Can we get out of the box?
Girls with a migration background do well in education. They keep getting higher diplomas. As far as they are concerned, it will be done with 'the box'. Especially when the teacher only addresses them about their background after an attack.
Picture: Type tank
What a trip over eggshells this story is. It already starts when I approach my colleague Aziza Badouri. Normally just a colleague, but now I want to ask her something as a woman of 'non-western immigrant background'. And with that I do exactly what Dutch people with a migration background - in 2016 the word allochtoon was officially abolished - often find annoying: I put her in a box. Or as Naima Matrit (she uses that name online) later informed me via Facebook: “The diversity within immigrants is so great that we should actually say, in the Maxima way: 'the immigrant' does not exist.”
Aziza appears to be a good source. She studied sociology and six years ago did her own research on the second generation of Moroccan-Dutch women, her own generation. She recognizes the image from the numbers. In fifteen years, the number of 'non-Western immigrant women', as the group is called in the data of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), has more than doubled between the ages of 25 and 35 with a higher professional education diploma. Usually this group has Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese or Antillean roots. In 2003, 11 percent of women with a non-western background in this age group had a bachelor's degree, in 2017 this was almost a quarter. The master's level is also achieved twice as often. In 2003, 6 percent of them had a master's or doctoral degree. In 2017 this is 13 percent.
Source CBS.
As far as bachelors are concerned, the immigrant ladies are now close to the native Dutch men between 25 and 35 years old. And they are the fastest climbers. Their share of bachelor's degrees has risen even faster in fifteen years than the share of bachelor's degrees within the group of native Dutch women between 25 and 35 years old.
Go-getters
Part of that success lies in the shifting of the population, says professor of diversity and education Maurice Crul (VU Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam). In 2003, a larger proportion of the surveyed group was first-generation migrants. Women who were between 25 and 35 years old last year are usually second generation, which means that they themselves were born in the Netherlands and at least one of both parents abroad. Their chances of getting a higher education degree are significantly higher, Crul said. But education itself has also contributed. "Think of preventing early school leaving and getting rid of language deficiencies." In addition, girls are go-getters. For example, they are better able to maintain the longer route via MBO than boys with a similar background. They succeed because there is more to gain. Crul: "By studying longer, they postpone marriage and increase their independence." For the boys this is often the other way around. “By their twenties they feel the attraction of the labor market: making money. If the higher vocational education is not easy, the choice is easy. ”
Free will
The rising education levels are good, but colleague Aziza also sees a different trend. Namely that the third generation is increasingly withdrawing into its own group. Both at school and in society. Aziza: “Of course I found it annoying at the time when classmates made harassing comments during Ramadan. They automatically assumed that I was not participating voluntarily. And said: your father will probably check your tongue tonight. But somewhere I also understood their misunderstanding. Me, or my culture, was new to them. The third generation does not understand that there are still so many prejudices. They really don't feel like it anymore. ”
The third generation no longer accepts the stigmatization
In fact, they no longer accept stigmatization, says Machteld de Jong, lecturer in diversity at Inholland University of Applied Sciences. She has been interviewing Dutch people with a non-Western background, especially Moroccan, for almost twenty years. “Today's students get angry when they are still not allowed to belong. Or they are very concerned. ” While teachers in turn also point to the young people. For example, they sigh that ethnic groups stick together in the classroom, or at least as soon as the bell rings. Maurice Crul: “Teachers wonder: why don't they mix? By 'they' they mean students with a migration background. But in the big cities, more than half of the young people now have a migration background. Who should mix with whom? ”
Sensitive
I notice something of the sensitivity when I place an appeal on a Facebook group for women of Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese or Antillean descent. I ask them if they themselves have an explanation for the educational success of women of this origin. Someone soon posts: “Why are we getting higher and higher degrees? How about: we were born here, speak the language and have brains just like everyone else. ”
According to Amber, she does not use a last name on Facebook, this is a typical second generation topic, something from the past. Noura Assakkali-Elkasmi wonders if she should be happy because she gets a compliment. “I really see a teacher like that: bravo bravo!” And Hafi Itas says: "Where's my sticker?" So this is where I missed the mark. I assumed that these women themselves think they had a harder time in education because of their background. But the lion's share finds it especially insulting that I single them out.
Opportunities
Why do we actually do that? Well, because the chances of students with a migration background, especially boys, are still lower than those of their native Dutch classmates. Scientists and policymakers base this probability, among other things, on figures about learning efficiency, or study success as universities of applied sciences call it today. Success means that you will receive your bachelor's degree within five years. In the database of the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences you can then divide students into 'immigrant non-western' and 'native Dutch'. Then you see that higher education for students with a migration background is often a tougher process. Although it is especially striking that everyone has taken significantly longer to study in the past fifteen years. In 2003, 58 percent of the students had finished within five years. Of the group that started in 2012 and should have finished last year, only 49 percent had a bachelor's degree.
Source: Association of Universities of Applied Sciences.
It gets more interesting when you break down groups even further, according to previous education. Then you see another problem. Namely that MBO has started to prepare worse for HBO.
The immigrant student is over-represented in the stack route via MBO
According to Professor Crul, students with a non-Western migration background are mistakenly viewed here for something that they cannot do anything about. “These two subjects coincide in the image: lower chances of study success and the groups with a non-Western background. But the fact is that the immigrant student is overrepresented in the stack route via MBO. ”
Source: Association of Universities of Applied Sciences.
Finally, the prejudices don't help. Pupils who are Muslim, for example, still too often have to answer questions about attacks, about IS, about Syria or anything else that is linked to Islam. Aziza Badouri gives an example of her own son. “He is the only Muslim in the class at VWO and also has only white friends. On the morning after the attacks in Paris, the teacher suddenly asked: 'So, can you now explain why Muslims commit these kinds of attacks?'. He really felt all eyes on him. Suddenly he was different from the rest of the class. He sometimes says: I am a Moroccan. Then I say, honey, that makes no sense. You were born here, you cannot even understand Berbers. But he says: that's how they see me. And I mind that. We didn't raise him with that idea. ”
Taboo
Teachers therefore also ask these awkward questions. Or it is more difficult for them to connect with students from another culture, says De Jong. “And that is still a taboo subject. While the role of the teacher in this is not to be underestimated. ” Aziza would like to see more awareness about the often unconscious bias. “I wonder if teachers are sufficiently aware of what certain questions trigger. I think talking about that is very valuable. ” De Jong suggests that teachers should also learn more about the different backgrounds of their pupils or students. She recently wrote the book 'Help, our school is colored!' With adviser Huub Nelis. with descriptions of the most common cultures in the Netherlands. Jeroen van Andel, until recently worked as a policy officer for the AOb and former teacher in primary, higher vocational education and university education, wonders whether this knowledge of cultures is necessary. He prefers to focus on craftsmanship. “Take ethnic profiling among police officers, for example. If a police officer arrests the wrong person too often, he is not doing his job well. He can do that from prejudices or even from racist ideas, but he doesn't have to. My point: he's just not a good cop. ” By focusing on the subject of teacher, you also get away from the more sensitive subjects such as ethnicity and background, thinks Van Andel.
Social class
From the data, the box 'migration background' disappears automatically. At least, provided the second generation has children with people who were also born in the Netherlands. Statistics Netherlands does define third generations, where the cradle of at least one grandfather or grandmother was abroad, but this group has no standard place in Statline, the database where everyone can analyze Statistics Netherlands data. And that's fine, Crul thinks. “When both your parents were born in the Netherlands, it becomes much more important whether they have followed higher education or not. Social class then largely predicts someone's chances. That is no different from people without a migration background. ”
This article appeared in the Education Magazine in June 2018. The Education Magazine in the mail every month? Consider one membership.
