Mitsos and Browne Have an Interactionists Approach to the Underachievement of Boys

Mitsos and Browne have an interactionists approach to the underachievement of boys.  They suggest that teachers are less strict with boys and allow them to waste time, which leads to their underachievement.  If boys are disruptive in class, it can result in their exclusion in lessons, and burden their education, as it would disadvantage tem and other members of the class.  Also, males overestimate themselves, where as females underestimate themselves.  This means that while girls work extra hard t try and get themselves to the same level as the rest of the class, the males don’t feel they need to, and therefore won’t work as hard as the females, which may react in them doing badly or not reaching their full potential.  The culture of masculinity also differs from that of femininity in a big way, with males, it is seen as uncool to study, and most boys wish to appear macho in front of their friends.  This means that most won’t study, because they wish to achieve the “macho” look.  However with females, in most cases, it is not seen as a big deal, and they are more likely to support each other in regarding to school. Also, the leisure activities boys take part in are less conducive to educational achievement.     
 
The impact of feminism has had two effects.  The first is that the government was made to introduce a legislation which provided equality in educational provision for girls.  And the second was to raise the expectations and aspirations that girls had.
The legislation included the sex discrimination act and consequently equality in educational provision.   This means that girls are no longer excluded from some universities in the way that they were before, and they are not excluded from subjects in the same way that they were.  As I mentioned earlier, subjects have also been made more “girl friendly”, which is a big advantage to them.    A policy known as GIST (Girls into Science and Technology) was designed, to encourage girls to choose science and...