International Students' Social-emotional Experiences in Ontario Elite Boarding Schools

Abstract

The current Westernized definition and approaches to understanding social-emotional experiences are insensitive to cultural differences, and individuals from diverse backgrounds—including international students—are undergoing processes of marginalization, stereotyping, identity crisis, and various forms of racism as a consequence (Castro-Olivo & Merrell, 2012; Graves et al., 2017; Khalifa, Gooden & Davis, 2016; Khawaja & Stallman, 2011; Lee & Opio, 2011; Lee & Rice, 2007; Marginson, 2012; Rodriguez-Izquierdo, 2018; Slaten et al., 2016; Smock, 2013). Thus, this critical phenomenological research aims to address the evident gap in the literature by acknowledging the complex phenomenon of international students’ social-emotional experiences within a particular context of elite institutions while creating an opportunity for the students to talk about such experiences through their own voices. As a qualitative study, the main research question asks, How do international students in Ontario elite boarding schools understand/interpret their social-emotional experiences in such schools with particular emphasis on issues of “culture” (race, ethnicity, language, values, and beliefs)? Fifteen participants who have attended and graduated from Ontario elite boarding schools as international students were interviewed and the data collected have been analyzed from a critical democratic education perspective interpreted from a social justice lens. This research is significant, as it provides a different contextualization through a newly developed ‘Holistic Model,’ which captures a comprehensive picture of international students’ experiences through three chronological phases beginning from their entry into elite boarding schools to exit and examines the correlation between the three dimensions constituting students’ social-emotional experiences: multiculturalism and diversity, relationship building, and sense of belonging. Findings demonstrate that social-emotional experiences are fluid constructs that occur amongst the intersection of two or more dimensions and that “cultural cliques” is the most important determinant leading to positive experiences. Those students who had such a support network were able to develop a bicultural identity while the others without suffered from a cultural identity crisis and went through assimilation, internalization, and/or double marginalization. Furthermore, this study analyzes the role of capitalism and neoliberalism in students’ experiences, especially regarding the commodification of education and concealment of racism, justification of categorization, and hierarchical teacher-student relationship.