Making boys brighter

Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

With the grades and fortunes of boys slipping everyday, some educators are calling for a curriculum tailored towards male teachers and the presence of more males in the classrooms.

Classroom performance for males have not been up to par with their female counterparts.

UNESCO estimates that in Jamaica, 95 per cent of girls and 94 per cent of boys are in primary school, but only 88 per cent of males make it to grade five, compared to 93 per cent of females. Only 10 per cent of males go to university compared to 25 per cent of females. The adult literacy rate is 84 per cent for males and 91 per cent for females.

Dr Asburn Pinnock, principal of Sam Sharpe Teachers College, in St James, told The Gleaner that all stakeholders in society need to take action to save the country.

Immediate action

"We need immediate action, a programme to save our boys," he says. Pinnock says that there needs to be research done to ascertain how boys learn, as they learn differently from girls.

Dr Pinnock also says the disparity among males and females is evident in his college where, out of a graduating class of 180 students, only 20 men are found in the batch.

The principal says that the reality in Jamaica's classroom is that there is a culture which is subtly geared towards women. He says there are female teachers, books are written by women so "naturally women would teach from that perspective, even if it is not intentional".

Another educator, Dr Herbert Thompson, said that there are alternative lifestyles which rival the classroom for the attention of boys.

Dr Pinnock also says the compensation that men get from education, as opposed to the money "outside", wanes in comparison.

Lead by example

Dr Thompson, who is the president of the Northern Caribbean University, says educators need to place effort on engaging males in the classroom. More men are also needed in the classroom.

"Boys need men in their lives. Becoming a man happens by example, not by anything else."

Sociologist Althea Bailey agrees with the notion of putting more men in the classroom, but admits that there is a challenge because of how materialistic society has become.

"Society has become materialistic. It's not 'in' anymore to become a lawyer, a doctor or a teacher or to go to university and when you are done your earnings are mediocre. We are now more money-oriented and we want instant gratification," she says.

Bailey says that there is merit in all-boys', schools as teachers are forced to come up with ways for boys to learn. She also recommends that Jamaican families try to rethink how they raise boys. The entire society, she says, need to involve males more in a positive way.