Reconstructing 'dropout': A critical ethnography of the dynamics of black students' disengagement from school
As many as one million untrained youths will enter the Canadian labour market by the year 2000. And yet, 60 per cent of jobs being created in Canada require at least a high school education. The drop-out rate is one of the most crucial issues that Canadian educators face.
Traditionally, we have pinned dropping out on individual failure or specific situations such as pregnancy, substance abuse, and family troubles. The authors of this book suggest that the problem is more complex. Race, class, gender, and other forms of social difference can affect how education is delivered. For Black students, whose drop-out rate is disproportionately high, race is a key element in disengagement. The authors turn to the experiences of Black and non-Black students, teachers, parents, and community workers to try and reconstruct the social, structural, and institutional practices that lead Black youth to lose interest in and leave school.
George J. Sefa Dei is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s Department of Social Justice Education. His teaching and research interests include development education, Indigenous knowledges, anti-racism education, and anti-colonial thought.
Other publications from this author include: