Challenges Facing Our Youth

Nova Scotia has the largest indigenous African population in Canada boasting  40 plus indigenous African communities spread throughout the province.  Our arrival to Nova Scotia is a result of both voluntary circumstances – based on the assurance of freedom and land, and involuntary circumstances – as a form of social control.

African Nova Scotians continue to hope for equality and struggle to regain control over their destiny. The hope that the abolition of slavery would bring about social equality has not truly been realized. Sociological institutions, such as the educational system, continue to operate from a bigoted perspective. Consequently, racial discrimination has been identified as a crucial casual factor in the failure of a large portion of young learners of African descent to partake, perform or develop into academic achievers in science and math. In conjunction with social discrimination, other variables have been recognized as contributory to this outcome. These include:

• limited parental involvement
• the nature of classroom instruction and interaction
• insufficient exposure to the world of science as it relates to the life of the young learner
• failure to promote skills fundamental to the development of an appreciation for scientific inquiry.

As with previous generations, science plays a pivotal role in our lives. Understanding the fundamentals of the application of science will enhance the academic performance of African Nova Scotian learners.  By focusing on several subject areas in science and adopting a mentoring scheme, Imhotep's Legacy Academy offers a unique approach to enhancing the quality of math and science education for young learners of African descent.