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Do boys have a future?- Understanding the Boys
Underachievement Discourse in the Context of
Globalization

• Po King CHOI ???
• Chinese University of HK
• 22 June 2006

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Boys underachievementa universal discourse (I)

• In UK, Ofsted EOC Report (The Gender Divide) in
  1996 generated media reaction
• boys being lost
• boys in terminal decline
• boys being lapped by girls
• boys in deep trouble etc, etc
• Australia increasing discussion of boys
  education resources put into compensatory
  programmes for boys
• US Myth of short-changed girls! Boys, not
  girls, are on the weaker side of an educational
  gender gap (Sommers, 2000, The War Against Boys
  How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men)

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Boys underachievementa universal discourse (II)

• Mainland China, mid 1990s

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Women Champions in U Entrance Exam Arouse
ConcernAcademics Blame Shortcomings in
Educational System, 1996
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Boys underachievement discourse in HK The EOC-
generated debate

• 1998, 1st time individual primary school leavers
  banding released which led to girls parents
  complaint about injustice
• 1999, EOCs report published found EDs
  Secondary School Places Allocation (SSPA)
  discriminatory
• 2001, High Court ruling SSPA against Sex
  Discrimination Ordinance

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(No Transcript)
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What was the SSPA like?

• (1)Used results of Academic Aptitude Test (AAT)
  to scale students in same school, to make
  (individual) School Assessment scores comparable.
  This was done on a gender basis
• (2) Ranked all students into 5 bands, again on
  a gender basis
• (3) Maintained a gender quota so that fixed
  ration of boys and girls within same area
  admitted to co-ed schools

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Arguments against EOC

• Boys mature later than girls, but they catch up
  later so they should be allowed a measure of
  positive discrimination
• School Assessment (SA) favour girls, because they
  demand linguistic skills, and memorization
  capacity
• Girls school achievement owed to studenting
  activities

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The Problem of Female Success

• Boys success is natural, so no need to
  explain girls success is abnormal and indicates
  failure of system

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The boys underachievement discourse does it
hold water?

• UK and Australia girls academic superiority
  exaggerated does not extend beyond school
  leaving level (young men are still the high
  achievers in universities)
• Old patterns persist
• subject choice still follow traditional gender
  lines
• girls still alienated from science subjects
• classrooms still dominated by boys

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Girls overachievement in HK?

• Girls caught up since early 1980s (9 yrs of free
  and compulsory ed since 1978)
• If one goes by participation rates alone, girls
  slightly ahead (88.5 vs 83 for upper sec 18.4
  vs 15.7 for university)
• But if one looks at public exam results (HKCEE
  and HKAL)
• Girls superiority only in languages
• More boys than girls in high-achieving groups in
  science
• For arts/soc sc/commercial subjects, gender diff
  uneven

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Boys underachievement discourse detached from
gender asymmetry in society

• Gender inequity in workplace
• Gender inequity in politics
• More women in poverty
• Family unequal sharing of household chores
• School gender stereotypes in textbooks boys
  domination in classrooms gender stereotypical
  views among students re career preferences,
  family roles, work roles and dating behaviour.
  While girls ready to change, boys hold on to
  traditional views

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Accounting for boys underachievement discourse
(I)

• Crisis of masculinity amidst economic
  globalization
• Working class male unemployment, undermining
  breadwinner prop to masculinity
• laddish culture among boys
• Insecurity for upper and middle management amidst
  restructuring, downsizing etc,

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Accounting for boys underachievement discourse
(II)

• Backlash against feminist movement and gender
  affirmative policies
• But, this does not apply to HK!

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Prioritization of boys inherent in modern school
system (I)

• Linda Nicholson (1994)
• Increased public/private split in capitalism
  accompanied by growing distinction between male
  and female attributes
• Schools to socialize boys OUT of the feminine
  family

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Prioritization of boys inherent in modern school
system (II)

• Valerie Walkerdine (1989)
• Construction of rationality highly gendered
  women part of nature under male gaze and control
• Progressive child-centred pedagogies the
  active child with naturally-endowed potential to
  be nurtured by the supportive, passive (female)
  teacher and mother
• Therefore, female achievement is abnormal,
  pathological

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Prioritization of boys inherent in modern school
system (III)

• Victoria Foster (2000)
• Civic public realm of citizenship relies on
  opposition between the public (male) and the
  private (female)
• Schools are part of the public realm
• Women cannot be proper learner-citizens
• The space invader perception of academically
  successful girls/women

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Is the school too feminized for boys (I)?

• Exaggerated and extreme need for boys to prove
  themselves (laddish cultures), often resulting
  in destructive, aggressive practices of
  homophobia and misogyny
• End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation (HK) survey
  2004 found sexual abuse of male students by male
  peers prevalent

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Incidents of (male) school violence

• ???????????? ??????????????? ?? 2005-10-19
• 3 ?????7????? ??????11?????? ??2006-01-18

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Is the school too feminized for boys (II)?

• Boy friendly programmes curriculum and texts,
  special mentoring groups for boys, more
  structured teaching (instead of more expressive
  and investigative modes)
• HK boys primary school-
• Academic contest designed in format of fighting
  video game
• Film clip with clearly gendered-stereotyped
  overtones to promote reading contest
• More physical activities
• Danger of such programmes reinforce destructive,
  aggressive masculine cultures

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Is the school too feminized for boys (III)?

• Francis study in UK
• Pressure for boys and girls to fit in
  traditional gender expectations
• Boys dominate classrooms
• Girls hold greater ambitions for future
• Girls awareness of discrimination at workplace a
  spur for achievement
• Despite instability in job market, boys remain
  complacent
• For boys, threat of losing their masculinity
  vis-à-vis girls an URGENT problem the process of
  becoming a MAN fraught with difficulties,
  confusion and contradiction

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What next?

• Emergence of new hegemonic masculinity in schools
• The entrepreneurial school (market,
  managerialism, performativity) undercuts humanist
  values, leads to alienation, sense of guilt and
  loss
• But on the other hand, hegemonic masculinity has
  a feminine face caring, team work,
  empathetic understanding, creativity,
  communication skills

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What next? (contd)

• As traditional gender certainties destabilized
  (eg., loss of breadwinner role), and
• And with new configuration of gendered values and
  practices, can we
• Intervene at this juncture of crisis of
  masculinity to arrive at greater gender equity
  (and a more rewarding life in school for boys and
  girls?)