Second generation Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands are doing much better than their parents. This is the positive news from a new report on the integration of Western and non-Western immigrants in Dutch society. At the same time, within this group of young Turks and Moroccans there is a sharp division.

On the one hand, there is a new group of "ethnic minority yuppies", and on the other hand there are school leavers without basic qualifications. These young people often shared the same classrooms. What happened afterwards? "This report shows that the divisions within the groups are growing and that there's no such thing as "the Moroccan" or "the immigrant". And that you have to take into account the different routes to success or failure. One reason for this is the isolated world in which many pupils with ethnic minority backgrounds live."

Statistician Jan Latten concludes in the integration report produced by Statistics Netherlands that people from ethnic minorities have become divided into two groups. It is among pupils at secondary schools geared to vocational education that the division becomes visible. For some, this less academic type of school becomes a springboard to a successful career. For others it's the last stop on the way to the cannabis of the "coffeeshop" and the bottom layer of society.

 Support from home
Immigration researcher Maurice Crul points out that this type of vocational school is an exception in Europe: nowhere are pupils from ethnic minorities rising so quickly to ever higher levels of education, but nowhere in Europe do so many ultimately drop out of school. Pupils from ethnic minorities mainly go to secondary schools attended by almost no native Dutch pupils - unceremoniously referred to as "black schools" in the Netherlands - and then go on to equally segregated vocational education.
 
So why do some young people still manage to make it? Perseverance and determination are important, says Maurice Crul, support from home is equally important. The young people who have to get on with their education on their own often fall through the net. They leave school early, get temporary work, and marry young, usually to a partner who also has no qualifications. The couple quickly have children and find themselves in a relatively vulnerable position.
 
Mixed feelingsHow do the young people at opposite ends on the scale of success see each other? Maurice Crul says the successful ones have mixed feelings.
 
"They know how hard it is to fight your way up. While they've succeeded, they see people of the same age going downhill and ending up behind the steamed-up windows of the 'coffeeshop'. The understand only too well how it can happen."
 
Some successful young people who have worked their way up prefer to pull in the rope ladder. They move to a better neighbourhood and would rather not be too closely associated with their roots.

Lucky devils

The school leavers regard the new yuppies as lucky devils who have betrayed their own identity to climb the ladder, according to Jawat Sayadi. However, researcher Maurice Crul notes that less successful young people often blame themselves: "They are disappointed but with school leavers this translates into self-criticism. Since they were small they've been told they were getting chances their parents never had and, now that they have missed those chances, they are ashamed."

Former youth worker Abdel Bouzit from Amsterdam can see, however, that youngsters who don't make it are jealous of their contemporaries with diplomas and good jobs. Some of them blame Dutch society or discrimination or poor education. "Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with a lack of stimulation within the home." Others are prepared to turn around and take steps to help their disadvantaged contemporaries. In Amsterdam, successful Moroccans and Turks have started an initiative to stimulate and train the stragglers. They have throw out a rope ladder and are finally bridging the divide.

November 2008

Martijn van Tol

Radio Netherlands

Photo credit: CharlesFred; germeister; dutchamsterdam.nl