Dropping Out or Opting Out?: A Qualitative Study on how Young Men of Portuguese Ancestry in Toronto Perceive Masculinity and how this Informs Educational Attainment

• Main Author: Pereira, David
• Other Authors: McCready, Lance T.
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Portuguese; Educational attainment; Educational de-selection; Masculinity; Boys' education; Academic underachievement; Portuguese-Canadian youth; Educational mobility; Gender relations; Determinants of academic achievement; Portuguese-Canadian boys; Boys' academic underachievement; Gender; 0515; 0340; 0631; 0733
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/30103

Young men of Portuguese heritage in Toronto continue to demonstrate lower levels of educational attainment. American and Canadian research increasingly points to gender and masculinity to address boys’ academic underachievement, yet studies have not focused a gender lens on Portuguese male youth in Toronto to interrogate educational achievement. This qualitative exploratory study explores gender through constructions of masculinity to better understand young Portuguese-Canadian men and their choices concerning education. Through their narratives, participants revealed that masculinity does inform their attitudes and choices concerning education and school. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field are used to explore how masculinity and educational mobility generate considerable struggle and tension in participants’ lived experiences. This study ultimately surfaced more questions surrounding resistance to help-related educational resources, effects of educational mobility on ethnic identity and cultural cohesiveness, and how and when young men of Portuguese ancestry arrive at decisions to de-select education.