Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - September 2008
A new study has revealed that children of immigrants are more likely to earn post-secondary degrees. The report, issued by Statistics Canada, has found that for many young adults in the country, the odds of graduating university are closely dependent upon where their parents are born.
Children of Chinese immigrants are the most likely to graduate university, with a rate of 70 per cent. Other Asian-immigrant descendents as well as Indian and African descendents were found to have graduation rates of over 50 per cent.
In comparison, the average graduation rate for a student with Canadian-born parents is 24 per cent.
Teresa Abada, an assistant professor in sociology who helped conduct the study, attributes these figures to several cultural factors, including the tendency for most immigrants to hold university degrees themselves, which usually results in greater value placed upon education within the family.
Still, there have yet to be conclusive studies completed on why, exactly, the rates for Chinese and Indian immigrant descendents are so high in comparison to other cultures. Some comments from study participants illustrate that within these cultures the children are instilled with a greater sense of obligation to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them.
Source: Canwest News Service
