Latinx Youth's Experiences in the Ontario Education System: Race, Invisibility, and Capital

Abstract

This article explores Latinx youth's experience in the Ontario education system and the level of support they encounter throughout their education. Based on phenomenological qualitative interviews, this study found that Latinx youth in Ontario lacked sufficient support networks throughout their childhood and adolescence. Using Bourdieu's theory of capital and education, as well as Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit), this research explores how a lack of access to relevant capital positions Latinx youth at a disadvantage in their educational attainment and how their unique experiences are unrecognized. This article is based on a total of 52 participants (27 one-on-one interviews and 23 participants in two focus groups). The findings indicate that youth perceive parents to have limited social networks, skills, and knowledge necessary to assist their children in the Ontario education system. School teachers, guidance counsellors, and principals who are positioned to provide supplemental support for marginalized youth often failed to provide any significant guidance. Youth were faced with finding alternative modes of support or depending entirely on themselves. Given the lack of discourse surrounding the unique experience of the Latinx minority, the experiences of Latinx youth remain mostly unseen.

“Our community needs to heal”: Using Photovoice to Explore Intergenerational Memories of Civil War with Young Central Americans in Toronto

“…Recent work on Latinx youth experiences in Ontario's educational system found that educators and counsellors failed to support marginalized students. This pushes youth to find alternative modes of support or depend entirely on themselves, which leaves Latinx youth at a disadvantage in schooling (Parada et al, 2021) and replicates disheartening patterns identified in 2008.…”

Racialized Immigrant Youth in the Ontario Education System

“…The three main factors that were referenced in the articles as hurting racialized immigrant youth's cultural capital were: language barriers (Basu, 2011;Boyd, 2021;Campbell, 2021;Gagné et al, 2018;Guo, 2012;Guo et al, 2019;Kaufmann, 2021;Nichols et al, 2020;Parada et al, 2021, Parekh et al, 2016Shewchuk & Cooper, 2018;Van Ngo, 2009;Volante et al, 2017), dismissing foreign transcripts ( Nichols et al, 2020;Villegas & Aberman, 2019) and parents' lack of understanding of the education system (Antony-Newman, 2019; Gagné et al, 2018;Guo, 2012;Kaufmann, 2021;Kearns, 2016;Nichols, 2018;Parada et al, 2021;Parekh et al, 2011;Van Ngo, 2009;Villegas & Aberman, 2019;Volante et al, 2017).…”

“I Just Want to Belong Somewhere”: Latinx Youth’s Experiences in the Education System in Ontario, Canada

“…Belonging is complicated for Latinx youth in Ontario, Canada, as they lack a significant community presence in schools. Latinx youth require additional support and cultural brokering because the social networks and information needed to navigate Ontario's education system are often deficient (Parada et al, 2021). The latter process is complicated for Latinx youth; youth need to navigate competing cultures and balance the culture presented at home with the broader Canadian culture encountered outside of the house (Carranza, 2007;Escobar Olivo et al, 2022).…”

“…In a study conducted by Wilkinson (2018), more than 40% of Central and South American youth in Canada reported encountering a discriminatory experience at least once. Latinx youth experience discrimination based on language, culture, immigration status, accent, and race (Delgado Bernal, 2002;Parada et al, 2021;Tairo, 2017). Separate classrooms providing English Language Support (ESL) further stigmatize marginalized students (Wotherspoon, 2017).…”

“…Limited conversations surround the marginalization of the Latinx community in Canada, and as a result, Latinx youth do not have the vocabulary or references to verbalize their experiences (Parada et al, 2021). Ali (2008) found that when pervading conversations exclude societal factors that contribute to the marginalization of ethnic groups, youth often internalize identifiable shortcomings as an individual problem rather than a fundamental social and cultural inequality.…”