The point of departure for this topic was in September 2018 when Global News broke a story that revealed a secret list held by the University of Waterloo to determine which high schools conducted in grade inflation. The objective is to conduct a critical discourse analysis of the Canadian media's coverage of the University of Waterloo secret list. This analysis attempts to go past the surface-level done by the outlets and discover if there is a deeper-rooted issue that needs to be discussed and that issue is how the university is a faux equalizer.
To answer the proposed research question, I conducted a qualitative critical discourse analysis in the form of case study research. My research revolves around the Canadian mainstream media’s coverage of the highly secretive list created by the University of Waterloo to track specific high schools and their student's transition from grade 12 to the first-year university to track grade inflation. The university used this list to admit fewer students from those specific high schools.
Subjects for Study: The subjects of the study are strictly textual. The textual analysis of the Canadian media outlets came from articles that were featured online. The collected news articles were identified through a Google web search. After collecting the articles, I reviewed the readings for the emergence of dominant themes.
Measurement: The information processed from the textual analysis allowed me to measure through thematic analysis and in-depth indexing of articles from Canadian media outlets that covered the scandal. The key variables examined through my research of the media outlets include rhetoric deployed by these outlets and how they describe the student from the schools on the list.
Data-Collection Methods: I collected online articles from 10 Canadian news outlets. The collected news articles were identified through Google web searching. I utilized Boolean web research techniques to ensure I highlighted qualitative article sources that were within the scope of my project.
My research examined the rhetoric deployed by the Canadian media news outlets who covered the scandal. It was found that the outlets described the students that attended schools featured on the grade inflation list from a narrative of ignorance and arrogance. They described the students as underachievers, who thought they were smarter than they are and grew up bred to be entitled. My qualitative critical discourse analysis in the form of case study research discovered these outlets failed to measure how legitimate the adjustment factor calculation was or if the school had resources in place on campus to help these students during that tough transition between secondary and post-secondary. The dominate themes not accounted for by the news outlets that were found to affect a student’s transition from high school to their first year of university are:
- Lack of Cultural Capital (Socio-Cultural Perspective)
- Students who were under-prepared for the transition because of their secondary schools (Structural Barrier)
- Historical Political Struggles
-Structural Inequalities (Social Stratification
Osob Mohamed is a 4th-year student studying Professional Communications at Ryerson University. She is also completing a Communication Design minor. Osob is passionate about visual communication and is always looking to create and promote inspiring content. Osob is a freelance graphic designer based out of Toronto, Ontario. She combines design and art intending to make our world a more beautiful place.
Osob is a first-generation university student and so are many of the people she aligns herself with. Her first semester at university was difficult and simply adjusting to the workload. In the second month of the first semester, a friend introduced her to the various community outreach and programs offered by the school directed at first-generation university students like herself. She attributes what she learned from the program to her quick adjustment to university life and the gain of cultural capital that led to her academic success. Her research topic explores themes that she has direct experience with and is highly interested in exploring.