Many educators have argued for the inclusion of media texts in boys’ classrooms (Newkirk, 2002; Goodman, 2003; Dyson, 2003). By including popular culture in the classroom, students access the familiar toys of their media lifeworlds to become critically literate. These researches are very valuable since they prove the necessity of such class studies and depict the main methods of development of media literacy since it is highly important to develop critical and analytical views on the great amount of information provided by the modern media.
Other studies have investigated traditional relationships between masculinity and violence (Hatchell, 2006; Keddie, 2007; Anderson et al., 2003) and what influence anger has in settling disputes and creating friendships in a private school setting. For instance, Anderson et al. (2003) admit that media brings about too much violence in American homes, though he suggests several ways to diminish this negative influence on children, particularly on boys.
Anderson et al. (2003) point out that parents, schools, and even government should organize systemic repulse by prohibition, education, and regulations, but the most significant vehicle in this repulse, according to Anderson et al. (2003), is still education, since schools are hearths of obtaining the necessary critical knowledge and skills. Thus, schools form the necessary barrier, which lets the boys gain a considerable amount of information from media, and, nevertheless, choose only the right among the rest.
A lot of scholars have analyzed how boys’ schools shape boys into men, defining the exclusive role of schools informing masculinity (Connell, 1996; Connell, 2000; Salisbury and Jackson, 1996). Connel in his works (1996, 2000) pays particular attention to the specific atmosphere of boys’ schools which contribute to the development of masculinity in boys, and considers the impact of stereotypes provided by media on that process.
Moreover, some scholars (Lingard and Douglas, 1999; Mac a Ghaill, 1994) suggest that school is one of the main factors influencing boys’ masculinity development since in schools boys are taught what is right and what is wrong, they see brilliant results of other students, and get inspired by the examples of their teachers, which is also very important.
Mac and Ghaill (1994) depicts the main factors which contribute to the masculinity forming in boys, and conclude that though family and peers are also factors developing boys’ masculinities; school is the most significant factor. Lingard and Douglas (1999) also regard the school as the source of the necessary knowledge and examples, which contribute to the boys’ transformation into men, forming a deep understanding of the difference between femininity and masculinity.
Some educators insist on the necessity to pay specific attention during classes to consider the media’s influence on the perception of physical characteristics as a masculinity indicator (Dutton, 1995; Connell, 1989). The researchers reveal the stereotype provided by media, which contains specific athletic shape and macho appearance, they also stress that the lack of these characteristics makes boys admit the lack of masculinity in others or themselves.
Dutton (1995) warns that the flourishing of these stereotypes can lead to frustration and violence among boys. The scholar also mentions the negative impact of exaggerated concern about one’s appearance, which always leads to the threatening lack of personality development. Connell (1989) depicts media stereotypes’ impacts on boys and points out that the purpose of education is to break those stereotypes, substituting them with an adequate vision of appearance in terms of masculinity.
He notes that media persuade boys that truly masculine must have six-pack abs, etc, and schools must concentrate on the boys’ focus on health, sport, and study. Thus, scholars (Dutton, 1995; Connell, 1989) reveal methodological hints on how to shift from these stereotypes cherishing among boys to the sensible realization of the physical characteristics by educating students’ media literacy and highlighting the discrepancies in media propaganda.
In this connection arises another disputable issue of the relationship between masculinity and sport, which is highly promoted by media, and a lot of studies focus on considering the role of sport in boys’ education (Drummond, 1996; West, 1998; Sabo & Messner, 1990; Messner, 1992). Messner (1992) argues that sport is a very important part of boys’ education since it not only develops physical abilities, leadership, and confidence but also is a powerful vehicle informing of masculinities.
Drummond (1996) also considers the correlation between sport and masculinity, highlighting different facets of the issue, paying particular attention to the maintaining of sports traditions in schools and families which also contributes to the boys’ transformation into men. He mentions that sport involves numerous examples for boys to follow, starting with peers and finishing with fathers. In this perspective media plays quite a positive role in influencing boys, though, reportedly, education in media literacy in the area of sports is also necessary.
The abundance of physical characteristic aspects of media literacy makes some studies concentrate on the health issues, which can be improved by the development of media literacy in boys during the class (Wilksch et al., 2006). For instance, Wilksch et al. (2006) have conducted the research which proves the high influence of media on the adolescent, especially boys’ eating disorders, and the results of this research suggest that improving media literacy can diminish the negative impact of media on the health of children. Thus, researchers recommend the implementation of media literacy studies in schools to improve children’s health, both physical and mental.
Reportedly, the necessity of media literacy in boys becomes even prevailing, since it contributes to the forming of the reasons consumers society, where media biased influenced is minimized. Traditional preoccupations about the relationship of health and media in terms of boys’ development, physical, mental and behavioral consider Strasburger et al. (2010). Their study distinguishes between the old media (TV, radio, etc.) and the new media (computer, the Internet, etc.), revealing their negative and positive impacts on adolescents.
The conclusion to which Strasburger et al. (2010) drive is that the negative impact of both, old and new, media is much greater than positive influence, thus, it is necessary to restrict boys’ information consumption. The main value of this research is that it reveals the main and very effective means to obtain balance in boys’ information consumption, making it very useful for parents, teachers, and researchers.
Some scholars stress the necessity of technology implementation in class in terms of mental development of students, arguing that the majority of boys use computers, TV, radio, etc. at home and find it more convenient than classic educating resources (Sanger et al., 1996; Sanford & Madill, 2007). Thus, Sanford & Madill (2007) highlight the result of research which has shown that even computer games can be useful in developing literacy in boys, since they are willingly gaining new knowledge playing the computer game, and reportedly, boys are very active in attempts to merge games and study.
Sanger et al. (1996) also reveal the positive impact of such kind of technological implementation in schools, for nowadays students are likely to use the internet, rather than newspapers or even books, and youth, especially boys, are likely to send an e-mail, rather than write a letter. Thus, letting students use so familiar technology in their studies, teachers, parents, and students, of course, only benefit, developing the necessary knowledge and skills in students.
The notion of boys’ lack of literacy and will to study stated by some educators (West, 1999; Ashcraft, 2003), and cultivated by media necessitated researches on the ways of improving the boys’ literacy, appealing to their technological preferences (Sanford & Madill, 2007). All aspects of the issue mentioned above not only distract from studying media literacy in schools but contribute to the growing interest in this sphere of study from the side of students, parents, educators, researchers, who stress the importance of this study in terms of forming intelligent and self-sufficient personality in boys (Craig, 1992; Gurian et al., 2001; Strasburger et al., 2008).
The studies enlisted above, though being comprehensive, still leave gaps in the study of media literacy in boys’ schools. Though all these works prove the necessity to develop media literacy in children and adolescents, and especially in boys, each aspect mentioned above is to be surveyed in a more detailed way, to obtain a complete understanding of the issue and form all the necessary methods to cope with the negative impacts of the problem.
Reference
Anderson, C.A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L.R., Johnson, J.D., Linz,D., Malamuth, N.M., Wartella, E. (2003). The Influence Of Media Violence On Youth. Psychological Science In The Public Interest. 4. (3), 81-110.
Ashcraft, C. (2003) The Trouble With Boys: Confronting Competing Masculinities In Popular Culture and Schooling. Taboo, Fall, 39-66.
Connell, R.W. (1989) Cool Guys, Swots And Wimps: The Interplay Of Masculinity And Education. Oxford Review of Education. 15. (3), 291-303.
Connell, R.W. (1996). Teaching the Boys: New Research on Masculinity, and Gender Strategies for Schools. Teachers College Record. 98. (2), 206-235.
Connell, R.W. (2000). The Men and the Boys. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.
Craig, S. (Ed.). (1992). Men, Masculinity and the Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Drummond, M. (1996). The social construction of masculinity as it relates to sport: An investigation into the lives of elite level athletes Competing in individually-oriented masculinised sports. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia.
Dutton, K.R. (1995). The Perfectible Body: The Western Ideal of Physical Development. London: Cassell.
Gurian,M., Henley, P., Trueman, T. (2001). Boys And Girls Learn Differently: A Guide For Teachers And Parents. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Lingard, B. and Douglas, P. (1999). Men Engaging Feminisms: Pro-Feminism, Backlashes And Schooling. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Mac and Ghaill, M. (1994). The Making Of Men: Masculinities, Sexualities And Schooling. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Messner, M.A. (1992). Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity. Boston: Beacon Press.
Sabo, D. & Messner, M. (Eds.). (1990). Sport, Men And The Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics Books.
Salisbury, J. and Jackson, D. (1996). Challenging Macho Values: Practical Ways Of Working With Adolescent Boys. London: Falmer Press
Sanford, K. & Madill, L. (2007). Understanding The Power Of New Literacies Through Video Game Play And Design. Canadian Journal of Education. 30 (2).
Sanger, Jack et al. (1996). Private Eyes: Young Children, Videos, Computers And Computer Games. Norwich City College: Unpublished paper.
Strasburger, V.C, Jordan, A.B., Donnerstein, E. (2010). Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents. PEDIATRICS. 125. (4), 756-767.
Strasburger, V.C., Wilson, B.J., Jordan, A.B. (2008). Children, Adolescents, And The Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
West, P. (1998). Boys, sport and schooling: The popular debate and some recent research. Keynote Address, First National Conference on Boys’ Education, Sydney.
West, P. (1999). Boys’ Underachievement In School: Some Persistent Problems And Some Current Research. Issues in Educational Research. 9. (1), 33-54.
Wilksch, S., Tiggemann, M., Wade, T. (2006). Impact Of Interactive School-Based Media Literacy Lessons For Reducing Internalization Of Media Ideals In Young Adolescent Girls And Boys. The International Journal of Eating Disorders. 39. (5), 385-93.