Acknowledgement

It’s a great privilege to honor those who have aided in the completion of this study. Thanks

to Ms. Bonique.Townsend, a teacher of Caribbean Studies, who guided me throughout this

research. Thanks also go out to the students of Jonathan Grant High School, who made the

coalition of data possible and the authorities of the school who enabled me to conduct my

investigation.

My family members are indeed honored, due to the fact that they have being a great source

of help in gathering the necessary resources for this assessment. Finally I thank the Lord for

giving me strengthen and vigor, so that I could complete the research.

3

Statement of the Problem

What are the social factors which contribute to female students outperforming male students

academically at Jonathan Grant High School in St. Catherine?

4

Introduction and Purpose of the study

The underperformance of males academically, has become a topical issue within the

Caribbean at large. In Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, there has been a growing trend

of female students outperforming males. This is evident even at the secondary level, at which

students are being prepared for the Caribbean Secondary Examinations. The CSEC passes

over the years show a trendy decline in males’ performance both in the technical and

vocational areas. Our males are equally important like the females. The greatest dilemma a

country can face is when one gender/sex believes there is no place in society for them. The

increasing prominence of males’ underperformance is a big hindrance to society. This

problem has been affecting many schools within Jamaica. Jonathan Grant High School is one

such institution that this plaguing plight has taken a toll on.

The purpose of this study is to find out the factors which contribute to female

students outperforming male students academically at Jonathan Grant High School, in

Jamaica. In answering the problem statement, the researcher wishes to find out: which sex

performs better in most or all subject areas at Jonathan Grant High School, What are the

factors that causes this sex to outperform the other and some motivational measures that can

be used as instruments to improve this sex standard, academically.

The main aim of this study is to broaden people’s knowledge about the

underperformance of male students nationally and regionally. In doing this, the researcher

shall highlight the underperformance of males academically at Jonathon Grant High School.

The study also aim to bring to light, the factors contributing the underperformance, so to

ensure that male students who site this research can be motivated to do better in all subject

areas and try to overcome the obstacles to their performance.

5

Definitions of Key Terms

These are some terms you will encounter during this study;

Academically (adverb): Having to do with education and study, scholarly as opposed to technical or

practical knowledge.

Education (noun): The process of training a person’s mind and abilities so that they can acquire

knowledge and develop skills.

Female (adjective):Having to do with the sex that can bear offspring or produce egg, in particular

women and girl

Male (adjective):To do with or belonging to the sex that reproduces by fertilizing egg cells produced

by the female men or boys.

Student (noun): A person who studies a subject, especially at a school, college or university.

Underachieve (verb): To do less well than was expected, especially in school work.

6

Literature Review

Nasser Mustapha (2009) commenting on the topic ‘Males Underachievement’ in school in

his book Sociology for Caribbean Students, concludes that boys rather than girls are at a

disadvantage in Secondary schools. Mustapha’s (2009) conclusion is based on findings

revealed in a demographic study conducted in Jamaica 1991. Data from the study revealed

that the illiteracy rate for males was 23% and 13.3% for females. The data also revealed that

the enrollment ratio male to female at the tertiary levels was 2:9 males to females,

Mustapha (2009). In a related studies carried out by the University of the West Indies

Mona (2007), it was revealed that as many as 82% of the students who matriculated to

tertiary institutions in the academic year 2006-2007 were women. Additionally statistics

submitted by four Teacher’s College in the island namely ; The Mico Teacher’s University

College, The Shorthood Teacher’s College, St. Joseph Teachers College and Moneague

Teacher’s, shows similar situation. Specifically, more males than females are enrolled in

tertiary education.

Authur Hall ( 2007) a senior reporter at the Jamaican Gleaner Company reported that

“the phenomenon of an excess of tertiary trained females is already sufficiently established,

that, the results are being seen in today’s society as women are taking over many senior

positions, once considered the providence of men and the trend is growing”. Hall (2007)

believes that this will undoubtedly affect Jamaica’s development, as fewer men are being

certified or obtaining higher education. Unfortunately data shared by Sociologist, Hyacinth

Evans, (Gender and Achievement in Secondary Education in Jamaica, 2006) concludes

7

that even after reviewing these findings Jamaican men were not alarmed or eager to take any

corrective actions to address the situation. Evans (2006) explained that that the men she

interacted with during the course of her study revealed that they are more capable of handling

any Jamaican woman, despite their levels of qualification.

Professor Mark Figueroa in an article published on the topic ‘males socialization’

(2004) states, that ‘Our society has employed a form of socialization that is tying the heifer

and releasing the bull.’ This coincides with Sociologist Professor Barry Chevannes (2002)

publication on the topic What you sow is what you reap. Chevannes (2002) conclusion was

based on the fact that he observed, in the Jamaican culture that at home boys are expected to

misbehave, while girls are expected to conform to a rigid code. In addition, Professor

Chevannes (2002) further added that, if a boy misbehaves it is essentially expected, but if a

girl does so it is a serious matter.

Professor Odette Parry of the University of Edinberg, (2003) in her article ‘schooling

is fooling, why do boys underachieve’, also made reference to the perception of males, in

stating that “this account suggests that an important casual factor to male educational

underachievement in schools is the ‘ hard’, macho masculine attitudes and behavior which

run contrary to academic ethos of school. Professor Chavannes (2002) , Professor Figueroa

and Professor Odette Parry, believe that the society is the cause of males. However other

authors disagree with Chevannes’ et al conclusion.

Parry and Evans (1999) in Nasser Mustapha’s text, namely Sociology for Caribbean

Students, noted that male’s underachievement is not from a Sociological point of view but a

biological a sex differences. They articulated that the academic of males and females in terms

of sex role theory, meaning the roles and statuses individuals adopt are due to their sex or

8

biological make up, which means that academic achievement then, has to do with biology or

genetic issues. The Scholar Errol Miller (1991), in Nasser Mustapha’s text, namely

Sociology for Caribbean Students, supported the points of the sociologists but was also in

agreement with their opponents. He went further and wrote that in Jamaica early

socialization of boys put many of them at a severe disadvantage in schools; he also stated that

they were not encouraged to identify educational achievement with masculinity. This goes in

agreement with the conclusions drawn by Professor Barry Chavannes (2002) and Mark

Figueroa (2004).

While other writers believe that the cause of males’ underperformance is because of

social and biological reasons, Winston Adams, executive chairman and president of the

University College of the Caribbean (UCC) clearly disagreed with this point when he was

quoted in a speech done at the institution, saying “there is a view among Jamaican men that

education is an investment which takes too long to produce a return. Anecdotal evidence,

based on what is heard from many of our Jamaican men in some communities; suggest that

this is a plausible explanation for the under-representation of men in the classrooms at the

secondary and tertiary level”.

In an article published in the gleaner Wednesday October 3, 2007 entitled

‘underachievers’ the writer Petulia Clarke stated “it is good that the females are excelling but

we need our males to reach that standard because the children are the future both the males

and the females.” However the growing number of male’s under- performance that we suffer

from each year is an omen that needs attention. As Caribbean societies move aggressively in

hoping to achieve development from all angles, it must be realized that this cannot be done if

there is inequity as it relates to education among sex. Notably, it should not only be an

9

individual effort to correct this phenomenon, but a communal effort, as measures should be

institutionalized to correct the dilemma.

The obviousness of this plight draws the attention of many, including the researcher. But

while Mustapha (2009) can point to statistics as evidence, the ordinary man can just look on

the streets to prove his claims. On the streets of the Caribbean, most of the children seen are

males; most of the inmates in the cell are males. The researcher lamented that the society

fails to look at our boys as important as the girls.

We have seen, heard and read that males have no faith that the education system can affirm

their manhood. Therefore they deem the pursuit of a good education as simply girly. What is

even more startling is that the train educators within the education system endorse this kind

of behavior. Even though one may wish to differ with Professor Barry Chevannes and the

other writers, the truth is that these researches were conducted in the Caribbean and is by no

means fallacy or libel of the male character. As a nation and a people, we need to act now

and prevent the endangerment of the male species.

10

Data Collection Sources

The method of data collection was quantitative in nature; this was in the form of both

primary and secondary sourcing. Primary sourcing means that the research was conducted on

the ground, to get the relevant information needed. In other words, the information was

obtained first hand with the use of questionnaires. A questionnaire is a number of preset

questions that can contain open-ended, fixed choice or a combination of both types of

questions. These questions seek to get information about a particular situation or problem.

Questionnaire was chosen due to its numerous advantages. It is usually easy to administer; it

can be used to reach a large number of people, even if they are geographically dispersed and

it is usually cheap to produce a large number of questionnaires.

The questionnaire encompasses ten questions. These were distributed on Monday

23rd of January 2012 during school hours at the Jonathan Grant High School.

Jonathan Grant High School is a two shift educational institution located in Spanish Town St.

Catherine. To obtain the necessary information a letter was written to the school informing

them about the purpose of the study and asking for their full participation and co-operation.

The population of the school consists of two thousand (2000) students, therefore a sample

size of 10% was deemed necessary to ensure the accuracy of data (10% = 200). The

respondents were chosen on a stratified random base. This was done to get a mixture of the

different grades, which is grade seven to eleven (7-11).

The questionnaires were not collected on the same day; however they were obtained

fully completed on two separate voyages, by the researcher. A thorough analysis was done

by the researcher on the questionnaires to determine the opinions of the respondents and to

11

find out their views, and also to find out if the questions were answered based on the

instructions given.

Secondary sources were used in the form of books, newspaper articles and journals,

to capture the different writers’ perspective on the research topic. In terms of Article,

Professor Barry Chevannes (2002) in his publication “What you sow is what you reap”, was

a good source of help, since it aid in substantiating the claims of the researcher about male

underperformance in school and the contributing factors to the dilemma. Other Arthurs and

writers include Nasser Mustapha, when he was quoted from his text, Sociology for Caribbean

Students, giving detailed statistics of male to female ratio and the females prominence in

tertiary institutions across the island. Professor Mark Figueroa was also a help, like the

others, he helped in concreting the points put forth by the researcher.

In gathering the data, the researcher encountered several problems. Firstly, it was

difficult to leave school during the researcher’s school hour to issue out questionnaires.

Secondly, due to the fact that Jonathon Grant is a two shift school, it was difficult to get

respondents from the two shifts at the same time that the researcher went there. As a result he

had to wait there until one shift was dismissed and the other was commencing, in order to

ensure that respondents were chosen from the two shifts. Young people are normally said to

be irresponsible, this was evident when the researcher tried to retrieve the questionnaires.

Many of the respondents did not take the questionnaire with them, on the day they were told.

As a result the researcher had to go back there another day to collect all the questionnaires.

In terms of secondary sourcing, the only difficult, was its was very hard to gather

information from the different writers about the relevant topic and to compile the information

so that it could flow. Apart from that, the secondary sourcing was ok.

12

Presentation of Data

Question 1

To which sex do you belong?

Figure 1.The donut-chart above shows the sex of the respondents.

50% of the respondents are males while 50% are females.

13

Question 3

Which Grade do you belong?

.

Figure 2 ( what type of diagram is this?) showing the respondents grade.

40% of the respondents are currently in fifth form which suggests it is their final year at

school. 8% of the respondents are in first form which signifies their first year at the

institution. 23% and 16% respectively are from fourth and third form, while 12% are in

second form.

14

Question 4

Which sex performs better in the different subject areas at your school?

Figure 3 a pie-chart sex performs better in the different subject areas at your school.

According to the respondents, females perform better than males in all subject areas at the

institution. This is obvious as 72% agree to this while 28% believe males’ performance is

better.

15

Question 6

What are the social factors which account for female students

outperforming the male students academically at Jonathan Grant High

School?

Figure 4 a bar-chart displays social factors according to respondents that cause males’

underperformance.

The bar-chart above displays social factors according to respondents, which contribute to

female students outperforming male students. Base on the responses, 15% stated it is due

to musical distraction, 13% believe males are less focus than females, 22% stated males

tend to have a gang preference rather than going to school, another 10% believe educators

16

motivate females more than males, while a maximum of 40% strongly believe that males

prefer to work than to go to school.

Question 7What are the major effects when female students outperform male students?

Category

Respondents' views

More female students than males students graduate 10%

More female students than males students from my school are enrolled in tertiary institutions 20%

Male students become demotivated 22%

Competition between the male students and female students 18%

Females dominate the working world and are more qualified than males 30%

17

Figure.5 is a table displaying the major effects when female students outperform male

students.

According to the respondents from the Jonathan Grant High School, 10% believe that more

female students than male students graduate, 20% believe that more females are enrolled in

tertiary institutions, 22% stated that males become demotivated, 18% stated that competition

develops between both sex, while a maximum of 30% believe that females dominate the

working world and are more qualified than males, as a result.

Question 8

How do you think the male students at Jonathan Grant high school can improve

their level of performance academically?

18

Figure.6 shows how male students can improve their level of academic performance.

According to the respondents 40% stated that taking extra classes and studying more/harder

can help to improve males’ academic standards, 15% stated that they should pay more

attention while a maximum of 45% believe that if they attend classes regularly their

performance can be improved.

19

Question 9

What measures can be used to motivate male students at Jonathan Grant high school to

perform better?

Figure 7. Measures that can be used to motivate male students.

Based on the research, 15% of the respondents believe that educators should motivate male

students more to learn, 20% believe that regular counseling sessions should take place, 25%

are of the view that males should be encouraged to work harder and 40% stated that the

implementation of a more male friendly teaching approach should be encouraged.

20

Interpretation of Findings

The hypothesis was proven that the female students outperform male students at the Jonathan

Grant high school in the parish of St. Catherine. This conclusion is supported by the research,

in which 72% of the respondents answered yes. It can be argued that the remaining 28% of

the respondents who stated no was due to the fact that that they were male students and felt

offended and even angered by the question and its reality. It was not surprising that majority

of the respondents who answered yes, were mostly females and believed that their

performance is better due to their understanding of lessons taught, their devotion and

application of selves academically.

It was discovered that there are many social factors which account for female students

outperforming male students academically. The main ones are rather evident and obvious.

These include: musical distraction, as stated by 15% of the respondents. Musical distraction

causes males to lose focus on their school work, thus not performing well academically. As a

result many musical artists nowadays, try to motivate males to stay in school and improve

their academic performance. One such artist is Daniel Mc Gregor who sang a hit single

“youth tek in your education, nuh put nuh woman pony uh head.” This is to show that males

are distracted by music, henceforth the same music is used as an instrument of

encouragement since much attention is placed on it male by students.

Other social factor includes gang preference, which 22% of the respondents

concurred that male students prefer to join gangs rather than to attend school or classes. In

21

doing this it is easier for them to fit into these social groups rather than to adhere to the rules

and regulations of the schools. This is not strange, as the sex that is mostly involved in

criminal activities is the male sex. Hence, the respondents believed that male rather to engage

in these activities than to go to school. Nevertheless a next 10% believe educators motivate

female students more and this influence males’ underperformance. Due to the fact that the

respondents are in school, they are competent to give information on the issue. In fact they

are the ones in the school system and know who the educators motivate more. This may be as

result of teachers vigilance when a boy interrupt the class than when a girl does so. When a

girl does so, she may motivated “saying you are a young lady”, which means that is not the

norm. But for a male or boy, the teacher may just bring him to the office, at that point they

will have no tolerance due to the perception they have of males. 13% are still of the view that

males are less focus, while 40% stated that males prefer to work than to go to school. In this,

they fail to realize the importance of education, but enjoy the get rich quick idea and want

fast cash. In wanting fast cash males prefer to work rather than to stay in school and work at

a later period.

Social plights normal have disturbing effects on a community, country or even a region;

male’s underperformance is no exception at Jonathan Grant High School. As stated, 10% of

the respondents stated that the main effect of this phenomenon is that more female students

than males graduate, 20% stated that more female students are enrolled in tertiary

institutions. This effect is not latent as recent statistics have made this assertion, therefore the

researcher unbiasedly concur with it. Notably, in Universities across the Caribbean, female

students have established their dominance spreading themselves all over and performing far

22

better. In addition to that, 22% of the respondents also stated that males become

demotivated, while another 18% stated competition normal develop between both sex. But

even though respondents have varying opinions as it relates to the effects of this dilemma,

30% are still of the view that female dominant the working world and are more qualified than

males. Though debatable, this point is still up for more criticisms.

It was a strong opinion among the respondents (figure 6) that this problem can be solved by

the male students themselves taking extra classes and studying more/harder, this was

indicated by 40% of the sample size, 15% of the respondents also believe that if males pay

attention in class this problem can be extricated. However most of the respondents, that is

45%, stated that they should attend their classes regularly. In doing this they will become

more familiar to the content taught and will be better able to retain information.

Understandably, males have an important role to play in order to alleviate this problem, but

one should note that some measures need to be institutionalized if solutions should work. As

shown in figure 7, 15% of the respondents believe that educators should motivate males

more, 20% believe regular counseling sessions should take place and 40% stated that

teachers should implement a more male friendly teaching approach to teaching. One of the

reasons for majority believing that there should be a more male friendly teaching approach, is

due to the fact that the teachers are mostly females and tend to teach the lessons in a way that

female would better understand rather than males. This is so because the examples used

would be of a female nature making it subtle for males to understand.

23

Discussion of Findings

This survey revealed three major findings. Firstly, the gender which performs the

best at Jonathan Grant High School in the parish of St. Catherine is the females and not the

males. According to Petuila Clarke, in The Gleaner dated October 3 2007, she stated, “it is

good that the females are excelling but we need our males to reach that standard……….”

This data clearly indicates that the females are the ones who perform the best and the males

are surely underperforming, which was also confirmed by the findings (questionnaire)

which 70% of the respondents agreed to

The main social factors which account for male students’ underperformance at

Jonathan Grant High School are that males prefer to work rather than to go to school, others

include musical distraction, males are less focus, educators motivate females more and gang

preference. This is in agreement with Winston Adams executive chairman and president

of the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) when he was quoted saying “there is a

view among Jamaican men that education is an investment which takes too long to produce a

return” which Adams suggest is the explanation for the under-representation of males in the

classrooms at the tertiary level. But how far is this finding from Professor Odette argument,

which she mentioned that the casual factor to male underachievement in schools is the hard,

macho, masculine attitudes and behavior which runs contrary to the academic ethos of school

24

and to work is one of those macho attitudes. Males tend to have a get rich quick idea and

would use any means to get by it.

It was confirmed in the findings by 20% of respondents that one of the major effects of

female students outperforming male students at the Jonathan Grant High school was that

more female than male students are enrolled in tertiary institutions, as the male students are

not qualified enough after five (5) years for higher education. This point is supported in the

literature review with the 2007 statistical data from the University of the West Indies

(UWI). Which revealed that as many as 82% of the students who matriculated to tertiary

institutions in the academic year 2006-2007 were women.

Nonetheless, it was clearly proven in the findings that many persons (40% of the

respondents) believe that this problem of males underperforming at Jonathan Grant can be

solved by the putting measures in place to motivate male students such as implementing a

more male friendly teaching approach which male students would be better able to relate to

and/or understand the lessons taught. As a result they should ignore the societal expectations,

as described by Professor Barry Chavannes, who stated that at home boys are expected to

misbehave while girls are expected to conform to a rigid code.

25

Conclusion

In the ending of this study it can be concluded that the gender which performs the best

academically at Jonathan Grant High School is the female. This was claimed by 70% of the

respondents and that the male students at Jonathan Grant High School are indeed

underachieving academically.

It was also proven by the findings that some of the main social factors which account for

female students outperforming male students at Jonathan Grant High School are: gang

preference, working rather than to attend school, males are less focus, educators motivate

female more and musical distractions. One cause of this is due to some of Jamaica’s popular

dancehall artistes portraying an image of quick money/ quick rich idea, and not using the

educational route of getting it. And also, the fact that the male students don’t have to follow

any rules and regulation they tend to have this gang preference rather than to attend school as

they see it easier to follow.

And finally, the major effects of female students outperforming male student at Jonathan

Grant High School is that more female students than male students graduating from Jonathan

Grant and enrolled in tertiary institutions which lead to an increase in illiteracy rate among

26

our males, lacked of employments ( i.e. males in the workforce) and an increase in criminal

activities among males. But nonetheless, person still believe that if there were measures put

in place such as the implementation of a more male friendly teaching curriculum, it will

encourage the males to perform better academically and would avoid the effects listed above.

Limitations

In conducting this research, the researcher encounters some major challenges. Firstly, the

information that was collected by the researcher was limited as there were not enough

sources to collect relevant and sufficient information. Furthermore, the respondents mostly

the male students felt offended by the questions in the questionnaire and were reluctant to

answer them, therefore not giving the researcher sufficient time to analyze the data. On the

other hand, the assignment was still successfully completed.

27

Recommendation

Based on the information gathered by the researcher, it can be clearly seen that male students

are underachieving academically at the Jonathan Grant High School. As a people we need to

come to an agreement to battle this problem which can increase over time.

The researcher strongly recommends that greater emphasis should be placed on programmes

that develop life skill education such as decision making skills, problem solving skills,

conflict resolution skills and civic responsibility.

The researcher also recommend that the government and educators or whoever have the

power to do this should try to and make the academic curriculum male friendly or develop a

new program to be more male friendly in a way that male students are as eager to learn as

female students. Also the program must be able to grasp the attention of the male students

and keep it. And to potential researcher it is recommended that when doing this study, you

should avoid using unreliable and useless research techniques in collecting adequate

information on the study.

To reduce the underperformance at Jonathan Grant High School, the researcher will

implement a boys club. This club will aid in motivating males. With this club, male positive

role models will come in and speak to males in club meetings and encourage them of ways to

get over the any problem which they encounter. The researcher will also have male musical

28

artistes coming in the school to create songs about the importance of school. The club will

also engage in game playing so that males may feel a sense of belonging among their peers,

to prevent them from seeking external belonging, that is gangs and other deviant companies.

29

Questionnaire

Dear Respondents,

This study is being carried out to determine the factors which account for female

students outperforming male students academically at Jonathan Grant High School. The

Information gathered will be used to complete an assignment for a Caribbean studies Internal

Assessment. All your information will be kept confidential.

Instructions: please place a tick in the box [√] where necessary or write where instructed.

1. To which sex do you belong?

Male [ ]

Female [ ]

2. To which age group do you belong?

13-16 years [ ]

17-18 years [ ]

18 years and over [ ]

3. Which form do you belong?

First [ ]

Second [ ]

Third [ ]

Fourth [ ]

30

Fifth [ ]

4. Which sex performs better in the different subject areas at your school?

Male [ ]

Female [ ]

5. Why do you think that the female students outperform the male students?

Male students are lazy [ ]

Females are more ambitious than male students [ ]

Females concentrate better than male students [ ]

Females learn faster than male students [ ]

Other [ ]

6. What are the social factors which account for female students outperforming the male

students academically at Jonathan Grant High School?

Musical distraction [ ]

Males are less focus than female students [ ]

Males prefer to join gangs than attend school [ ]

Educators motivate males less than female students [ ]

Males prefer to work than go to school [ ]

7. What are the major effects when female students outperform male students?

More female students than males students graduate [ ]

More female students than males students from my school are enrolled in

tertiary institutions [ ]

Male students become demotivated [ ]

Competition between the male students and female students [ ]

Females dominate the working world and are more qualified than males [ ]

31

8. How do you think the male students at Jonathan Grant high school can improve their

level of performance academically?

Pay more attention in their classes [ ]

Attend their classes regularly [ ]

Take extra classes and studying more/ harder [ ]

9. What measures can be used to motivate male students at Jonathan Grant high school

to perform better?

Encouragement to male students to work hard [ ]

Regular counseling sessions for male students [ ]

Implement more male friendly approach to teaching [ ]

Educators should motivate male students more to learn. [ ]

10. Do you believe that government intervention will help to alleviate this impending

problem? If yes briefly state what can they do.

________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

32

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Haralambos Michael and Holborn Martin (2000), Sociology Themes and Perspectives the

Fifth Edition, Published by Collins Educationa.

Mustapha Nasser(2007), Sociology For Caribbean Students, Published by Ian Publisher.

Hyacinth Evans (2005), Gender and Achievement in Secondary Education in Jamaica,

Published by Brain Publisher.

Petulia Clarke ( 2007), “Underachievers”, the Daily Gleaner, October.

Barry Chevannes (2002), “What you sow is what you reap”, article Publication.

33