Male Underachievement in High School Education: In Jamaica, Barbados, and st Vincent and the Grenadines

The book starts off by saying that gender is not a universal topic and that race and nationality are factors for which one must accommodate. The authors point out that some of them are black, but most are white. Further, the cover shows a white face and a black face staring in opposite directions. Despite all of this, this book compares black males to black females, not black males to white ones. Though the study takes place in an entirely black context, it really is a gender-only analysis.

Some of their conclusions are obvious. Boys are more aggressive. There are few male teachers, etc. Any educated reader could have hypothesized their results.

Additionally, very unintentionally, the authors point to glaring sexism in the West Indian school system. Female teacher prefer male students over female ones. A pregnant female student would be asked to leave, but the siring male would not. Girls are expected to be obedient and task-oriented while boys are allowed freedom and sometimes encourage to be anti-intellectual. I wish the authors would have applauded West Indian girls for learning in such an unfair environment.

I was surprised and delighted to see that the authors bring up and criticize homophobia in the Caribbean school system. If teachers are homophobic, then gay male students won't feel accepted. If male students have to expend energy proving that they are straight, they are siphoning off energy that could go toward studying. All those concerned about the plight of gay and bisexual black boys in schools should see this text. Further, homophobia is connected with discrimination against "nerds." The authors do a great job in showing how hegemonic masculinity hurts both gay and non-gay males. (I bring up that term because the authors faithfully cite Connell's pioneering work even though other writers have asked whether his ideas apply to men in the developing world.)

Finally, the authors have no suggestions at the end. I guess this positive rather than normative analysis helps them to look objective. Too, it would seem like the answer is to have more male teachers and privilege the plight of males more. In zero-sum settings like this, that would put women and girls at a disadvantage, so maybe the authors didn't want to go there.

As an African-American male, I was surprised to see that "male underachievement" is not just a problem here, but in several places in the Black Diaspora.