The head of the Jamaican Teachers’ Association in the UK, Adolph Cameron, has revealed that black schoolboys are deliberately underachieving because academic success is seen as “gay”. Apparently there is a cultural misconception that being clever is a sign of homosexuality. Instead, many of these boys rather turn to a so-called “hustle culture” to make money, because it is more “manly”.

Cameron warned that the attitude was affecting the academic standards of Afro-Caribbean boys both in Jamaica and in Britain. They are one of England’s worst-performing ethnic groups in schools. Last year, just 40% of Afro-Caribbean boys achieved five good GCSEs including English and Maths, compared with the national average of 58.5%.

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. 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.

[Thanks Peter and Telegraph]