The betrayal of our school boys

Are our local schools geared up for teen boys or has the education system become far too feminised?

Abi Crook welcomes the advances in feminism but is this at the expense of the way boys are being treated by society, and their prospects to live healthy and fulfilled lives?

The chief executive of UCAS said that boys are falling behind girls in almost every way possible from education to success in jobs where she issued a warning. Today’s girls seem to have the advantage over boys where statistics show that only 43% of those who go to university are boys and the final 57% are girls. ‘If this differential growth carries on unchecked,’ she said in an interview with the daily mail ‘then girls born this year will be 75 per cent more likely to go to university than their male peers.’ As an 18 year old female still part of the education system, I never saw myself in a position where bringing justice to school boys was a priority.

Although a true feminist through and through where I have stood proud celebrating women, I believe it is necessary to acknowledge the effects our education system has on teen boys. This may help us understand the behaviours and attitudes they tend to pick-up throughout their school life. During my time at school, I have experienced situations unfair to both boys and girls where a vast majority of boys expressed how they felt ‘girls are favoured over boys’. I started to realise that the sexism shown towards my male counterparts became excessive and sometimes unnecessary. When delving deeper into the way schools run I became aware of the huge inequality presented before school boys, realising something needs to change sooner, rather than later in order to accommodate for our boys and their needs. Many have expressed their concerns on the matter including mothers of boys themselves where they are worried about their son’s growing up in a society where their masculine traits are devalued.

Appalled and shocked

I took this opportunity to speak to my peers within the sixth-form I attend where majority of the lads said ‘the whole thing about being emotionally expressive and communication between us and staff feels far more challenging from a male perspective’ from this another said ‘there is a lack of male teachers within the school and a male pastoral officer has only just been employed, with the current standards within society boys find it very difficult to open up about sensitive topics because we are almost left in the dark with no one to talk or relate to’ I came away from this conversation appalled and shocked about how my friends felt within the school environment. I knew something needed to be done.

In addition to this there are many reasons that suggest why boys underachieve, such as the decline in male teachers offering little or no role models for the boys while growing up where only 1 in 6 primary school teachers are male. Leading to the inevitable feminisation of schooling creating an environment that encourages girls to see school as part of a ‘female gender domain’ resulting in ‘laddish’ subcultures that rebel against the expectations of the system categorising them into an unfair band of students.

Leaving boys behind

In recent years we have been made aware of the negative footfall in educational attainment in boys. Some have argued that the increase in girls’ educational performance is the result of their changing ambitions due to the images of strong assertive women in the media as well as schemes such as GIST and WISE where girls are encouraged to enter male dominated industries and jobs. This has caused many boys to feel devalued when a student said ‘we don’t have the same support or rather encouragement to get into certain fields, for example in one of my classes there is a whole board dedicated to women in Computer Science/IT. Surely if we want an equal standing the board will be both men and women?’ These schemes have allowed women to gain more employment opportunities. As well as this, changes in the law have improved the position of working women where the Equal Pay Act was introduced in 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975.

Also, internal factors have made the educational system more appealing to girls such as teacher attention. This refers to the idea that because girls are more cooperative and take the time to listen, teachers respond in a positive way to them and offer more encouragement. Whereas the attention boys receive is often for punishment due to them dominating class discussions and adopting laddish behaviours, which are identified with being the ‘class clown’. The implementation of coursework into certain subject areas has seen an improvement with female achievement due to the fact that girls are considered to be far more conscientious and better organised. Once again leaving boys behind. ​

On top of this, boy’s literacy rates have fallen massively because of the lack of time parents spend reading to sons as it is seen as a more feminine activity. Another issue to note regarding male academic achievement is that boys’ leisurely interests do not encourage language and communication skills where girls grow up with ‘bedroom culture’, the idea of writing in diaries and playing ‘tea party’ with stuffed animals. So is there something we can introduce into the education system relating to what boys like to do?

Peer pressure

When speaking to an ex-student who now holds a successful job he said that ‘I felt as though I was unsupported during my time at school. I think that had something to do with the people I was friends with at the time. Because of those I was associated with I felt looked down on and lost hope in my education’ it is clear that regardless of who boys choose to be friends with they will always be seen as mischievous and out to cause trouble when in reality some boys needed the additional support in order for them to escape the situation they felt trapped in.

Many view schools as a ‘society in miniature’ serving as a preparation for our lives in the wider society. Research shows that schools are deemed to be meritocratic, which is a belief that all pupils have an equal chance to succeed no matter their ability, gender, class or ethnicity. This idea directly contradicts itself when each year our boys are outperformed by the girls leaving them in a difficult place with little or no opportunity. ​They are left with little to no hope for achieving good grades or even being able to secure a decent job, mirroring the lack of effort boys tend to demonstrate in the classroom.

The decline in manual labour has become apparent since globalisation which has reduced the workforce of industries such as shipbuilding, mining and manufacturing. This has led to a male ‘identity crisis’ giving teen boys little to no motivation to achieve the qualifications they need in order to get a job as they believe they cannot find one. In certain subject areas including humanities and modern foreign languages male grades are falling well below where they should be with almost 68% of boys only just achieving a grade 4 at GCSE level in French, this appears to be a similar pattern with many ‘unnecessary’ subjects. This marries up to the idea of boys being ‘anti-school’ where they try to prove their masculinity through peer-pressure.

Has the pendulum swung too far?

The position of boys within society fell when online influencer Andrew Tate fuelled an increase in sexism in the classroom. It comes after the fictional Netflix series, Adolescence, thrusts incel culture into the spotlight. He may be doing time behind bars but the influential behaviour has now made its way to the classroom resulting in boys refusing to talk to female teachers. When does too much become too much?

The incredible imbalance between boy’s and girl’s education almost correlates to the one that existed towards women at the beginning of the 20th century. However, it is men who are suffering now.

So, as a society, what are we going to do about this? What is going to change? How would you feel if this is how your boy felt?