The role of an affirmed black cultural identity and heritage in the academic achievement of African‐Canadian students

Abstract

This paper focuses on the educational experiences of African‐Canadian youth in Canada. Traditionally, the tendency is to emphasize the poor academic performance of black students or issues and problems related to reasons for academic failure or to stereotype them as ‘loud, lazy, muscular, criminal, athletic, dumb, deprived, dangerous, deviant, and disturbed’. In contrast, this paper looks at those who have achieved in spite of considerable adversity. The data show that factors such as pride in one's heritage and knowledge of one's culture contribute to academic success.