The Other View

This evening (20/08/02) BBC Newsline reported on the excellent GCSE results attained by the Provinces' schoolchildren - 73% of girls and 63.5% of boys passed with A-C grades. It is anticipated that yet again Northern Ireland pupils have gained better results than their peers in England and Wales.

However, there are those who hold lofty positions in our education system who are worried. Why, I hear you ask? Well, believe it or not, it is because the girls are increasingly doing much better than the boys!

Tom McKee of the Teachers’ Union spoke of his fears on Citybeat Radio, when he spoke on the need for the content of the exams to be investigated to see if perhaps the style/type of question maybe appealed more to the girls. He also went on to muse if perhaps boys had teachers, who could be looked upon as role models today whom they could respect, and respond to their teaching. Other academics telephoned in to the talk show to express similar concerns and beliefs surrounding the results of the boys – yes, a very convincing lobby was aired on the need for the Education system to be tinkered with to see how we can get the boys on a level par with the girls.

That's sexual discrimination, you may say. Well, possibly. However, it does appear that a similar exercise was carried out some years ago to try and address the poor results being recorded by girls in English and Science and, yes, you have guessed it. The girls are skipping through these subjects today.

One theory which was obvious to me and which was not aired, (perhaps it's the cynic in me), was the undoubted rise in crime and general anti-social behaviour by schoolboys, and I'm not just referring to those of Secondary School age.

Television coverage of rioting, no matter where the riot may be, will show you the antics of young lads, some barely out of nappies, being in the middle of the trouble. It is becoming ever more apparent that young lads today have very little respect for any form of authority, be it policeman or school teacher; worse still, they have little fear in challenging authority. The days of teachers bringing out the cane are long gone. The police and courts seem to have little effect on juvenile crime, and even paramilitary organisations are reluctant to administer punishment because of the negative publicity such a "beating" derives. The public in general are very sympathetic to the little innocent schoolboy who has his arm broke in a "punishment beating". Only on discovering that they have been victims of such delinquent behaviour does their tune change, and when they receive little joy from the police, to whom do they turn? Aye, silly question!

In my own town of Carrickfergus, young fellas are magnetically drawn to the junior ranks of the UVF and UDA. While this may be a cause for concern for many, and I do not wish this article to be regarded as some form of recruitment paper, there is a belief that the only discipline a lot of these boys get is from their colleagues within the Young Citizen Volunteers or the Ulster Young Militants. Perhaps this is Ulster-style National Service for the new millennium?

It was also timely that this evening BBC Newsline highlighted the dearth of young school-leavers taking up trades within the construction industry. Are the next generation going to be the wreckers instead of the builders?

Much has been said and written lately about the school curriculum here in Northern Ireland, I will add to that, as someone who had to take such meaningless, to me, subjects such as Geography, Music, Domestic Science, etc. Surely today's pupils could receive more relevant career grooming in line with pupils’ interests and abilities.

One thing that will never change, no matter how much you tinker at it, is, "us boys will always be boys"!

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