Assess Sociological explanations of increasing educational underachievement among boys in contemporary Britain

A popular explanation for the difference in educational attainment is the fact that males have a ‘Laddish Culture’ a separate sub-culture (also can be known as the ‘Lads Cultures’ or ‘Men Behaving Badly’ role.). Males have developed less positive attitudes to education than have females (Barber 1994). This could be due to peer pressure, and the view that school isn’t ‘cool’, the males don’t want to be ousted out of their ‘group’ therefore go along with what they perceive others would think of as ‘cool’.

The Hidden Curriculum (coined by Jackson 1964) uses a gender regime – that it is enclosed in messages concerning what is appropriate masculine and feminine behaviour. This means that it covertly teaches the pupils what behaviour is befitting for their gender. This can happen through teacher labelling. A good example of the effects of the effects of labelling is the Pygmalion Effect (named after a title of a play by G.B. Shaw). A study done by Rosenthal and Jacobson, on the effects of labelling on American elementary school children showed that labelling does effect your education. Therefore, if teachers label males as underachieving compared to females, they will be. A valid criticism of this is the fact that labelling can work two ways, either the pupil will live up to their expectation (the Self Fulfilling Prophecy) or they will rebel against their label, and ‘prove the teacher wrong’.

An explanation of the reason for educational underachievement in boys is the biological one, or also known and the genetic explanation. One argument is that females mature earlier than males. This can be shown in girls out doing males exams taken at a younger age, for example the 11plus. It also explains the fact that in the past males out done females at exams taken above the age of 16. Although this does not explain why females are progressively outdoing males at all levels, including post 16 exams. Another biological explanation of educational underachievement in males is the argument that there is a difference in natural aptitudes, that boys tend to lag behind girls in verbal proficiency, and girls behind boys in terms of visual-spatial perception. However, criticisms have been made of the actual data that shows this, that it has been over exaggerated. And that the measures of proficiency may well be the result of different education received by boys and girls, meaning that girls and boys get trained, or taught differently, therefore may develop different spatial and verbal proficiencies.

Another opinion is that female attitudes are changing. “Girls are now more confident of getting better-paid, professional jobs than their flagging male counterparts”. Sue Sharp conducted a major study into the changing attitudes of females; in 1972 she studied a group of secondary school girls. She asked them what they considered important in their lives. She found that the girls’ predominately replied, ‘Love, marriage, husbands and children’. She repeated the study in 1991 and found quite a difference in replies, the girls were now saying, ‘Jobs, careers and being able to support themselves’ were the main answers. There has been a vast change in the working sector, with more ‘feminine’ jobs available, and females attaining higher positions in the working environment. The ‘Glass Ceiling’ is not as prominent as it once was. For example, “in the United Kingdom, 63% of girls expect to have "white collar, high-skilled" jobs by the time they are 30, compared to only 51% of boys” As we can tell by those statistics, the males appear to be lacking in confidence. This may be due to the change in the working sectors, as more ‘feminine’ jobs come in, less ‘masculine’ jobs are available (for instance, labour work). This could lead to the males not having sufficient male role models.

In conclusion I believe that it is a mixture of different factors that are effecting the male underachievement in education, in contemporary Britain. These include, changing female attitudes and roles, biology, the development of a ‘Laddish Culture’, and the Hidden Curriculum. I don’t believe you could put it down to just one of these explanations. I also believe that something needs to be done to help the males become equal with females in educations as, “If present trends continue then females will be the dominant gender in education.”