Factors Influencing Black Students in Windsor and Their Pursuit of Post Secondary Education

University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2008 Factors influencing Black students in Windsor and their pursuit of post secondary education Marium Tolson-Murtty University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Tolson-Murtty, Marium, "Factors influencing Black students in Windsor and their pursuit of post secondary education" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 8088. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/8088 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). 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FACTORS INFLUENCING BLACK STUDENTS IN WINDSOR AND THEIR PURSUIT OF POST SECONDARY EDUCATION by Marium Tolson-Murtty A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies Through the Faculty of Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2008 © 2008 Marium Tolson-Murtty Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-47060-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-47060-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada iii AUTHOR'S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone's copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to examine the post-secondary aspirations of Black students in Windsor. The research was conducted in two community centres in Windsor. A Mixed-Methods methodology was used because this approach involves collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data which would allow for broader, more in-depth analysis of the findings. The subjects consisted of 29 high school students (15 male, 14 female) from grade 9 to grade 12. Through the use of a questionnaire administered to Black students of various cultural backgrounds, this research examined various factors which influence these students in deciding whether or not to pursue post- secondary education. Ninety-six percent of the participants expressed career goals that require them to pursue a post secondary education. Specific factors that would support or impede their decision include personal goals, encouragement from family and school, finances, cultural and family expectations, grade point average and level of study. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all the Faculty and Staff at the University of Windsor for their patience and dedication to students from the B.Ed level to the graduate level. I would also like to thank all the professors that I have had the privilege of learning from, being your student and soaking up the knowledge you were willing to pass on. Although I appreciate everything I learned over the years from all of my professors, there are a few that I want to thank especially. Dr. Yvette Daniel, who I learned so much from and who really helped me to explore the deeper issues in education and encouraged me to challenge myself and continue to move forward. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Nombuso Dlamini. I don't know where you find the time or energy but thank you for all of your assistance and for also encouraging me to keep moving forward. Dr. Paul Ocheje for agreeing to be my external reader. I appreciate your enthusiasm and your patience with this project. I thank you for expressing your interest in this important study. Last but not least, thanks to Dr. Clinton Beckford. Writing this thesis consisted of a deep passion for the issue and you acknowledged the passion that I had for this research from day one. This was an issue near and dear to my heart and you really helped me to delve into the history and the heart of the matter. Your support and guidance was constant and will never be forgotten. There are not enough "thank-you's" to fully express how grateful I am that you helped me bring this topic to life. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR'S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY iii ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF PLATES x LIST OF FIGURES xi LIST OF TABLES xii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION:BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM 1 Historical and Spatial Context 1 Brief History of Black Settlement in Ontario and Windsor Region...2 The Early Years and Education for Blacks in Canada 3 Segregated Schools: The Ontario Region 4 Colchester S.S.No.ll: The Bitter End of an Era 12 The Role of Churches and other Organizations in the Schooling of Black Students 18 Purpose of the Research 20 Education for the Masses: The Struggle Continues 20 Educational Significance 24 Definition of Terms 32 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 34 Race Differences and Educational Aspirations 34 Gender Differences and Educational Aspirations 37 Indigenous African-Canadian, African, and Caribbean Students 40 Racism in Education 44 Disengagement from the Educational System 50 Parental Involvement 53 Self-Esteem 56 III. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 60 Overview of Methodology 60 The Context of Study 62 Research Participants 63 Vll The Population 63 The Sample 64 Recruitment Process 64 Research Questions and Hypothesis 65 Instruments and Protocols 66 Interviews 66 Field Notes and Jottings 67 Instrumentation 68 Strategies for Inquiry 68 Data Analysis 69 PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 71 Demographic Data 71 The Participants 71 Gender 71 Age 72 Grade Level 72 Immigration and Citizenship Status 72 Family BackgroundVPrimay Caregiver 73 Primary Caregiver by Gender 74 Academics 75 Level of Study-Stream 75 Relationship Between Academic Steam and Household Structure ..77 Level of Study - Cultural Background 78 Grade Point Average (GPA) 79 Academic Awareness and Planning 81 High School Credits 81 Aspirations 84 Plans for Post-Secondary Education 84 Career Goals and Aspirations and the Pursuit of Post-Secondary Education 85 Post-Secondary School Aspirations 86 Post-Secondary School Admissions 87 Gaining Admission 87 Prevention from Attending a Post-Secondary Institution 87 Non-Admission 88 Plans if Not Admitted to a Post-Secondary Institution 88 Financing Post-Secondary Education 89 Vlll Encouragement Regarding Post-Secondary Education

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