Africans are doing better?

[Hypocrite-The]

Skip to main content
ABC Home
Open Sites menu - use enter key to open and tab key to navigate
Log In
Search

Hack Logo Home Link
MENU showing mobile menu
Tofic El Tahir, 12, (centre) sits in class at Maribyrnong College.Tofic El Tahir, 12, (centre) sits in class at Maribyrnong College.
African migrants more likely to go to uni than non-migrants, research shows
MONDAY 6 AUGUST 2018 6:06PM

James Purtil By James Purtill
Mail
Whatsapp
Twitter
Facebook
Counter to recent rhetoric about Australia being "swamped" by non-English speaking migrants "who refuse to assimilate", new research shows young people from African and Arabic migrant families are more likely to go to university than non-migrants.

The analysis by Andrew Norton of the Grattan Institute looks at rates of university participation among 18-20 year olds, grouped by the language they speak at home.

Compared to Australians who speak English at home, the rate of university participation is significantly higher for nearly all groups who speak another language.

Among those who speak 'Eastern Asian' or 'Southern Asian' languages at home, (such as migrants from India and China), almost 80 per cent were at university. This doesn't include international students.

About 33 per cent of those who spoke English at home were at uni.

Separate research also shows children from immigrant families are likely to be better at English than their classmates by early high school.

This includes Sudanese immigrants
Speaking a language other than English at home is widely considered a good indicator that person is a first or second-generation migrant.

The research showed young people from migrant groups that have been publicly criticised for not assimilating were more likely to be at university than non-migrants.

Among those who spoke Arabic at home, or an African language, the rate or university participation was 47 per cent.

Andrew Norton told Hack the data does not distinguish between those who came to Australia through the immigration or refugee intakes.

But when he zoomed in on people of Sudanese ancestry, many of whom would have come to Australia as refugees, he found the rate of university participation was in the "high 30s", meaning it was higher than the rate for non-migrants.

'Migrants may just be trying harder'
After every census, Andrew crunches the university participation data. By coincidence, his research was completed last month, at a time when various politicians and commentators were attacking African migrants for failing to assimilate.

The criticism initially focused on Sudanese refugees, but quickly zoomed out to broader anxieties about migration generally. In July, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia will consider adding a "values test" for migrants seeking permanent residency, in order to address "challenges to social cohesion".

One measure of social cohesion could be university participation.

Andrew told Hack: "One of the reasons for the higher rates is our migration program is biased towards skills and so the people who arrive tend to be more educated, and they pass on these views about education to their children."

"Whereas those speaking English may have been in Australia a couple of centuries and therefore there is a much broader range."

But he said there were also high rates of uni among population groups that had a high proportion of refugees (where there is not a skills bias).

He said this suggested migrants were also just trying harder - either to advance themselves and their families, or to integrate into society.

Children of migrant families also doing better at school
A separate but related piece of research, also from Grattan, shows children of migrant families are also doing better at school than non-migrant children.

Children who speak another language at home generally overtake native English speakers at English reading and writing skills in early high school.

In numeracy subjects, they tend to outpace non-immigrant children in primary school, and extend this lead through high school.

Julie Sonnemann, School Education Fellow at Grattan, also suggested the skilled migrant program could be the reason.

"Australia is one of the only countries in the world where immigrant students outperform the non-immigrant students," she told Hack.

"Our skilled migrant visa program is quite unusual compared to other countries."

Children could also be learning faster through out-of-school tutoring or because knowing another language is good for the brain, she said.

Credits

Author James Purtill
More Stories
Wagga Wagga CSU students slammed for 'offensive' costumes
Wagga Wagga CSU students slammed for
15 JUN 2018
You can now sue Google over defamatory 'innuendo' of search results
You can now sue Google over defamatory
13 JUN 2018
Why is no-one doing TAFE diplomas?
Why is no-one doing TAFE diplomas?
22 MAY 2018
COMMENTS 12
Is soccer dying in Australia?
Is soccer dying in Australia?
9 APR 2018
COMMENTS 5
RECOMMENDATIONS
Nangs: 'It feels safe because I can buy it from a supermarket'
If you listen to triple j, chances are you've also sent a naked selfie
Saving up to buy a house a 'ridiculous dream' for young people, economists warn
'Disturbing' privacy breach revealed: Over 1,000 NSW Health medical records abandoned in derelict building
How young Australians see politics and their place in the world
ABOUT HACK
Hack talks about the stuff that matters to young Australians. In your feed 24/7, on your radio 5:30pm weekdays.

triple j Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Soundcloud
LISTEN BACK
Hack Host Tom Tilley
Listen to Hack

Hack on iTunes

CONTACT FORM
To contact us during the show -
Call 1300 0555 36
(Local and mobile call costs)
SMS 0439 75 7555
(Usual SMS costs apply)
If you've got a tip off, a lead for a good story or a crackin' idea -
EMAIL HACK

Footer brand link
TOPICS
All Listen World Tech Sport Sex Relationships Identity Environment Education Culture Politics Your Body Listen Drugs
triple J Logo triple j unearthed Logo double j Logo
Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyAccessibilityContact the ABC© 2018 ABC

 

[Leongsam]

Same applies to Singapore. The immigrants are far smarter and more hardworking than the "true blue" sinkies.

The only area where the immigrants lose out is when it comes to the skill of complaining and blaming others for their problems. In this area the sinkies are number 1!

 

[chongpangchixwings]

Same applies to Singapore. The immigrants are far smarter and more hardworking than the "true blue" sinkies.

The only area where the immigrants lose out is when it comes to the skill of complaining and blaming others for their problems. In this area the sinkies are number 1!

They are well represented in this forum as can be seen. Some are still in Singapore while others are based overseas but they still bitch wherever they are.

 

[Devil Within]

Africans are fucking racist and they are killing the white. It will be a matter of time that they will target the Chinese and then the black themselves.
Just remember that it was the black Africans capturing other blacks and sell them as s;laves to the white.

White South Africans Face Genocide

South Africa's Farm Murders: Jeanine's Story

President Mugabe launches a veiled attack on white South Africans

Libya’s slave trade - ‘They sell Africans over there’

 

[Hypocrite-The]

I just think it's a left wing bleeding heart fuckwit agenda. African gangs in Melbourne are a problem so such bs news is needed to deflect criticism of these Africans. N let me ask. How they afford uni? They r refugees n can afford tat. That just means that foreigners get more support than locals.

 

[Rogue Trader]

The niggers are on welfare. If they stop going to school, the whole family starves

 

[virus]

Same applies to Singapore. The immigrants are far smarter and more hardworking than the "true blue" sinkies.

The only area where the immigrants lose out is when it comes to the skill of complaining and blaming others for their problems. In this area the sinkies are number 1!

Same applies to burma who r the laziest bums ever lived. nua to the core and the marrow. so when boss gg to be a nigger? nigger will fit you.

 

[zeebjii]

I just think it's a left wing bleeding heart fuckwit agenda. African gangs in Melbourne are a problem so such bs news is needed to deflect criticism of these Africans. N let me ask. How they afford uni? They r refugees n can afford tat. That just means that foreigners get more support than locals.

And i read somewhere the average IQ of africans is only in the 70s, which below average. There must be some truth in it if you see what happened to zimbabwe after the whites left.

 

[ChristJohnny]

And i read somewhere the average IQ of africans is only in the 70s, which below average. There must be some truth in it if you see what happened to zimbabwe after the whites left.

IQ and RACE … please proof me wrong by naming me an African country that has the potential to make it. Answer is NONE. I am afraid the whole will be dominate by the West and the East. The rest have no chance ….

 

[Hypocrite-The]

And i read somewhere the average IQ of africans is only in the 70s, which below average. There must be some truth in it if you see what happened to zimbabwe after the whites left.

Look at south Africa also..when the whites are no longer in charge

 

[Leongsam]

Look at south Africa also..when the whites are no longer in charge

This is further proof that Ang Mohs are the best!

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Another left wing bleeding heart liberal fuckwit article. Pointing out 1 'good' to 100 bad.
ABC Home
Open Sites menu - use enter key to open and tab key to navigate
Log In
Search
ABC News
‘People think all African kids are bad’

By Margaret Burin

Interactive Digital Storytelling team

Kadiga and Youssif know how some people feel when they walk past their teenage children. It’s all over their TV screens and social media feeds.

Sometimes there’s a reminder in the glance from a shopkeeper, one that says “I’ve got my eye on you”.

It makes them feel on edge when their children are out and about in Melbourne.

“African kids are doing bad things sometimes, and they think all African kids are bad,” Kadiga says.

“Sometimes Australian people, if they see black kids, four or five of them, they think they’re [a] gang, they are scared.

“I feel sad, you can’t be happy. You trust your kids — but they don’t trust us African people.”

Her husband’s younger brother, Elssaied, nods.

“If you go in the city and they ask where you are from, I say Sudan, they are scared. Sometimes you’re scared to say I am from Sudan, maybe they will run away,” Elssaied says.

“Sometimes I say, Sunshine,” he says, referring to the suburb where they live in Melbourne’s west.

He laughs, but it’s not always something he can make light of.

Maher and Monahil look up to their older brother Mohamed. ABC News: Margaret Burin
One night in 2016, 19-year-old Mohamed, one of Kadiga and Youssif’s five children, was picked up by police investigating a stolen car.

Mohamed says he and his friends happened to be eating at a local fast food restaurant near their home when several police cars pulled up and arrested them.

“They said, hands up, don’t move out of the car,” Mohamed says. “At first, I thought it was a joke. Then I was angry.”

Mohamed says the group was told they were being arrested for armed robbery.

“They went to police station and slept there,” Kadiga says. “I called my son around one or two o’clock. He didn’t answer the phone, because the phone is with police.”

Their son was released the next morning without charge, but it left the family rattled.

Kadiga and Youssif are aware their parenting will play a big part in shaping their kids into good adults. Recently they’ve begun to reach out for help.

Raising a teenager is difficult full stop, but throw in starting afresh in a new country. The language is different. The culture is different. Schooling is different. Discipline is different.

How can they help their children when they’re struggling themselves?

Kadiga is part of a growing network of mums who aren’t shying away from tricky conversations. They meet regularly as part of a new women’s group, run by not-for-profit organisation Stand Up.

These mums want to be strong leaders for their children. But sometimes they can feel helpless themselves. Out of their depth.

Here, they work together to tackle the challenges of building a new life in Australia. They attend workshops that help build confidence in their parenting — basic English, their children’s homework, questions to ask in a parent-teacher interview, laws of the land and nuances of day-to-day society.

At one of the sessions, a mum admits her son didn’t want to go to school because he was being bullied. When the school called, she just said he was sick. Back in Sudan, that’s not the kind of conversation a mother would ever have with the principal. And even if she had wanted to talk it through, there was a huge language barrier that prevented her from doing so.

Another woman asks how she can help her child with their homework, if she can’t read properly herself.

On the other side of Melbourne’s suburban fringe, another group of African mums are talking about the same challenges of raising children in a country that’s very different from their own, and one where they sometimes feel like outsiders.

Here in Dandenong, Jewish organisers and volunteers bring together a group of mostly Islamic women within the walls of a Christian church.

One woman takes off her shoes and prays in the glow of a colourful stained-glass window, as others confide in one another during a leadership meeting in the next room.

“There are people doing bad things in our community,” one woman says. “But we can do something positive, we can show them the good things.”

1 / 7

"When I see the kids hang out on the street, it makes me feel scared. I don't want my kids to turn out like that. They need someone to lead them in the right direction, a good role model." — Entisar ABC News
"In my country I not feel safe. In Australia it's a nice place, I feel safe. I'd like ideas about how to keep my kids safe and how I help them learn more." — Fatima ABC News
"I need for them a good future, to study, finish university, a good job. I worry about how can I help them, which way I need to go." — Samia ABC News
"Coming from a country where parents is the absolute power, you can't say no to your parent, no one questions them, here it's a bit harder to discipline your kids. For example in my country, hitting is natural even on the hand, but here hitting your kids is forbidden." — Aida ABC News
"I want them to be strong from inside. But it's hard, the right thing between my culture and here, to make a balance. I can see parents doing different things. I can see the parents who came before me, they're struggling. I'm afraid that in our country we'll always be labelled and judged." — Nadia ABC News
"I worry about kids not listening to the parents and when they're going with school they're following bad kids and they're bullying. It's hard because there are a lot of things that changed, especially learn about the country, the culture, the road, all the rules. They're different to your country ." — Fauzia ABC News
"I worry my son will not be happy. A teenager in this country, is very hard. I want to be friend with him, know where he is going, I want to be honest with him, if he is doing something wrong I will say it's not good. This is right, this is not right." — Ekhlas ABC News
Entisar takes charge of the conversation. She feels the weight of how her children are viewed by the media and broader society.

“We are parents like every parent in Australia. We waken our kids in the morning for school, we make them their lunches.

“We are not happy with what’s happening. But we have some good people here as well.”

She wants her kids’ future to include an abundance of opportunity. But right now more than anything she longs for them to be accepted.

“They are good kids. We would like them in the future to be recognised as Australian. Not as African or Sudanese.”

Kadiga unwraps fish, fried in a special African flour, and places it on the kitchen bench.

It’s too hard to set a dinner time. Instead, she makes an eat-as-you-please banquet. Most nights of the week she’s stretched by the demands of the kids’ schedules — basketball, soccer, Islamic lessons — routines she knows by heart.

Ravenous kids fill their bowls. The lounge-room heater is cranked, incense is burning, and the smell of freshly roasted peanuts seems to warm the crisp air.

Youssif eats the fried fish that his wife Kadiga has prepared. ABC News: Margaret Burin
Mohamed bounces in the back door. The family gather around him to look at his new steel-capped boots and high-vis shirt. There’s a buzz of excitement.

He’s about to start a traffic control course and the following week he’ll start work.

“I’m hyped up. I’ve got everything ready for it, I’ve got the map ready,” he says. “So I just can’t wait to start it tomorrow.”

He hopes it’ll help him fund another course later in the year that’ll lead him to his dream of becoming a flight attendant.

Mohamed can’t wait to travel.

“Because I speak Arabic I could work for Emirates,” he says. “I went to an open day and everything they talked about was interesting. Ever since that I’ve researched flight attendants and what they do and I liked it.”

These are the kind of opportunities Kadiga and Youssif could only dream of for their children. And it’s the reason why after fleeing war-torn Darfur, where the UN estimates up to 300,000 people have been killed since conflict began in 2004, they’re grateful to be in Australia.

But despite his efforts to make the most of the country his parents fought to come to 13 years ago, Mohamed is aware this is not the kind of image many people think about when they hear the term “African youth”.

“Only bad things, never good things. It’s not good,” he says.

“Sometimes if I’m walking with my friend, I’ll notice people crossing the road to avoid me. I get upset. I’m a good person. There’s no reason to be afraid of me. You shouldn’t stereotype people based on their looks. You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

But he tries not to let it bother him.

“You just have to move on,” Mohamed says. “I’m smart. I know how to interact with people. If I focus on that, I’m not going to focus on what I’m going to focus on.”

Eight-year-old Maher dribbles his basketball in the driveway. ABC News: Margaret Burin
Mohamed and his mate are in and out of the kitchen. They pick up a basketball and tell Kadiga they’re going to the local basketball court.

His little brother and sister beg them to let them go too.

When they arrive at the concrete slab with a netless hoop, there’s already two other young blokes there.

Nothing is said at first.

The two pairs of teenage boys dance around each other in silence, navigating their turn at the ring.

A couple of minutes later “wanna play a game?”, Mohamed casually asks.

“Yeah”, one of the other teenage boys says.

That’s it. The game begins. No other words are spoken.

The company their kids keep is one of Kadiga and Youssif’s main concerns.

They’re determined for their children not to become part of a stereotype, driven by reports of an “African gang” problem.

Earlier this year, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said people in Melbourne were “scared to go out to restaurants” and more recently Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reiterated that there is “real concern about Sudanese gangs” in Melbourne.

While only a small proportion of overall crime in Victoria is committed by a person from Sudan or South Sudan, crime statistics reveal their rate of offending is six times higher than their numbers in the broader population.

In the Brimbank local government area where Kadiga and Youssif’s family live, Sudanese teenagers committed 92 offences out of a total of 703 for that age group in 2016-17.

Kadiga acknowledges there’s a problem among some young people in the community. She worries about it.

“I worry that if they hang around with bad kids they can learn bad things,” Kadiga says.

“Because sometimes there are kids that are no good, and if my kids go with them they going to be like them or something like that,” Youssif adds. “Or if there are bad kids on the street, maybe they’re going to fight with my kids. So you just keep worrying until the child comes back home.”

One of their toughest challenges as parents is the approach to discipline in their new country. In Sudan, they would have smacked their children, they admit. Here that’s frowned upon.

But they also say it was a collective community responsibility to discipline their young people, and often when a child would misbehave they’d be sent to spend time with uncles, aunties or other elders, networks that no longer exist.

“Back home, every kid has to respect older people,” Youssif says. “Even at the shop, neighbours. They respect older people.

“And the older people respect the kids. If you see another person’s kids doing bad things, you come and say this is not good, they listen to you, even if you’re not related, they listen.

“Here you call the police.”

Eglal’s daughter has left the nest.

Among the mums’ group in Dandenong, she’s seen as one of the elders who can share her experience navigating the tricky teenage years.

Eglal chats with her friend Fatima during one of the Stand Up group women's meetings. ABC News: Margaret Burin
When they first arrived in Australia, her family was overwhelmed by the vast differences. But at least, for a while, their family order was intact.

But as time went on, a wedge grew between Eglal and her teenage daughter. She’d been progressing in English at a greater pace and was becoming detached from Sudanese culture, Eglal says.

“After she started learning English and she knew more than me, she started to change. It was becoming very hard to manage.

“It was a big barrier for us because of the English, we don’t know how the system works here.”

An example is the day her daughter came home with a showbag about sex, including free condoms.

At the time, Eglal didn’t say anything. It was a shock and she didn’t know how to handle it.

“They’re not teaching these kinds of things back home. It’s forbidden to talk about it,” Eglal says.

“Now I understand what is going on, now my English has improved, I would talk to her and I would read all those papers and I would go to the school and say, if you want to teach this to our kids, there should be notice before and they should let us know how to deal with these things.”

Having since had many conversations with other mums, some who have had children go through the criminal system, Eglal believes some young people in the community struggle to deal with their new-found freedoms.

“For us as Sudanese immigrants, I believe where we come from we had no human rights and I do understand that some of the community have abused the system here in Australia,” she says.

“They are treating the freedom in the wrong way. They think if you’re free you can do whatever you want to do, but this is not the meaning of freedom.

“They don’t care about what their parents say to them, the respect has disappeared.”

Eglal believes that, coupled with punishment in Australia being too lenient, is the root of problems among young offenders.

“I think the punishment very soft with the jail. Not strong enough. This is why the kids don’t care and so they end up back inside again.

“Because everything is available there — medical, their own bed, their own bathroom, TV, activities. I don’t think there should be TV, no telephone, they should have to do a hard job.

“Back home, they sleep on the floor a hundred people in one room, there’s one bucket. Because they knew how hard it was when you were in jail, when you were outside you were never going to do a mistake again.”

It’s a tricky topic.

For Kadiga and Youssif, their focus is keeping their kids well away from trouble in the first place.

As they sip their cardamom-infused coffee, their two primary school-aged children opening their workbooks at their feet, they say keeping them busy is their strategy.

Monahil helps her younger brother Maha with his homework. He’s practising for the NAPLAN exam. What time does school start? How many cups fill this bucket? Spell “certain”?

When Maha completes his work, he takes it over for Youssif to sign. Youssif looks over it as his two-year-old Matarda climbs on his shoulders, squirming and giggling when Youssif kisses him on the cheek.

He’d love to be doing more than signing the homework planner.

“I don’t know how to tell them how to do homework. I can’t help them, they are a higher level for me,” Youssif says.

Instead, he says, all he can do is provide them with encouragement to work hard, and be supportive.

“If they’re working it’s good, because if they’re not working more trouble coming — hang out and hang around,” the kids’ uncle Elssaied adds. “We want to make them busy. They don’t have time to hang around.”

Yousiff and Kadiga are not focusing on what the ‘African youth’ of Australia are doing, or what is being said about them, or what people think about them. They’re too busy focusing on raising a good family.

But they’d be lying if they said they did not want other Australians to know that they’re trying. That they’re trying damn hard.

“I would like the people to know it’s not everyone the same,” Youssif says. “Some parents, they’re good. Some parents, they are not controlling their kids. So they don’t judge the other people too.”

Youssif and Kadiga have come from a very different country, and they’ve had to make huge adjustments to their family unit and the way it operates.

But when it boils down to it, their message to their five kids is no different from those of most other Australian parents.

It’s one of hope.

“I hope to my kids to have a good life and good education, like everyone does,” Youssif says. “That’s what I hope to my family. For everyone to have a good life and education.”

Credits

Reporter, photographer: Margaret Burin
Designer: Ben Spraggon
Developer: Colin Gourlay
Editor: Matt Liddy
MORE FROM ABC NEWS
HomeJust InPoliticsWorldAnalysis & OpinionBusinessSportScienceHealthArtsLive StreamsVideoPhotosEntertainmentUploadSubscribeRuralMore >
Top of page
Change to standard view
ABC NewsJust InWorldBusinessHealthEntertainmentSportAnalysis & OpinionWeatherTopicsArchiveCorrections & Clarifications
Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyAccessibilityContact the ABC© 2018 ABC