Schoolboys Leaders Or Followers
posted 17th August 2000
by Alan Marston

In England social tensions are rising even higher than usual over education. The current debate - as New Zealand has somewhat slavishly picked up on - is over a perceived anti-learning attitude sweeping through the collective unconscious of schoolboys, seemingly the root cause of boys trailing in the wake of girls in the academia hurdles race. The usual centuries-old `solutions' are being contemplated and more, implemented in the case of single-sex teaching. Initially some select subjects will be introduced into mixed state schools as available only in single-sex classes. Reading the debate I have not found anyone who is sympathetic to the boy's attitude, not a mention of the possibility that school isn't important, or even damaging, to the lives of school-age youth. Could it be that the usual rebelliousness of youth has touched on a raw nerve within society, as it has not done since the 1960's? I personally believe so. In essence schools are institutions that prepare young people for an institutional life. That's fine, society has to work and social institution's machine-like rationality are what make society work, at least up until the 21st Century that has been the case.

These days insititutions are more virtual than solid ivy coated stone walls. The ability to adapt to change is more important than adapting to rule-governed social systems and tradition. The security that institutions used to provide was well worth the sacrifice to their unbending borishness. Now that security is only found in accepting and living with insecurity, the hide-bound school is a dangerous anachronism. It's the boys who have adopted the new and dominant machine, the electronic networked machine. It could well be that it's the boys who are best adapted for the coming society. To ignore young people is tempting, but stupid. The attitudes manifested by people who voice repression against "laddish anti-learning culture" who have the deep-seated cultural issues that needed to be confronted, not the schoolboy. The UK education secretary said he would give schools "ammunition" to tackle the poor performance of boys, amid a wave of concern about the gender gap in education, which is set to be heightened by GCSE results this week.

On Thursday girls are expected to extend their already substantial lead at GCSE, a week after results showed them achieving more A grades than boys at A-level for the first time. The shadow education secretary, Theresa May, accused Secretary Mr Blunkett of interfering in schools with the initiative and "clutching at straws". But can not one say that both are clutching at the same straw and both drowning as a result? Since 1998, local education authorities in the UK have been expected to include proposals to improve boys' results in their education development plans. Blunkett "..will pin down what works well and ensure schools and education authorities have ammunition to turn around boys' academic performance." Ironically a "gender and achievement" website is being launched by the UK Department for Education, the very environment that is re-engineering the social map and people's consciousness is being enlisted to back-engineer young boys heads. Not much chance of that I would submit. Next `solution'. The good old conference, never fails to buy time for politicians and avoid the real issue, behavioural redundancy.

The UK Education Secretary wants schools to share best practice. There will be a series of regional conferences on the issue with education experts. Officials stressed that there was no question of turning schools from coeducational schools into single-sex establishments. Nor are they planning to introduce more pilot schemes. Some educationalists doubt that imposing single-sex teaching can make in itself a significant difference. Being England, the class issue rises to the top, just under sex. The education secretary said it should not be forgotten that boys as well as girls were achieving better results. "However, we face a genuine problem of underachievement among boys, particularly those from working class families. "This underachievement is linked to a laddish culture which in many areas has grown out of deprivation and a lack of self-confidence and opportunity," Mr Blunkett said. "The gap that has opened up between the sexes at school is a long-standing and international problem for which there is no quick fix, but I am determined that our boys should not miss out. "Together, schools, parents and the government need to play their part to instil a cultural commitment to learning among boys.

That way we can begin to reverse the gap in achievement between boys and girls that has been such a feature of the last decade." Oh dear, cultural commitment is being demanded from the `lads'. Mr Blunkett said boys needed "better male role models" inside and outside school. He is however unlikely to find those role models on web pages, quite the reverse. The Internet is the chosen environment of the US Stock market and thus the Global Economy is buying into insecurity, uncontrollability and a form of anarchy that may be benign or cancerous. Surely it is the politicians and school masters who need to upskill? You can't tell a young person to follow the Mercedes and then berate them for not choosing school-teaching as their preferred occupation. Correction, a mere mortal cannot say such things, but politicians can spin even rationality on its head if it suits them... and still get away with it - except of course amoungst `the lads'... .