity between these two groups is the persistent academic underachievement of Black adolescents. Although this is a subject of widespread concern in both countries, it has received little empirical scrutiny in…

The 2004 College Applicant Survey (CAS) describes the college-bound applicant pool by covering a broad range of areas including key demographics, factors influencing college selection, academic background and financial preparedness. It is the most comprehensive and the richest source of survey data to date on applicants to the Ontario Colleges of…

The Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) Program was introduced in 1998 to encourage Canadians to save for the post-secondary education (PSE) of children. The program provides a grant of 20 percent on the first $2,000 of annual contributions to Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) for children up to the age of 17. The CESG is administered…