Crisis in Masculinity

Candidate number: 221848

Name: Wilmer Franklin Zambrana Guadamuz
Subject code: ENG101C 1
Subject name: Oral and Written Communication
Semester: Fall, 2018
Task: Final Exam Option “A”

Words count: 1529

Wilmer Zambrana
Written and Oral Communication
Fall, 2018

ESSAY OUTLINE - Crisis in Masculinity

I. Introduction

 Title: Crisis in Masculinity

 Hook: “Your previous underachievement does not dictate your future
overachieving success” - Jared Buckley
 Background:
Karl McCartney, a conservative Member of Parliament for the city of Lincoln,
in his article “Our schools are failing boys, which is bad news for Britain”
written in 2016, stresses his concerns on the appalling impact that underachieved
boys have in the outside world and claims the lack of focus on the issue from
government and educational institutions. As for suggestions, he finds useful to
start a boy-friendly education and introduce vocational training and
apprenticeships as well as having equality for everyone.

 Thesis statement:
This paper seeks to explain whether or not the study culture, feminization and
stereotyping genres might be accountable for the differential performance
between boys and girls.
II. Body

 Topic Sentence 1: Possible Reason 1

One possible reason of their low performance points at boys’ anti-school culture.

 Topic Sentence 2: Possible Reason 2

A second conceivable reason of boys´ low performance at school is feminization

 Topic Sentence 3: Possible Reason 3

A final probable reason of boy´s underperformance in schools appoints to the
gender stereotyping.
III. Conclusion:
 Summary:
Firstly, it is discussed how study culture in both genders have crucial effect on
academic results. Therefore, it is significant to promote study-oriented habits
and awareness of learning in our students. Secondly, feminization was assumed
to be a possible reason of this phenomenon; nevertheless, there is little evidence
of impact in academic results because a teacher gender. Finally, it has been
claimed that stereotyping pupils is not beneficial for their performance; instead,
this hinder their learning process.
 Opinion/Suggestions:
It is urgent to look for solutions for boys’ underachievement and to enable both
boys and girls to flourish in education as well as in other aspects of their adult
lives. It is important to understand the role of other aspects of marginalization in
pushing boys away from school and academics.

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Wilmer Zambrana
Written and Oral Communication
Fall, 2018
Crisis in Masculinity
“Your previous underachievement does not dictate your future overachieving success”
Jared Buckley

Education is considered one of the most crucial things schools should offer and it
turns into a hot topic when discussing about academic achievements or school evaluation.
A worldwide issue has emerged in regards to schooling performance between genres, and
Britain is not exempt. In recent decades, there has been an unfavorable phenomenon for
male students “boy´s underachievement in schools”. A considerable amount of literature
has been published on boys´ low performance at school in Britain and around the world.
Even so, these studies have differed significantly. While some studies have suggested
that portraying boys as an homogeneous group of under-achievers has placed them as
victims of the education system in terms of pedagogy and practice (Bleach, 1998), others
have provided evidence of feminization (Skeleton, 1998) as cause of their failure. Karl
McCartney, a conservative Member of Parliament for the city of Lincoln, in his article
“Our schools are failing boys, which is bad news for Britain” written in 2016, stresses his
concerns on the appalling impact that underachieved boys have in the outside world and
claims the lack of focus on the issue from government and educational institutions. As for
suggestions, he finds useful to start a boy-friendly education and introduce vocational
training and apprenticeships as well as having equality for everyone. Taking as a starting
point my own learning-teaching experience and considering some of the responses to this
article I partly agree with, this paper seeks to explain whether or not the study culture,
feminization and stereotyping gender might be accountable for the differential
performance between boys and girls.

In the pursuit of finding the root of boys ´underperformance at school, various

explanations and possible hypothesis have been given. One possible reason of their low
performance points at boys’ study culture. While girls seem to be hardworking, organized
and obedient and they have higher expectations of themselves and are more enthusiastic
about continuing their studies, it is believed that boys are less motivated and have less
positive attitudes toward school. Boys are generally considered to be intelligent but
indolent and mischief-loving. According to Nicole M Warrington (2013) boys are more

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Wilmer Zambrana
Written and Oral Communication
Fall, 2018
laid-back, easily distracted from the task in hand and less inclined to use cooperative talk
and discussion to aid and support their own learning (Warrington, 2013). This of course,
shows that by nature boys would need more encouragement and motivation than girls.
Boys need to move around having out-of-school activities instead of being limited to the
classroom and as a defense mechanism against teachers and schools; there is a rejection
of “feminine” subjects such as reading or arts. Gallagher (1997) in his review of research
evidence concludes that boys´ apparent underachievement was probably as a result of
testing and assessment and a possible anti-school culture among boys. He also suggests
that girls more positive attitudes towards school has a distinct advantage and some boys
“anti-school subcultures and peer-group pressures” (Gallagher, 1997). Demonstrating
school attitudes appears to be irrelevant for boys; instead, they tend to care more about
appearance and “reputation” how they are looked within a group. Despite the assumption
that “boys’ culture is less study oriented than girls” was hesitant, a study made by Mieke
Van Houtte demonstrated statistically that the effect of gender on achievement can be
explained by the gender-specific study cultures. (Houtte, 2014). From this, it can be
inferred that there are gender differences in attitudes to schoolwork that have crucial
effects on academic performance. It is significant to me sharing a little about my
experience as a pupil and as an educator. I consider that during my career as a scholar I
was one the most outstanding boy in my class and fortunately in the whole school. I do
believe that my academic performance as a pupil was satisfactory and sufficient to those
with high expectations (parents and teachers). However, it would not have been
achievable such academic performance, if my culture had not been study-oriented.
Therefore, I consider that positive attitudes towards school have great results displayed in
achievement. In addition, as an EFL teacher, I have seen both genres succeed in academic
performance. Once again, I could confirm that the effort and dedication that one gives to
“studies” is paramount in the pursuit of academic excellence. In order to narrow this
gender gap in achievement, it might be useful to encourage students to take more
responsibility in their learning.

So as to take part on this matter, Jane Caro, a novelist, author, columnist and
award writing advertising writer, in her article “how to help boys do better at school: stop
giving them a leg-up in the outside world” written in 2016, emphasizes on the
“patriarchy”, a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles,
have moral authority, have social privilege and control of property, as responsible of
giving the easy ride to boys and limiting the opportunities they have to develop the skills

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Wilmer Zambrana
Written and Oral Communication
Fall, 2018
and knowledge they require in order to realize their potential in life. However, the belief
of “feminization” has become the focus of today´s debates. A second conceivable reason
of boys´ low performance at school is “feminization”. Statistics have shown that females
have a great domain in the teaching field not only in Britain but around the world
(Phipps, 2003). It is identified the fact that the majority of primary teaching staff are
female. Women primary teachers outnumbered men by 5 to 1. As stated by Madeleine
Arnot in her paper Gender and education in United Kingdom (2003), it has also been
suggested that primary teaching environments are biased towards ‘feminine styles,’
through their daily routines and practices, low teacher expectations of boys, the absence
of male role models, and the way in which the curriculum is delivered and assessed. As a
result, there are now moves in the UK to recruit more men into primary school teaching
in order to tackle the problem of boys’ underachievement. It is assumed that the gender of
the teacher has a potential influence in the classroom; and rather than female teacher, it
has been argued that male teachers are more likely to provide learning experiences that
resonate directly with the concerns and interests of boys. However, this conception about
academic performance being influenced by teacher´s gender is open to doubt. A response
to this idea can be found Carrington´s research (2007) where the results of interviews
reveled that there was no evidence to suggest that boys' academic engagement was any
different in classes taught by men or women.

A final probable reason of boy´s underperformance in schools appoints to the

gender stereotyping. It is evident from some of the research studies that stereotypes about
boys being less intellectual than girls have an effect on children during the first years of
primary school and preclude them from fulfilling their potential. Additionally, boys feel
they are not expected by their parents and teachers to do as well as girls and as a result
they lose their motivation or confidence. “Boys perform worse at school because they are
constantly being told that girls are more intelligent, according to a new study” (Collins,
2013). The illuminating analysis David Miller (2017) provided into stereotyping,
concluded that stereotyping about boys or girls´ academic inferiority could make them
underperform on evaluative academic tests and that it’s not constructive to pit one gender
against the other. In my experience as a learner, I have been also a victim of stereotypes;
even so, these ideas did not determine how far I could go. I decided to go beyond and
continue to have optimum study attitudes in my formal and informal studies. As Kruse
(1996) argues, there is a need to enable boys to deal with their gender identity, their

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Wilmer Zambrana
Written and Oral Communication
Fall, 2018
concepts of masculinity, their attitudes and behavior. She suggests that both men and
women teachers need to work with boys to support and challenge them in their attempt to
change their culturally given roles (p .80),

So, to put the arguments about males’ underperformance in more general terms it
is necessary to go back to what is stated in this paper. It has been shown through
different sources that there are concerns about boys’ low academic performance and there
is a crisis that affects masculinity. Firstly, it is discussed how study culture in both
genders have crucial effect on academic results. Therefore, it is significant to promote
study-oriented habits and awareness of learning in our students. Secondly, feminization
was assumed to be a possible reason of this phenomenon. Due to the pursuit of having
equality of rights and treatment women have empowered teaching labor and adjusted
pedagogic practices; nevertheless, there is little evidence of impact in academic results
because a teacher gender. Finally, it has been claimed that stereotyping pupils is not
beneficial for their performance; instead, this hinder their learning process. It is urgent to
look for solutions for boys’ underachievement and to enable both boys and girls to
flourish in education as well as in other aspects of their adult lives. It is important to
understand the role of other aspects of marginalization in pushing boys away from school
and academics.

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Wilmer Zambrana
Written and Oral Communication
Fall, 2018

Bibliography
Bleach, K. (1998). Raising Boys’ Achievement in Schools . Trentham Books.

Caro, J. (2016, 08 12). How to help boys do better at school: stop giving them a leg-up in the
outside world. Retrieved 11 27, 2018, from The Sydney Morning Herald:
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/how-to-help-boys-do-better-
at-school-stop-giving-them-a-legup-in-the-outside-world-20160811-gqqhyj.html

Carrington, B. F. (2007). Does the gender of the teacher really matter? Retrieved 11 28, 2018,
from Seven‐ to eight‐year‐olds' accounts of their interactions with their teachers.
Educational Studies:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02607470801979558?src=recsys#

Collins, N. (2013, 02 12). Boys 'worse at school due to stereotypes'. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from
The Telegraph :
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9862473/Boys-worse-at-
school-due-to-stereotypes.html

Gallagher, A. (1997). Educational Achievement and Gender: a review of research evidence on

the apparent underachievement of boys. Research Report Series No 6. . Retrieved from
DENI .

Houtte, M. V. (2014, 07). Why boys achieve less at school than girls: the difference between
boys’ and girls’ academic culture. Retrieved 11 27, 2018, from Educational Studies:
http://www.sciencespo.fr/liepp/sites/sciencespo.fr.liepp/files/boysandgirlsES.pdf

McCartney, K. (2016, 09 06). The Guardian. Retrieved 11 27, 2018, from Our schools are failing
boys, which is bad news for Britain:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/06/schools-colleges-failing-
boys-masculinity

Miller, D. (2017, 02 02). Stereotypes can hold boys back in school, too. Retrieved 11 28, 2018,
from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/stereotypes-can-hold-boys-back-
in-school-too-72035

Phipps, M. A. (2003). Gender and education in the United. Retrieved 11 28, 2018, from
Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2003/4
Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equality:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001467/146735e.pdf

Skeleton, C. (1998). Feminism and Research into Masculinities and Schooling. Retrieved 11 26,
2018, from Gender and Education:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09540259821032?needAccess=true

Warrington, N. M. (2013, 01 02). Student Attitudes, Image and the GenderGap. Retrieved 11
27, 2018, from British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3,2000:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/01411920050030914

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