Boys and Education: A Life Cycle Approach to...

Boys and Education:

A Life Cycle Approach to

Keeping Boys Out of Risk

University of the West Indies:

June 25, 2010

Session Four: Youth

Mark Figueroa

Dean Faculty of Social

Sciences, UWI, [email protected]

(Laughter)

No way (gangsta)

No way, no way, (you mad) no way

Not pon my team

Not inna my regime

Not inna yu dream

Lyrics to the popular dance hall song “House Cleaning” by

Mavado (David Constantine Brooks): VP Records

These are translated at end for non Jamaican speakers.

You must be dreaming (dreaming)

How gyal fi have bad man ah do house cleaning? (cleaning)

How gyal fi have man ah clean from floor to ceiling? (ceiling)

How gyal fi give him a jacket and when him check

ah nuh fi hi him

Him a mada dan ah dreaming

Man ah baller

Me nuh change fi no reason

Me nuh mango inna apple season

Ah nuff bwoy mek gyal clown dem out

Fi wear name brand jeans ifeson

Gyal coulda pretty like Ashanti

It's against the law fi wash panty

Me know and you know

It nuh right fi watch you sister and your aunty

Ey, some ah dem ya gyal ya sick

Some ah dem ah bwoy a ya love use dem lip

Chat, chat bout dem ah di man a di house

And dem gyal ah kill dem with lick

She program him like a chip

Clean the bathroom and wash the toilet

She run him go wash the spread and the sheet pon the bed

And make sure you don't spoil it





ah nuh fi hi him


Stephen,

All di worthless Jack

The gyal dem say ah mack him ah mack

Him work the money and bring it come

Then she turn round send him go shop

My God what a act

Him pay the rent she change the pad lock

She run him out ah door

Bring man inna the house

Him deh pon the verandah ah knock

Ey,

What kinda thing that?

Yuh nuh see jack ah idiot

No gyal can't clown bad man yuh mussi mad

After me nuh idiot

Youth how you fi ah feed that,

And a next man ah seed that

You black, she black, pickney come white

No sah ah Julian breed that




How gyal fi give him a jacket and when him check ah nuh fi hi him


You must be dreaming

How gyal fi have bad man ah do house cleaning?

Is a heart of love heyAh so me stay,

Yuh see miBibi,mmm

hahaha

Yea gangsta,Woah,

You get me,Ow...

Outline

•Example above of the Construction of Masculinity

•Defining Youth

•Coming to Terms with Available Research Findings

•Addressing Boys at Risk at Different Levels

•A Taxonomy of Risk Factors

•The State of Research

Youth: a time for

•Leaving home and establishing new living arrangements;

•Completing full-time education;

•Forming new relationships resulting in new family formation

•Finding work, seeking a career and a sustainable livelihood

Completing an educational pathway that provides a

sound foundation for post school life;

Making the right choices with respect to the

available educational pathways;

Performing along the chosen pathway up to his full

potential.

Educationally at Risk of

Not:

UK Report: Curriculum Between the Sexes in Secondary

Education (1923) Quoted in Mahoney and Smedley (1998)

“Most boys especially at the period of adolescence, have a

habit of „healthy idleness‟. Girls are much more industrious

and conscientious”. While the report is critical of girls for

their tendency to “overstrain” to the point of using “all their

energy on intellectual matters, starving their reproductive

organs with dire consequences for motherhood and the

nation”, it is full of praise for the typical boy who “rarely

allows himself to be completely absorbed by his work”. His

“breezy attitude to life in generally successfully secures him

from morbid concentration on the acquisition of knowledge”.

Girls Gender School Advantage Was Long Recognized

Although Sometimes in a Strange Way

Static Risk Factors for Young Men's Educational Achievement

Material Human Relational General Perceptional

1 School

2 Home

3 Community

/Informal

4 Society/

Culture

5 World of

work

6 Individual

Clash: Construction of Masculinity VS Requirements of School

Failures of School System

Gender Socialization: Home, Community, Peer Group

Culture/ Media

Problem of Stigmatization

Need More Comparative Studies

Research

Are the Boys Correct about School?

Is the Educational System Relevant?

Does the System Produce what the Society Needs?

Questions

Educational Policy Must Focus on Education

Learning Must be Child Centred

Focus on the Individual Boy not on his Sex

Policy

Males Pre-eminence VS an Egalitarian Perspective

Given Clash: Construction of Masculinity VS Requirements of School

Will we challenge elements of the construction of masculinity or

Will we refashion educational system to conform as best as it can?

To which Masculinities will we seek to match the educational system?

What will our attitude be re: impact on girls‟ education?

How to differentiate boys who do well and those at risk?

Should interventions be sex-based or individual needs based

recognizing certain needs relate more to one sex?

Are we going to ask fundamental questions or not?

Questions Regarding Approaches to Policy

Material Human Relational

School Absence of

provisioning or

appropriate

mix of

educational

pathways

Absence of

provisioning or

appropriate

mix of staff

Absence of

diagnostic,

guidance and

support systems to

promote good

choices and meet

needs of individual

learners


General Perceptional

School Deficiencies in

learning

opportunities

(affective and

cognitive) in the

system at lower

levels; continued

disconnect between

youth and

educational

provisioning; and re-

enforcement of

gender stereotyping

Lack of satisfaction from

performance in school,

boredom, negative school

experiences; activities in

school not attractive enough,

disconnect between studies

and real and perceived

future, greater consciousness

of realities of career

prospects and the limited role

of education in terms of

prospects of meeting

immediate needs



Home Lack of

provisioning

for study

spaces,

financial and

other

resource

support

Low levels

adult

education

Youth assertion of

identity as

independent decision-

taker makes school

work a site of conflict

with adults with whom

relations are often

already strained



Home Where home has

positive pro education

values it is often not a

match for other

influences often

problematic gender

signals are re-

enforced in the home

Youth begin to see home

based networks as less

important than youth

networks that provide

socio-psychological and

cultural-epistemic

support and see self

assertion as more

important than

acceptance of adult

authority



Community/

Informal

Informal and

criminal

activities

may provide

support or

intensify the

desire for

material

independen

ce.

Most adults

outside the

home have

low

education

Relationships

formed outside of

the home and class

room become more

important than those

within



Community/

Informal

Youth brings greater

independence even if

still living at home;

youths can go out with

less support and

supervision. At higher

levels of secondary and

many tertiary institutions

there is greater

freedom. The Jamaican

language problem

affects boys more

Pull of drugs, crime,

gangs, peer group

pressure, political

clientelism, interest in

sports, sex, computer

based distractions,

entertainment and the

valorisation of negative

gender stereotyping

often present in the

community and

informal networks



Society/

Culture

Need to

control

resources to

be respected

Little access

to generally

well

educated

adults

Limited inter-

generational mentoring



Society/

Culture

Gender socialization

favours negative

gender stereotyping

Pervasive values do not

put education high on list;

immediate gratification is

the thing



World

of work

Immediacy of

material

benefit does

not accrue to

the educated

Most adults

in networks

work hard

for little gain

Inadequate facilities

for career counselling

or networks to obtain

jobs based on

education



World

of work

Connection between school

and making quick success

not evident; education less

important for male careers

Informal and

criminal activities

may appear more

attractive



Individual Limited

educational

resources

Weak

education

foundations

Strong negative

networks and

influences with few

positive supports



Individual connection between

urgent individual goal

and schooling not

present

Low

motivation for

school


(Laughter)

No way (gangsta-gangster)

No way, no way, (you mad-you are crazy) no way

Not pon-on my team

Not inna-in/under my regime

Not inna-in yu-your dream

Lyrics to the popular dance hall song “House Cleaning” by

Mavado (David Constantine Brooks): VP Records



How (a) girl could have (a) bad man to do house cleaning?


How (a) girl could have (a) man to clean from floor to ceiling?


ah nuh fi hi him

How (a) girl could pass off another man‟s child as his when he checks

it is not for him


This is madder/crazier than dreaming

“a jacket” is a child attributed to a man when anther man is the biological father

Gyal is generally a derogatory female reference with exceptions such as: “hot gyal”

Man ah-is (a) baller

Me nuh-I do not change fi no-for any reason

Me nuh-I am not a mango inna-in apple season

Ah nuff bwoy mek gyal clown dem out

There are many boys who let girls make fools of them

Fi-to wear name brand jeans i-feason

Gyal coulda-(A) girl could be pretty like Ashanti

It's against the law fi-to wash (a) panty

Bwoy is almost always derogatory when referring to an adult male

Me-I know and you know

It nuh-is not right fi-to watch you sister and your aunty

Ey, some ah dem ya gyal ya-of these girls here (are) sick

Some ah dem ah bwoy a ya-of these boys here love use dem lip

Chat, chat bout dem ah di man a di house

Talking and taking about they are the man of the house

And dem gyal ah kill dem-their girls are killing them with lick-hit(s)/blows

She program(s) him like a chip

Clean the bathroom and wash the toilet

She run-sends him (off) “go wash the (bed)spread and the sheet pon the bed

And make sure you don't spoil it”





ah nuh fi hi him


Stephen (possible reference to his producer)

All di-Take for example worthless Jack (person not known)

The gyal dem say ah mack him ah mack

All the girls say (unable to be sure what the rest means)

Him-he work(s) the money and bring(s) it come (home)

Then she turn(s) round (and) send(s) him go-to the shop

My God what a act

Him-He pay(s) the rent she change(s) the pad lock

She run him out ah door-puts him outside the house

Bring(s) (another) man inna-into the house

Him deh pon the verandah ah knock

(Meanwhile) He (finds himself) on the veranda knocking (to get in)

Ey,

What kinda-kind of thing (is) that?

Yuh nuh-Don‟t you see Jack ah-is an idiot

No gyal can't clown bad man yuh mussi mad

No girl can turn a bad man into a fool you must be crazy (to think it)

After me nuh-I am not (an) idiot

Youth how you fi ah feed-are you supporting that (her)

And a next man ah seed-is impregnating that (her)

You black, she black, pickney-child come(s) white

No sah ah Julian (could his manager) breed that

No Sir! it is Julian who did breed/impregnate that (her)




How gyal fi give him a jacket and when him check ah nuh fi hi him


You must be dreaming

How gyal fi have bad man ah do house cleaning?

Is a heart of love hey

Ah so me stay-That‟s how I am

Yuh see mi-me

Bibi,

mmm

hahaha

Yea gangsta-gangster

Woah,

You get me,

Ow...

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