CARIBBEAN STUDIES

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

Theme: Education
Topic: Educational equity: Causes and Effects of male underachievement as it relates to female
overachievement in High School.
Candidates Name: Daniel J.P. Mcknight
Candidates Number: 100105****
Name of School: St. Catherine High School
Schools Centre Number: 100105
Territory: Jamaica
Date of Submission:

CARIBBEAN STUDIES

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Education
Educational equity: Causes and Effects of male underachievement as it relates to female
overachievement in High School.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE

PAGE

Acknowledgement____________________________________________
Theme______________________________________________________
Introduction__________________________________________________
Literature Review______________________________________________
Data Collection________________________________________________
Presentation of Data____________________________________________
Analysis of Data_______________________________________________
Discussion of Findings__________________________________________
Conclusion___________________________________________________
Limitation of Study_____________________________________________
Recommendations______________________________________________
References____________________________________________________

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I must express my thanks to God above for helping me through this Internal Assessment as this
research would not be possible without him. Also I wish to thank my teacher Mr. Valentine as
through the period of preparation he has extended some ideas to put forward to this research. I
must also thank my classmates and the students who participated in this research.

THEME
EDUCATION
TOPIC
Educational equity: Causes and Effects of male underachievement as it relates to female
overachievement in High School.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
What are the causes and effects of male underachievement as it relates to female
overachievement in High School?

VARIABLES
Dependent: Lifestyle
Independent: Academic Performance

THESIS STATEMENT
Although there has been a few female and male students who has significantly contributed
towards the development of St. Catherine High School and has done this by equipping
themselves with a will power to do well, there are still a lot of male student who have not
perform up to their required standards and females who have been outperforming the males
during the years spent at St. Catherine High and each year it gradually increases and it is due to
how they live their life, how each gender process the information and how strategies have been
implemented towards course work for both genders.

DELIMITATION OF STUDY
This research on what are the causes and effects of male underachievement as it relates to
female overachievement in High School? is restricted to the St. Catherine High School area
located in Spanish Town, St. Catherine and is aimed towards investigating both female and male
students educational lifestyle which has been summed up to: how each gender process
information, strategies used and how has their way of life played a vital importance their
academic performance at St. Catherine High School.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
It is quite evident that males are underachieving in todays society and girls are outperforming
the males but how has their way of life, strategies used by the overseer and processing of
information played a vital in their educational life. For this research to be efficient, questions are
set in order to find the solution
This research aims to solve this problem through these question;

What can be done to improve the males academic performance at St. Catherine High
School?
Why most females are doing exceptionally well but most males are not?
What are the causes and effects towards male underachievement?
What can be done to motivate the male student of St. Catherine High School to start
doing well?
Why are some males doing exceptionally well but most of the male population at St.
Catherine High School are not living up to their academic standards?
Why are most females outperforming the males at St. Catherine High School?

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
During the past six and a half years spent at St. Catherine High School, there has been a
major difference between the academic performance of both male and female students. Most
females are outperforming the males and this has been highlighted in many areas and can be due
to how they process information, strategies used by the overseers, and how they live their lives.
As the researcher of this project and a male student of this institute, have taken this problem to
heart to find out what are the major differences, what is happening to the men and woman
population of this institute that is causing this difference, what is especially happening to the men
of this institute who are supposed to be leaders and be able to handle great responsibility when
the time comes. As a result, the researcher took the initiative to conduct this research to find what
lies behind the mind of a male and female student. It can also be said that this problem is
psychological in nature and as a result students may tend to ashamed to participate in
questioning, discussion and analysis of this research. However there is a problem and as such the
researcher will decipher the causes and effects of male underachievement as it relates to
female overachievement in High School?

PURPOSE OF STUDY
The main purpose if this research is to find out, what are the causes and effects that leads to
male underachievement and female overachievement at St. Catherine High School? Also, I
have a personal interest in this research for my beneficial knowledge as I too was not performing
up to my requirements and why is there a major difference between the academic performance
between both genders at St. Catherine High School, as the most males are not performing while
most females are doing exceptionally well cognitively and physically.

Educational Value of Research

The educational value this research provides will help the researcher to understand the
problem, so that correction can be made now and for future references. This research not only
provides knowledge to the researcher alone but to the whole institute and even to parents so that
they may better understand the causes and effects to this problem and help to spare wasted years
at hand. Also this research may help to develop a method where males and females may learn
things differently instead of only implementing one learning style.

TECHNICAL TERMS
Academic Performance-complies to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with
or accomplish different tasks given to them by their supervisors.
Causes-A justification for something existing or happening.
Educational equity-is a measure of achievement, fairness and opportunity in education.
Effects-A phenomenon that follows and is caused by previous event, issue or outcome.
Lifestyle-A manner of living that reflects the persons values, norms and attitude.
Research-is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing data for a specific purpose.
Willpower-The trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior.
Underachievement-Perform less well or with less success than expected.

LITERATURE REVIEW
In the past centuries, males were always seen as the more intelligent being, until time past by
were that fact became an opinion and as females became more dominant in the educational
sector, males start to forget where they were standing, once as champions. Mary Ann Clark and
Erin Oakley (May 15, 2006)-reported that males have a different style towards learning than
girls. A brain research was done between both boys and girls and found out that both genders
have a preferred style of learning and communication among their teachers and peers (Clark).
Special circumstances need to be meet to ensure that boys start performing up to their standards
as we can cannot expect them to mold into our perception of what a good student should do
(Oakley). In accordance to this, awareness of the type of learning styles and communication for
each gender is vital, as many school success skills such as compliance and organization fit the
females rather than the males, so it must be taken into account that the school staff and parents
must understand different strategies in order to provide a positive feedback from the males
through learning (Clark).

The book; Gender and school achievement in the Caribbean, Dr. Peter Kutnick (1997) speaks about the different strategies and opportunities boys and girls face at High School. He
divides the research paper into four sections: Teacher behaviour, Student behaviour, classroom
management strategies and teaching and learning styles. Teacher behaviour-he mentioned that
teachers desire well orderly and individually controlled classrooms, where the students act
independently well-mannered and controlled without outside forces while most girls were wellmannered and controlled, most boys were out of controlled and were not mannered to their
authorities (Kutnick). Student behaviour- the perfect system, misbehaviour, the non-interaction
and low grades between boys and girls has led to many preferences among teachers especially
the girls as they obeyed the teachers, school rules, and performed well while the boys who
misbehaved, had low grades, did not follow the school rules and because of this, most of the
boys and girls in the classroom separated themselves among these characteristics (Kutnick).
Classroom management-he laments that classrooms are arranged in this traditional fashion where
the teacher sits at the front and with this opportunity, he comments that the most boys sit to the
back where they are free from being called upon and free to do whatever pleases them as the
teacher is not paying attention to the one at the back and most girls sit at the front where there
attention span towards learning is wider.
Teaching and learning styles-the predominant styles of teaching was didactic, questioned
and answer sessions (Kutnick). Students must be prepared, they may be mistreated by the
teacher. This went for most boys, as they were not ready for school while most girls were looking
forward to school and led to separation among the genders (Kutnick).

The Jamaica blogs article We Need to Rescue Our Boys (January 14, 2015) states most
underachievers are males. He further added that political leaders need to find ways to rescue the
males from underachievement at all levels of education. He furthers comments that masculinity
has a great impact on education as it many males view school as feminine and this distorts them
from the true purpose of education. He reports that Barbados Secondary School Entrance
Examination of 2011 of the twenty-six students who attained 100 percent, females outnumber the
males. Sixteen females scored 100 percent while only 10 males scored 100 percent on the island.
He further discusses ways to solve the problem is addressing recuperative masculinity which is
reassuring the male priorities and specific needs which are overshadowed by girls priorities. He
mentions that the curriculum must be overlooked to create a boy-friendly curricula, assessment
and pedagogical practices. (Clark, 2006) suggested that public school curriculum may not be
teaching to the boys and that teaching styles are more suitable for girls. He further added that to
improve the male status, group discussions with the male group should be done to find ways to
address the problem.

The Gleaner: The Next 50 years-Save Our Boys (November 25, 2012) - Ruel B. Reid added
comparing to girls, boys are underachieving and not only against their female counterpart, but
also against their peer group. He added that negative school and home environment contribute to
male underachievement, most boys come to school less while girls attend school more often, and
the expectation of a boys behaviour has retarded their academic performance. He then speaks to
strategies we can use to comprehend this problem: schools can make a difference, if the
leadership board and staff showed commitment and dedication to closing the gap the males can
improve. That certain high expectations needs to be incorporated into the culture of the school.
There is no specific approach that will lead to success, it must be developed and analyzed along
the way so as to maximize the approach regarding the boys and girls (Reid). (USAID, 2005)-The
ultimate goal of any educational reform programme should be to improve the quality of the
education system and raise the bars and benefit for all learners, both boy and girl.

The interview with the guidance counsellor