departmental bulletin paper

Departmental Bulletin Paper

Text

Osaka Human Sciences. 2022, 8, p. 55-74

Inequality in the Academic Achievement and Trajectory of “French Students with an Immigrant Background” and the Working Class : The mechanism of self-selection and marginalisation in secondary education

Sonoyama, Daisuke

Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

English

Text

2022-03

In this study, we explore how immigrants’ trajectories are determined and what improvement has been seen over the last few decades by examining the mechanism of school orientation determination in France. The study aims to shed light on the fact that, while there has been improvement in their academic achievement, secondgeneration immigrants do not see this as a positive outcome and do not view the process of school orientation determination as sufficiently fair. As demonstrated, differences in the quantity of schools’ cultural capital influence students’ trajectory decisions in secondary education. In addition, some structural elements remain in the system that encourage these differences. While there has been some improvement over the last 40 years, households with a high level of academic attainment retain an advantage in elite education. As Goblot showed approximately 100 years ago and Bourdieu(1989) demonstrated in The State Nobility, elitism continues to be maintained in the French educational system. Minorities, such as immigrants and women, have realized these problems and begun to express their dissatisfaction. It is not beyond our imagination that young people who cannot see a future for themselves in French society or who are in despair would seek their place in the outside world. The destruction of workers’ group culture among the working class has weakened their pride and undermined the authority of parents over their children. It is also related to the massification of secondary education in France, doubling the number of those with Baccalauréat degrees since the 1980s. Needless to say, immigrants are no exception. The same social anxiety underlies the narrative of Michaël, the Portuguese immigrant, and those of the Muslim women. What we find in both accounts is anxiety about the future after education, regardless of academic attainment or the acquisition of a qualification. This is likely not limited to France or to second-generation immigrants; therefore, there must be young people who suffer from a shared sense of anxiety in Japan. There are also signs of chauvinism and xenophobia in Japan, childhood poverty is worsening, and young people’s isolation is deepening. There is a gap in the motivation to learn, and economic disparity has a major influence on progression in education. Therefore, it is dangerous to consider this as a Western problem, and Japan must also overcome challenges in education and society from a macro perspective by giving greater visibility to the difficulties young people experience in their transitions. The creation of a society oriented toward convivialism and altruism is, therefore, required, and the humanities and social sciences can contribute to the construction of such a society.

10.18910/86899

86899

Inequality in the Academic Achievement and Trajectory of “French Students with an Immigrant Background” and the Working Class : The mechanism of self-selection and marginalisation in secondary education

Sonoyama, Daisuke

Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

English

2022-03

Osaka Human Sciences

8

55

74

https://hdl.handle.net/11094/86899

10.18910/86899

https://doi.org/10.18910/86899