ࡱ>    !"#$%&'()*+/012345Root Entry yLcxCompObjjWordDocument P1Table.  FMicrosoft Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q [$`$NormalmH <A@<Default Paragraph Font<2H(<676<6 !"<6# !>2>2<2@@G 1976, p. 134) Anderson also comments, It has been observed that children of immigrant parents frequently reject the ethnic cultural heritage of their parents in favour of attempting to identify with the nativeborn Canadian community. (Anderson, 1974, p. 169) Observers have also used this apparent rejection of traditional values to make another assumption regarding Portuguese immigrant youth: This is the assertion that these lack pride in their heritage. Anderson implies this when she states, By the time the third generation arrives and becomes of age, they will no doubt go back to their ethnic roots and become proud of their Portuguese heritage. (Anderson, 1974, p. 172) PortugueseCanadian youth have also been perceived to be lacking in initiative, (LusoCanadian Youth, 1986). One member of the Portuguese community remarked in an article to a Toronto newspaper: They are not doing anything wrong, but they are not doing anything right, either. (Slinger, 1971, August 27) This perception of a lack of initiative ultimately has its roots in the view that Portuguese immigrant children suffer from a collective inferiority complex, (LusoCanadian Youth, 1986; Neto, 1985; Nunes, 1986b). Critique of these assumptions Upon close examination, most of the observations made in the historical and sociological sources may be either disproved or seriously questioned: Firstly, one may question the use of a perceived facility in language acquisition as evidence of the wholesale accommodation to "Canadian culture". Research has indicated that immigrant children tend to acquire surface skills in their adopted tongue more rapidly than they develop secondlanguage conceptual and literacy skills. It takes at least 5 years of residency in a host country for children to develop native norms in the second language, in these two areas, (Cummins, 1980; McLaren, 1988). Since, as we have already seen, many Portuguese children are seen to never fully acquire a true mastery of both verbal and written language skills, this variable cannot be used as a criteria to measure a successful acculturation. On the issue of values, there have as yet been no studies completed which determine the extent of value differences between adult Portuguese immigrants in Canada and their children. Furthermore, the references to value changes in the historical, sociological and non-scholarly material have normally been based on interviews conducted with students in college or university, or in the final grades of high school. The fact that a disproportionate number of young LusoCanadians do not continue to postsecondary education or even complete secondary school, (Brown, et. al., 1992; Larter & Eason, 1978; Matas, 1984; University of Toronto, 1992) would seem to throw some doubts on the validity of attempting to generalize their attitudes from observations made on those in attendance in University and College. In fact, one of Noivos (1993; 1997) conclusions was that the group which she studied did not appear to differ much in values from the firstG <6bjbjَ !H*2]8$i********TTTTTTTT@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ J Appendix 1. Assumptions Regarding Portuguese Youth in the Historical, Sociological and Non-Scholarly Sources In placing their focus on Luso-Canadian children, their families and their "adaptation problems," most authors who have written on the academic underachievement of PortugueseCanadian youth in the general scholarly literature on Portuguese immigrants and in the non-scholarly anecdotal sources have advanced the premise that aspects related to these children's Portuguese cultural background play the major role in their "cultural conflict." Consequently this explanation is also often unwittingly promoted as the reason for the academic underachievement of these children; in particular when reference is made to the lack of promotion of education by Luso-Canadian parents. For this reason, it becomes imperative to firstly examine, and then refute, the conclusions and assumptions which have entered into the analysis of the general adaptation of Portuguese children, in the available literature; assumptions that contain cultural biases, which indirectly portray Portuguese culture as a negative legacy which these children are trying to "cast off" and which set the scene for the eventual attribution of blame on these children and on their cultural background for their academic failure. One assumption that has been frequently presented in the literature is the view that Portuguese children easily assimilate to Canadian culture. For example, in a report conducted for the International Institute of Metropolitan Toronto studying the relation between rural immigrants and Toronto's community services, the comment was made, If (the immigrants) are married their children grow up as Canadians and have little interest in the old country. (Ferguson, 1964, p. 34) Two factors have usually been cited as evidence of this easy assimilation. The first is that, the children of Portuguese immigrants learn the host language fairly quickly, (Anderson & Higgs, 1976, p. 133; Da Silva & De Oliveira, 1987). David Higgs, (1982), remarks, The second generation of children brought up in Canada have acculturated more quickly for they speak without an accent. (Higgs, 1982, p. 14) The second is that, in adopting the values and attitudes of the host society, Portuguese children have chosen to deliberately reject those of traditional Portuguese culture, (Anderson & Higgs, 1976, p. 131; Gameiro, 1984; p. 84; McNenly, 1981; Nunes, 1986b, pp. 3031; Slinger, 1971, August 30). Disregarding the complex nature of ethnic identity, many of these authors have considered this substitution of values as evidence of another, more complex process at work: They have regarded the attempt to replace parental values as, in essence, an attempt to reject a Portuguese identity, and, to substitute in its place, a Canadian identity and values. Anderson & Higgs, (1976) state , As in many other ethnic groups, members of the second generation emphasize that they will not bring up their children by their parent's traditions they will be Canadian. (Anderson & Higgs, to the second generation, especially with regards to adopting pre-existing family economic projects and sex roles. As the author stated: As for the presumed value differences between the younger and the older generations, as much as many ethnic families appear to display distinct values, they may in fact be exhibiting different cultural manifestations of the same values. (Noivo, 1997, p. 24) If we go on to examine the conclusion that LusoCanadian youth reject their Portuguese identity, we will find that it is based on two other assumptions: The first is that it is, specifically, "Portuguese culture" which these children are attempting to replace; the second is that these youth deliberately opt for a viable alternative cultural value pattern and identity, which is defined by the label "Canadian culture." Both of these assumptions are suspect. The first is suspect, when one considers that the observed value change amongst young people occurs mostly in adolescence, when the apparent rejection of parental values is observed at this age amongst all adolescents, including those of the mainstream. In this light, those Portuguese who are interviewed for their opinion on their home life often fall into the trap of labelling generational conflicts as ethnocultural conflicts, simply because, in the areas of high immigrant settlement where most Toronto Portuguese children have lived, their main medium of comparison with family life in the mainstream has mostly been through the "silky screen" of television. The rejection of parental values may also be interpreted in another light. Since the vast majority of Portuguese immigrants to Canada have originated from impoverished rural environments, (Alpalho & Da Rosa, 1980; Anderson & Higgs, 1976; Arroteia, 1983; Hamilton, 1970), the replacement of parental values is often nothing more than the substitution of rural for urban mores and beliefs; a fact which, of itself, does not imply a general rejection of Portuguese culture. In fact, Arruda (1993), who conducted a study of 17 Luso-Canadian adults in the Vancouver area for their adolescent experiences, found that many of his subjects had maintained - and in some cases rekindled - a personal affinity for the Portuguese culture. This was despite the fact that many of these had had limited dealings with the Portuguese community. The scant evidence from the Portuguese in other countries and from studies on other ethnic groups in Toronto also provides tentative, albeit imprecise, suggestions that many Portuguese and other immigrant youth do not reject their ethnic identity, in the wholesale sense that authors have described, (Akoodie, 1980; Althoff, 1985; Colalillo, 1974; 1981; Da Silva & De Oliveira, 1987). For example, in a study conducted in one New England High School, Becker (1990) discovered that while LusoAmerican (Azorean) students who had lived in the United States for many years appeared to reject their identity in the school environment (where being Portuguese took on a negative connotation), they fully adopted it in the home. Becker stated, At home, by contrast, the early arrivals not only spoke Portuguese almost exclusively, but pointed with pride to their Portuguese heritage. They showed pictures of their homeland, told stories about their villages, and kept embroidery, special costumes for feast days, unique musical instruments, and even recipes on display. Although most of the early arrivals could speak English and Portuguese with equal ease, they used Portuguese with me at home and English in school, regardless of the language I used with them.(Becker, 1990, p. 53) Evidence also indicates that these often feel the need for a continuity of many of their parents' values. Amongst the Portuguese in Toronto, this conclusion was supported by a 1992 minority survey conducted for the Toronto Star by Golfarb consultants, which found that of all the groups polled, the Portuguese felt the strongest about retaining their language and culture and passing them down to their children, (The Minority Report: The Portuguese, 1992). The unpublished report of the LusoCanadian Youth National Conference, held in 1986, also offered this comment: The retention of the Portuguese identity of ancestral values and cultural roots is important to LusoCanadian youth today. They do not want to shed their roots, but they feel they are in a cultural tugofwar.(LusoCanadian, 1986) The second assumption that Portuguese youth opt for a "Canadian" culture is also dubious in nature, when one considers that "Canadian" culture, and its presumed inherent customs, habits and value structures, is an amorphous concept that has sofar defied definition, (especially in the large cities which have traditionally experienced an influx of people from other cultures). Ferguson (1964, p. 90) mentioned that members of Toronto's Portuguese community during those years had "little conception of what Canadians are expecting of them." A 25 year old Canadian of Portuguese descent who immigrated to Canada from Mozambique wrote of Canadian society, I think that Toronto, more than a multicultural mosaic, as some call it, is an immense checkerboard of squares, welldefined, each with its own colour and perfectly individualized. I can go to China, Arabia, Greece, Italy, or to Portugal without leaving Toronto; this is very colourful and very practical! But, if I want to go to Canada, (and I refer now to the cultural and not the Geographic Canada), I will be able do so with great difficulty. As much as I try, I can't find Canadian culture. If it exists, I would that someone show it to me! And, if in order to discover it, I would have to read a ton of books about what it could be, I would be left, nevertheless, always in doubt about what it (truly) is. (Fernandes, 1985), (My translation: Author) With regards to the assertions that PortugueseCanadian youth lack pride in their heritage, to our knowledge, there have yet been no studies completed which have examined this issue. Observations such as these, which in the past have also frequently been voiced by LusoCanadian community spokespeople, must therefore remain unvalidated. Finally, the assertion of a low selfesteem has also never been tested empirically in a Canadian context. Yet, at least one study conducted on 158 Portuguese, Mexican and AngloAmerican 5th to 8th grade students in a rural agricultural community in Southern California found that Portuguese boys had significantly higher selfesteem than the other students sampled, while the selfesteem of Portuguese girls was similar to that of other groups, (Calhoun, Jr., Sheldon, Serrano & Cooke, 1978).  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