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Family, obligation, and educational outcomes

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Date Issued:
2008
Summary:
The desire for academic success is shared by Haitian parents and their American-born children. Yet, despite this will to succeed, second generation Haitian students have been shown to fare poorly in school when compared to other ethnic groups. This qualitative study revealed that students' poor results in high school were not due to adversarial attitudes toward education; rather, they reflected inadequate foundations in basic academic skills. In particular, limited vocabularies hamper the academic achievement of many Haitian American students. Some students who expected that passing grades would lead to college are unable to pass the FCAT exam required to earn a high school diploma. Surprisingly, the highest levels of academic achievement were attained by the students with the poorest and least educated parents. They displayed extraordinary motivation attributed to a strong sense of familial obligation.
Title: Family, obligation, and educational outcomes: unraveling the paradox of high aspirations and low academic achievement among the children of Haitian immigrants.
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Name(s): Nicholas, Tekla.
Florida Atlantic University
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of Anthropology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2008
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: viii, 100 p. : ill.
Language(s): English
Summary: The desire for academic success is shared by Haitian parents and their American-born children. Yet, despite this will to succeed, second generation Haitian students have been shown to fare poorly in school when compared to other ethnic groups. This qualitative study revealed that students' poor results in high school were not due to adversarial attitudes toward education; rather, they reflected inadequate foundations in basic academic skills. In particular, limited vocabularies hamper the academic achievement of many Haitian American students. Some students who expected that passing grades would lead to college are unable to pass the FCAT exam required to earn a high school diploma. Surprisingly, the highest levels of academic achievement were attained by the students with the poorest and least educated parents. They displayed extraordinary motivation attributed to a strong sense of familial obligation.
Identifier: 243800646 (oclc), 77648 (digitool), FADT77648 (IID), fau:4308 (fedora)
Note(s): by Tekla Nicholas.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2008 Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Minorities -- Education -- United States
Haitian Americans -- Education -- Florida
Children of immigrants -- Education -- United States
Motivation in education
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77648
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU