Characteristics and Challenges of High Achieving Second-Generation Nigerian Youths in the United States

Characteristics and Challenges of High Achieving Second-Generation Nigerian Youths in the United States PDF Author: Patricia Ngozi Anekwe
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 1599422956
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This study investigated the characteristics and challenges of high-achieving second-generation Nigerian youths in the United States. An increasing number of youths in America's schools are from immigrant backgrounds due to the flow of immigration from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Given the local and national mandates to improve the academic achievement of all children, we cannot afford to leave any group behind. Although research on immigrant children from Asia and Latin America and their adaptation and schooling has increased in the last two decades, the educational experiences of Black immigrant children from Africa and the Caribbean have been understudied. The scant research on African immigrants lumps all Africans into a homogeneous group despite the different experiences and obvious diversity found within Africa and among African immigrants. Using theoretical triangulation from Educational Anthropology (cultural ecological theory), Sociology (social capital), and Psychology (social cognitive theory), the researcher examined the role of parents, personal traits, and social contexts on the academic experiences of high-achieving second-generation Nigerian youths. The study used surveys, in-depth interviews of Nigerian youths and parents (mothers), and a focus group interview of high-achieving second-generation Nigerian youths to explore the academic experiences of high-achieving second-generation Nigerian youths to identify factors that determine their educational outcomes. It is anticipated that the results of this study will contribute to the literature on immigrant, minority, and Black students' education in the United States. High-achieving second-generation Nigerian youths credited their parents, extended family, the Nigerian community, and their upbringing for their motivation and academic success. Nigerian parents were actively engaged with the education of their children, both in the traditional realms of school involvement and in the non-traditional school engagement. Although youths faced the challenges of peer teasing, underpreparation for college, and parental pressure, they devised coping strategies through code-switching, reevaluating their definition of academic success, and increasing determination and effort. They also were involved in several extracurricular activities that helped them to create social networks with peers and adults and to break social barriers.

Beyond Expectations

Beyond Expectations PDF Author: Onoso Imoagene
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520965884
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
In Beyond Expectations, Onoso Imoagene delves into the multifaceted identities of second-generation Nigerian adults in the United States and Britain. She argues that they conceive of an alternative notion of "black" identity that differs radically from African American and Black Caribbean notions of "black" in the United States and Britain. Instead of considering themselves in terms of their country of destination alone, second-generation Nigerians define themselves in complicated ways that balance racial status, a diasporic Nigerian ethnicity, a pan-African identity, and identification with fellow immigrants. Based on over 150 interviews, Beyond Expectations seeks to understand how race, ethnicity, and class shape identity and how globalization, transnationalism, and national context inform sense of self.

The Triple Package

The Triple Package PDF Author: Amy Chua
Publisher:
ISBN: 1594205469
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
"It may be taboo to say so, but some groups in this country do better than others. Mormon, Cuban, Nigerian, and Chinese Americans have all recently achieved astonishing business success. This book uncovers the secret to their success."--Page 4 de la couverture.

The Triple Package

The Triple Package PDF Author: Jed Rubenfeld
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408852225
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
Why do Jews win so many Nobel Prizes and Pulitzer Prizes? Why are Mormons running the business and finance sectors? Why do the children of even impoverished and poorly educated Chinese immigrants excel so remarkably at school? It may be taboo to say it, but some cultural groups starkly outperform others. The bestselling husband and wife team Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and Jed Rubenfeld, author of The Interpretation of Murder, reveal the three essential components of success – its hidden spurs, inner dynamics and its potentially damaging costs – showing how, ultimately, when properly understood and harnessed, the Triple Package can put anyone on their chosen path to success.

De-neocolonizing Africa

De-neocolonizing Africa PDF Author: Unwana Samuel Akpan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031663047
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 487

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Book Description


British-born Black African Youth and Educational Social Capital

British-born Black African Youth and Educational Social Capital PDF Author: Alganesh Messele
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000261786
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This book examines the extent to which British-born Black African youth have access to opportunities and support during their pre-school, primary school and secondary school years. Through the voice of British-born Black African youth, this book explores why and how some racial-ethnic and linguistic minority students fail academically while students from other linguistic minorities excel despite coming from similar socio-economic backgrounds. Drawing on interpretive-qualitative research analysis, the author demonstrates the racial dimension of social capital in education that challenges the traditional social capital theory, which recodes structural notions of racial inequality as primarily cultural, social, and human capital processes and interactions. In contrast to the focus on achievement gaps, the concept of opportunity gaps shows how and why language policies have shaped the educational experiences and outcomes of linguistic minority students. This book will be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and scholars of Multicultural Education, Black and African Diaspora Studies and Educational Sociology.

Beyond Expectations

Beyond Expectations PDF Author: Onoso Imoagene
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520292316
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
In Beyond Expectations, Onoso Imoagene delves into the multifaceted identities of second-generation Nigerian adults in the United States and Britain. She argues that they conceive of an alternative notion of "black" identity that differs radically from African American and Black Caribbean notions of "black" in the United States and Britain. Instead of considering themselves in terms of their country of destination alone, second-generation Nigerians define themselves in complicated ways that balance racial status, a diasporic Nigerian ethnicity, a pan-African identity, and identification with fellow immigrants. Based on over 150 interviews, Beyond Expectations seeks to understand how race, ethnicity, and class shape identity and how globalization, transnationalism, and national context inform sense of self.

Young, Gifted, and Black

Young, Gifted, and Black PDF Author: Sheila Wise Rowe
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 1514003562
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
Giving voice to the real-life stories of Black millennials and younger adults, Sheila Wise Rowe goes beyond their struggles to point towards hope, joy, and healing. Drawing on years of counseling trauma and abuse survivors, Wise Rowe provides stories, reflections, and tools for Black readers of all ages as they journey toward healing from the barriers affecting them, their children, and their communities.

Race at the Top

Race at the Top PDF Author: Natasha Warikoo
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226833437
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
An illuminating, in-depth look at competition in suburban high schools with growing numbers of Asian Americans, where white parents are determined to ensure that their children remain at the head of the class. The American suburb conjures an image of picturesque privilege: manicured lawns, quiet streets, and—most important to parents—high-quality schools. These elite enclaves are also historically white, allowing many white Americans to safeguard their privileges by using public schools to help their children enter top colleges. That’s changing, however, as Asian American professionals increasingly move into wealthy suburban areas to give their kids that same leg up for their college applications and future careers. As Natasha Warikoo shows in Race at the Top, white and Asian parents alike will do anything to help their children get to the top of the achievement pile. She takes us into the affluent suburban East Coast school she calls “Woodcrest High,” with a student body about one-half white and one-third Asian American. As increasing numbers of Woodcrest’s Asian American students earn star-pupil status, many whites feel displaced from the top of the academic hierarchy, and their frustrations grow. To maintain their children’s edge, some white parents complain to the school that schoolwork has become too rigorous. They also emphasize excellence in extracurriculars like sports and theater, which maintains their children’s advantage. Warikoo reveals how, even when they are bested, white families in Woodcrest work to change the rules in their favor so they can remain the winners of the meritocracy game. Along the way, Warikoo explores urgent issues of racial and economic inequality that play out in affluent suburban American high schools. Caught in a race for power and privilege at the very top of society, what families in towns like Woodcrest fail to see is that everyone in their race is getting a medal—the children who actually lose are those living beyond their town’s boundaries.

Structured Luck

Structured Luck PDF Author: Onoso Imoagene
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610449266
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is a lottery that awards winners from underrepresented countries the chance to apply for legal permanent residence in the United States. Most lottery winners think of themselves as lucky, viewing the win as an opportunity to pursue better lives for themselves and their families. In Structured Luck, sociologist Onoso Imoagene uses immigrants’ stories to show that while the visa program benefits many recipients, the program’s design can also lead to exploitation in their countries of origin and reduced potential once they are in the United States. Combining ethnographic observation in Africa and interviews with immigrants, their family members, and friends from Ghana and Nigeria, Imoagene demonstrates that the visa program is a process of “structured luck,” from how people hear about the lottery, who registers for it, and who participates in it to the application requirements for the visa. In Ghana and Nigeria, people often learn about the lottery through friends, colleagues, or relatives who persuade them to enter for the perceived benefits of receiving a visa: opportunities for upward mobility, permanent legal status, and the ability to bring along family members. Though anyone can enter the lottery, not everyone who wins obtains a visa. The visa application process requires proof of a high school diploma or artisan skills, a medical exam, a criminal background check, an interview with U.S. consular officers, and payment of fees. Such requirements have led to the growth of visa entrepreneurs, who often charge exorbitant fees to steer immigrants through the process. Visa recipients who were on track to obtain university degrees at home often leave in the middle of their studies for the United States but struggle to continue their education due to high U.S. tuition costs. And though their legal status allows them to escape the demoralizing situations that face the undocumented, these immigrants lack the social support that the government sometimes provides for refugees and other migrants. Ultimately, Imoagene notes, the real winner of the visa lottery is not the immigrants themselves but the United States, which benefits from their relatively higher levels of education. Consequently, she argues, the U.S. must do more to minimize the visa program’s negative consequences. Structured Luck illuminates the trauma, resilience, and determination of immigrants who come to the United States through the Diversity Visa Program and calls for the United States to develop policies that will better integrate them into society.