PARRY, O. (1997). ‘schooling is fooling’: Why do jamaican boys underachieve in school?Gender and Education, 9(2), 223-231.

The “female as villain” explanation of the educational underachievement of Jamaican boys is examined, based on classroom observation of 14-year-old pupils & interviews of 62 school staff. Two popular explanations in this vein are explored: (1) the sexual rejection of male pupils by female peers & (2) the predominance of female teachers in school. These explanations reinforced by school, particularly through discrimination against girls at the first level of educational testing, but they leave out the important contribution of male sex/gender identity to poor male educational performance. Macho masculine attitudes impact attitudes in school, behavior in class, & subject choice, & conflict with academic ethos. Despite acknowledging the debilitating affect of such masculine attitudes, school staff respondents admitted to encouraging them among male pupils, demonstrated homophobic fears, & were concerned about the lack of male role models in school for boys. 24 References. D. Generoli

Full article can be found here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540259721385?journalCode=cgee20