[schwarrrtz]

> Migrants coming to Canada, many from countries such as China, India and Pakistan, are often relatively well-educated and ambitious to see their children get into professional careers.

> Prof Jerrim says these families have an immigrant "hunger" to succeed, and their high expectations are likely to boost school results for their children.

Speaking from personal experience as a native Canadian, this can also motivate non-immigrant children to work harder. When half of your peers have an immigrant's work ethic it can be a real positive influence.

Disclaimer: this is an anecdote, my personal experience may not generalize, etc.

[616c]

Hanging out with immigrant kids in the US I would tend to agree. A few years in the Persian Gulf with mass immigrant youth mixing with a GCC citizen subset in schools as a policy requirement still provided lots of anecdotes that those GCC students care a lot less than expat kids despite pressure on the latter. They can get jobs slated for GCC nationals only with lax requirements. Many see little value out of college beyond the elite who wanted out.

Now immigrant and expat to me means overlapping national and ethnic and national backgrounds. It is an issue of the intended period of their residency.

I think govt policy was hoping for the later in institutions like the one I worked at, and it made me sad.

[blazespin]

Yeah, I'd like to see these stats broken down to immigrants. I'd guess that the immigrants are actually leading the way.

My guess is that Canada is careful about selecting those allowed to migrate for education which helps a lot here.

[hasenj]

Requirements for immigration is difficult and if everyone had to pass the same bar my family had to then it's almost guaranteed that most immigrants are well above average. Or put another way, the average of immigrants is probably higher than the average of native born citizens.

That said, the opposite is true for refugees. The only thing you need is to somehow get inside the country. If you can convince some judge that you have a moderately believable story about why you will be in danger if you go back to your country you can get refugee status.

So there's basically two classes of immigrants. Those that are selected with very high standards, and those who just get in with almost no standards.

I'm guessing the latter group does not even send their kids to Universities.

[rfdub]

Our selection process is as follows: "Does your daddy have money?"

[diegoperini]

Your lack of prejudice is really admirable.

[dublinclontarf]

What else was he supposed to do?

"These immigrants, coming over here, getting better grades than the rest of us"?

That just becomes an admission of stupidity.

[surge]

No it isn't admirable means its some how not the expectation.

Lack of prejudice is and should be the norm. Having prejudice should be detestable, you shouldn't get a pat on the back for not being prejudice no more than you should for being a polite normal person who treats people with common decency and respect.

[Kurtz79]

Prejudice: "preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience".

The poster is "speaking from personal experience", so it's not really surprising.

[abandonliberty]

Not only motivate but provide more motivated/mature peers. Most of my friends in school were immigrants for this reason.

Mind you, I also know high school graduates who never bothered to learn English. They find a way to make their living in Chinatown (which is slowly expanding across the city).

[Waterluvian]

The majority attitude of a classroom was ultimately how I tried to behave during highschool.

[maehwasu]

So you are arguing for skills/intelligence based immigration policies?

[rubatuga]

I mean that's what happens in reality

[Kluny]

It's pretty simple, if you were born in Canada and live there, you're not an immigrant. Your parents might be. If your grandparents were immigrants but your parents weren't, you're 100% Canadian and skin color isn't part of the equation. I don't know why other commenters are implying that it is.

[laser]

Because extending the logic on such an idea, all people of North America, and most of the world, are immigrants. 'I always wonder how people can call someone immigrant (and claim they are not) if they are not the mountains and the earth. When the only difference between them and these "immigrants" are one belongs to 3rd millenium CE and the other belongs to 13th millenium BCE immigrant families.'

[watwut]

The difference of 5 centuries is quite a lot. If your family moved from Germany to French two generations ago, you are not called immigrant nor German either.

[ChrisjayHenn]

To me, an immigrant is someone who made the move themselves. Maybe that's a Canadian thing.

[joaomacp]

Even the people in Europe in the 15th/16th century were immigrants from previous humans in Africa. Everyone is an immigrant from the first cell that replicated, and began life.

[awkwarddaturtle]

Saying we are all immigrants is just a feel good lie. It's a tactic to try to get everyone on the "pro-immigrant" side.

If you were born in the US or Canada or a citizen by birth, you aren't an immigrant.

Many of our ancestors were immigrants for sure. But not all of our ancestors were immigrants.

Many of our ancestors were invaders, colonizers and settlers. Those aren't immigrants.

Saying we are all immigrants is a political statement. It tries to make us identify with the immigrants and pro-immigrant policies and has the benefit of masking/absolving our invader/colonizer/settler ancestors.

If you were born in the US and you think you are an immigrant, ask yourself "where did I immigrate from"? And that assertion becomes silly. "I was born in ohio". Does that mean I immigrated to the US from Ohio? It doesn't make sense.

[minikites]

They're the "right kind" of immigrant (white skin) who did it the "right way" (immigrating in the 15th/16th century).

[DarkKomunalec]

> When half of your peers have an immigrant's work ethic

That many?

[schwarrrtz]

Ok so I have some actual stats now:

> More than 45 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents are foreign born, according to the 2011 census. There are only three major cities on the globe that have a higher percentage of foreign-born residents.

> They are Dubai, Brussels and Toronto.

http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/vancouver-fourth-fo...

[vinceh]

Depends on where you are. In major cities like Vancouver[1] and Toronto[2], you have over half of the population belonging to "non caucasian". Although this doesn't directly mean all of them are immigrants, subsequent generation tend to carry (or at the very least but influenced) by their parents cultural values, like work ethic. Anecdotally, I'm a second generation Taiwanese living in Vancouver and I consider myself to have the "asian" work ethic.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Vancouver [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Toronto

[dx034]

Depends on the area you live in. Immigration tends to focus on certain spots (larger cities, areas where people from the same region already live, areas with international schools from that country). This effect occurs independent of the wealth of immigrants.