Normal is the only way to be: Adolescent perspectives on gender and school
by Wayne Martino & Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli
UNSW Press.
2005, $22.75
This review, by Kate Gross, first appeared in Youth Studies Australia, v.25, n.3, p.58.
In 2002, an Australian parliamentary inquiry was conducted into the education of boys. In response to the inquiry’s report, the Australian Government ‘committed over $27 million to improve boys’ educational and social outcomes’ (Nelson 2005). This political focus appears to suggest that we may be facing a crisis in boys’ education and possibly a ‘crisis in masculinity’; however, the evidence is not as clear-cut.
In their book, Being normal is the only way to be, Wayne Martino and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli note that justifications for a number of the concerns about boys’ education ignore evidence that girls are disadvantaged in many ways in the labour market. For example, when announcing the launch of the $4.3 million Boys’ Education Lighthouse Schools Programme, the then Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, noted that ‘In 2001 the Year 12 school retention rate was 79.1% for females and 68.1% for males’ (Nelson 2003). However, as Martino and Pallotta- Chiarolli note, boys who leave school before completing Year 12 are only 4% less likely to have a job at age 24 than those completing Year 12, while girls leaving school early are 21% less likely to have a job at that age than girls completing Year 12.
Similarly, the authors state that assumptions made in the parliamentary inquiry about boys’ learning are based on ‘common sense’ understandings of the ways that boys learn or behave, and not on research. They point out that this approach follows an historical pattern. For example, in the nineteenth century, ‘natural differences’ were used to ‘establish the truth that women were intellectually inferior to men’. Today ‘biological essentialism’ is being used to justify a ‘misogynist reaction to any perception of so-called “female” thinking and behaviour, the accepted hegemonic culture of male violence and power, and the fear many men in educational authority have of sexual diversity and nonhegemonic masculinities’.
However, maybe boys would agree with the inquiry’s authors that what is needed is more male teachers and single sex classes. To ascertain how current social and school cultures of gender, sexuality and education impact on boys and girls, Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli used openended questionnaires to survey over 900 young people aged 14 to 16 from six Australian schools. They chose schools representing a range of school types (boys’ and girls’ single sex schools, rural high school, Catholic co-educational school and two government high schools) and social classes.
The data collected revealed ‘healthrelated issues impacting on the mental health and wellbeing of students’. Bullying, for example, was an problem that was raised repeatedly. Given that their predominant gender culture was a ‘traditional’ form of masculinity, it was not surprising that bullying among boys often took the form of physical abuse and expressed overt homophobia. On the other hand, bullying among girls focused on verbal violence towards those who ‘flouted’ ‘feminine’ values by being, for example, ‘unattractive’ or too intelligent, academic or sporty.
Boys in single sex schools reported many issues associated with the institutionalised culture of masculinity. Even ‘privileged’ young men who ‘fitted into’ the dominant stereotype were aware of the misery that such a proscriptive form of masculinity created for others. This data suggests that political pressure to exaggerate the current hegemonic gender cultures of schools will result in even greater distress for young people.
Although this book will have wide appeal to anybody interested in gender issues in schools, this book was written for teachers. Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli have designed it so that the student data are discussed in chapters that focus alternately on boys’ and perspectives on school, identity bullying. After the conclusion chapter, the authors reiterate aim of the chapter and highlight major issues and their implications for schools. Frameworks for professional development workshops or discussion forums then follow. The seventh chapter is devoted ‘developing student welfare and includes a comprehensive template for formulating schoolbased welfare policies.
The authors conclude that schoolbased welfare and gender equity policies need to be recast ‘ address issues such as: creating safe school environment, developing a democratic school culture students’ opinions and perspectives are valued; addressing sex- and gender-based dimensions of bullying; addressing issues diversity in schools; and working with the links between peer hierarchies and learning’. Given the general direction of the gender debate, this is a timely book.
References
Nelson, B. 2003, ‘Lighthouse’ schools for the education of boys media release, 30 April.
—— 2005, $19.4 million boost boys’ education – first round Success for Boys grants announced, media release, 21 Dec.