By : The
performance problems of boys in school are not the fault of masculine
norms. It is the absence of these norms that is the problem. In an article in SVT Opinion, the three authors (Ida Östensson, Karen Austin and Roberth Maier Ericsson) argue that traditional masculine roles are to blame for boys’ declining performance in Swedish schools. This supposedly limiting male role allegedly leads to an anti-study culture where boys exhibit “hyperactivity, aggression and an aversion to learning during schooling.”
The article is a response to another recent article by editorial writer Csaba Bene Perleberg in the newspaper Göteborgs-Posten. Perleberg highlights boys as a discriminated group in the Swedish school system with a focus on the alarming divergence in performance and grades that educators and the public have been been aware of for some time.





