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African-Caribbean boys 'would rather hustle than learn'


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African-Caribbean boys 'would rather hustle than learn'

Black schoolboys can choose to perform poorly to avoid undermining their masculinity, the head of the Jamaican Teachers' Association has said.

Adolph Cameron said that in Jamaica, where homophobia was a big issue, school success was often seen as feminine or "gay".

He was concerned the same cultural attitude was affecting African-Caribbean male students in the UK.

They are one of England's worst-performing ethnic groups in schools.

Only traveller children do worse at GCSEs. Although improvements have been made, last year just 40% of African-Caribbean boys achieved five good GCSEs including English and maths compared with the national average of 58.5%.

Mr Cameron, head of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, made the comments in a lecture at an event in Bristol aimed at promoting the educational achievement of black boys and sponsored by the National Union of Teachers.

He noted that in Jamaica boys were at least 10 percentage points behind girls in national tests. Misplaced views about masculinity needed to be tackled in schools.

He said: "Education... takes second place to notions of entrepreneurship as, predominantly our young men, get involved in the informality of what the University of the West Indies academics, Witter and Gayle, have called a 'hustle culture'."

'Woman's activity'

He went on to ask whether the notion of "academic achievement" could co-exist with notions about "black masculinity" in contemporary culture.

In an interview with the BBC News website, Mr Cameron said: "That notion of masculinity says that if as a male you aspire to perform highly it means you are feminine, even to the extent of saying you are gay.

"But in the context of Jamaica, which is so homophobic, male students don't want to be categorised in that way so that they would deliberately underperform in order that they are not."

He said research had suggested that boys in Jamaica deliberately underperformed in literacy tests because the tests were carried out in standard English, and "to speak in standard English is considered a woman's activity".

He went on to suggest the same cultural attitudes affected the learning of African-Caribbean boys in England.

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Boys are more interested in hustling, which is a quick way of making a living, rather than making the commitment to study”

Adolph Cameron

Secretary General, Jamaica Teachers' Association

He continued: "I would not be surprised if here in England the same or similar things occur in terms of how they feel about themselves and how they respond to and with respect to the society around them.

"Boys are more interested in hustling, which is a quick way of making a living, rather than making the commitment to study. This is a supposed to be a street thing which is a male thing.

"The influence of this attitude towards masculinity seems to be having a tremendous impact on how well African-Caribbean and Jamaican males do.

"There's a fear of being categorised as gay in a society where homophobia is so strong."

Mr Cameron said the issue needed further investigation but there was a growing realisation among teachers in Jamaica that they needed to tackle it in schools.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: "There are obviously issues for black boys both in Jamaica and the UK. We need system-wide reform to ensure that the system does not disadvantage black boys.

"Experience tells us that some black boys do achieve, and what we have to do is replicate those systems which enabled them to achieve success."

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this is why i laugh at how black people cuss each other when whitey describes you he doesnt see u as any different.

the 99% of pple reading that article will just say its black boys

yet its almost to a huge extent a significant jamaican problem, then a carribean problem, not really an afircan one.

lol @ "experience tells us that some black boys do achieve"

aww bless.

the man probably didnt even word his comments like that but trust BBC to twist everything

what use did the homophobia have to do in a topic that seemed to relect on education? if not just to reinforce stereotypes

why these black people continue to entertain interviews with western media outlets that will never paint them in a good light is beyond me.

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Gas

But i dunno where this homosexual ting came from pmsl

innit this is what I hate the most, why attribute Homosexual to this debate on race? There are countless homophobics of many races out there too.

just as countless gays do exist in every race of peoples as well.

Why this link!? some uneccessary mockery bascially.

Someone with too much idle time on there brain and hands.

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Looking back from school days I enjoyed the social aspect of it and never the academic side. I was hustling in the corridors, selling anything I could get my hands on simple because I hardly had any school money from parents. So the whole focusing on education ting didn’t really kick in till I left college and entered the real world. They make SOME points but it’s 90% bull.

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There is some positive identifiction

There is some negative speculation

They have identified an under-achieving demographic, but they have merely speculated on the psychological causes.

From my experience my Jamaican people hold social interaction in higher regard than their education, until a certain age.

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obv i think this is bollocks but can any native jamo confirm that being academically gifted is gay?

:/ :/ :/

Jamaicans are fucked

I know my aff niggas are beaten to get them good grades coz their parents/grandparents risked everything to get here so the kid could have a better life

Nail. On. Head.

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obv i think this is bollocks but can any native jamo confirm that being academically gifted is gay?

:/ :/ :/

I know my aff niggas are beaten to get them good grades coz their parents/grandparents risked everything to get here so the kid could have a better life

Jamaicans never came over here on that premise. Sold the dream of a better life, fair work and all that jazz to help re-build a country after world wars. But slightly mis sold on the brouchure somewhere. Attitudes are obiviously going to be different, but dont apply to all. Add in the generic british way of life and culture your avg comprehensive school white and black, attitudes to academics is pretty much the same.

Compared with lets say I dunno (worst example for arguments sake) gettin out of somalia war torn or the congo, where your life at risk from rebel and tribal and brutal religous warefare) the motivation is gonna be somewhat different.

Im sure I dont need to preach on slave trade british/spanish and french empire rules. British colonial rule, racism and jamaican independance. The facts are all there.

and this african vs Jamaican/caribbean inter poltics = crabs in a barrel.

WMSW and they sit there and type this shit to try categorise... after they caused this shit and still do.

(im just skirting on the points here obviously...) before anyone gets upset.

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social interaction is probably more important in school surely? you don't get a formal grade for it but if you can understand social dynamics and how things work its more applicable in the real world than lots of the crap they teach you in school, they should replace useless subjects like RE for real social studies and i don't mean sociology where man are chatting fraff from 70 years ago about broken windows.

grades are overrated/overstated imo

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Guest phonecharger

obv i think this is bollocks but can any native jamo confirm that being academically gifted is gay?

:/ :/ :/

Jamaicans are fucked

I know my aff niggas are beaten to get them good grades coz their parents/grandparents risked everything to get here so the kid could have a better life

Nail. On. Head.

/

jamicans are more happy to see there youts having a baby by tyrone than seeing them achieve good grades

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obv i think this is bollocks but can any native jamo confirm that being academically gifted is gay?

:/ :/ :/

Jamaicans are fucked

I know my aff niggas are beaten to get them good grades coz their parents/grandparents risked everything to get here so the kid could have a better life

Nail. On. Head.

/

jamicans are more happy to see there youts having a baby by tyrone than seeing them achieve good grades

See... ^^ WMSW in action.

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