Be a Good Boy Now

Publisher:  Cross-Cultural Communication Centre, Toronto, Canada
Book Type:  Videotape

Resource Type:  Film/Video
Cx Number:  CX916

This audio-visual is a documentary-type look at the story of the immigration of a Jamaican boy to Toronto, Ontario.

Abstract:  This audio-visual is a documentary-type look at the story of the immigration of a Jamaican boy to Toronto, Ontario. The problems of the move are outlined in a variety of ways, with the basic assumption that Canadians do not make the move any easier.

The Jamaican immigrant looks to Canada to provide him with opportunities for employment, and improving his own social life. He looks forward to college, and becoming an electrical engineer, something not possible in Jamaica. The practices of the Canadian educational system do not make it easy for the boy to attain h is goals. The system will streamline him into vocational school if he has trouble academically - which is highly likely if he does not already know English. He lacks what Canadian's see as basic skills, such as reading and mathematics. He lacks these skills and abilities because the educational system of Jamaica is less academic.

The Jamaican boy also comes to Canada to be reunited with his mother, who had immigrated sometime earlier. Yet, he is leaving other relatives, to whom he has grown close, and all his friends. He experiences loneliness, and alienation. This experience is intensified through discrimination in Canada by Canadians.

Despite all these problems the Jamaican lad will encounter, his grandmother's counsel is " be a good boy now". The question raised by the video-tape is how it is possible for him to be a good boy in such a difficult situation.


30 minute video-tape.

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