To wonder why working class white boys do worse than any other ethnic group, and how we can change this?

[Carla786]

A lot of stuff I've read recently has argued the way school is set up disadvantages boys compared to girls. But this doesn't explain why white working class boys would perform worse than wc boys of other ethnicities.
Asian wc boys are more likely to have present fathers,,but black wc boys less likely than white boys (I think). So absent fathers I'm sure are part of the problem, but then maybe also black boys then have a protective factor that still boosts performance which white boys don't have? What could this be?

And how can white wc boys be helped? The question also remains why white wc girls are apparently less affected too : maybe I suppose tying in to school methods being more suited to the average girl?

https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/03/24/the-betrayal-of-white-working-class-boys/

Or increasingly, removing kids from school altogether in order to “homeschool” (ie spend eight hours a day gaming) for often spurious reasons which have more to do with the parents’ lack of organisation and motivation than the children. (Disclaimer: I am not talking about SEN children or those who have been bullied).

You are incorrect.
Bangladeshi boys perform the worst and have for decades

This. No one is looking at raising standards in (economically, educationally or anything else) in our northern and eastern coastal communities for example.

There are a lot of interesting potential reasons in this thread, but I wonder if an additional factor is the attitude of middle clsss boys is rubbing off on them, but like a lot of things the impact is worse of the most deprived.

We have a phenomenon called BULBS at. They are 'bright underachieving, lazy, boys'. ..they do enough to pass exams and get onto the next level of course and parents step in with tutors or ginding ghood next step option. they just think its cool to not try that hard and underachieve. The mainly come from working homes with parents who do white collar work.. But if a deprived person who already has a language gap, has less options for transport for next steps etc has that same attitude as those boys, the repercussions are worse.

I don't think that arg8ument is supported by data from the USA. One study I saw some time ago rated Jamaican Americans as being higher earners than many other immigrant groups and well higher than local black Americans.

This is a very good Question, and I wish I had the full answer.
Working class boys are very rarely academic, so I think I would re open the trade schools, teach woodwork, metal work, technical drawing, teach them to drive. Then specialise in plumbing, carpentry, electrical engineering.
This would enable them to get jobs which pay well, often better than those requiring a degree- so they can have decent lives and support a family.
It benefits society too, as we would get a new generation of skilled tradesmen.

White working class girls results are deteriorating actually, and white working class boys slightly improving, due to targeted assistance. Poor girls; their needs neglected.

That seems like a massive generalisation that white working class boys are rarely academic and further adds to the view that they can’t achieve so why bother trying. How depressing!

White working class girls grades are declining too. Secondary education is failing so many young people. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8lnpyg7nno?app-referrer=deep-link

This

I bet social media has an impact on this. My daughter is definitely influenced by SM and only wants to do jobs that make her rich but doesn’t seem to connect that requires a lot of studying unless you get very lucky as an influencer.

Ucch this is my son 😫 we are really struggling with this at the moment. He doesn’t want a 9-5, doesn’t want to work for somebody else, doesn’t want to stay in school post 18. But seems to think he has some entitlement to being rich. Thankfully he’s still engaged in school (though not enjoying it) but honestly it’s stressing me out.

In my 15+ years of working with underprivileged children, I have found there to be less emphasis on schooling in Caucasian families. There seems to be an acceptance of poor performance at school rather than a fight against it. In ethnic families, I notice a reluctance to accept their children are failing academically and a push to achieve the basics at the very least. I notice as well at my children’s private school that amongst the ethnic families there are a lot of parents in normal jobs that sacrifice everything else to send their children to a private school whereas most of the Caucasian families generally have higher paid jobs/family finances and have to make less of a compromise. I speak generally as an overview, there are of course some that do not fit the above but generally that has been my experience.

I think it’s a mixture of factors - decline in religious-driven moral standards, decline in marriage and decline of manufacturing and heavy industries.

Working class lads need to see what they’ll become as men and in the 70s and 80s that would’ve been an employed dad coming home for his tea and expecting his son to behave according to social norms. Or a Headmaster who was the authority of rules and discipline at school. Or a football coach who was matey, drank down the pub but expected lads to have their kit ready and play by the rules.

Boys had role models. They had routes to employment. They could grow up through healthy pursuits.

I have worked in the UK, Ireland and ME. Parental aspiration is the key. Many of the working class black/brown families do not have houses full of educational toys and books that are often trotted out as being so important (and they are). They often do not go to libraries or day trips to NT houses or access other such cultural capital activities. What they do have are parents (or a parent) who offer them no option of not doing well. It is expected that they come home from school, do their homework, many also have supplementary religious activities that they attend daily too. There is no concept of children hanging around street corners because "our children have nothing else to do". Parents are the authority and children know this. They want to do well because they want to do better, but also they want to do their parents proud.

An example I am always fascinated by is my cleaner who lives in rented accommodation, is an immigrant yet works ridiculous hours to pay for her children to have tuition twice a week. They got into a selective grammar school that outperforms my children’s private school. Her entire focus in life is ensuring her kids have a good education as she is adamant for them to have a better life than she did. She doesn’t speak English as a first language and often needs help with translating and understanding complicated written communications/filling out forms etc yet her children are high achievers. She clearly doesn’t have the skills to have taught them herself but works hard to make sure they do well at school and take part in extra curricular activities etc to break the cycle. I am quite in awe of her and what she has achieved and excited to see where her children go in life.

I grew up around these types of parents that tell their children school is a load of shit don’t bother and that they can get £800 a week doing xyz in a building site.

My assumption is it’s deep satire? Hope so, anyway.

The other thing I wonder about is whether the drive to start literacy earlier and earlier has disadvantaged boys. They tend to get it slightly later, and if that moment of clarity is in Year 2 (really normal) after spending more than half their life trying and failing to understand, they may well thoroughly hate it by then.

Agree entirely.

It's deindustrialisation that took away the established pathways. Am very curious what will happen if AI really does take away white collar jobs in the South East, then what. Will the m.c. put up a fight and come up with something else for their kids to do? Or will rhe UK become a land of the unemployed throughout? At the moment, the m.c. aren't putting things in place to counter weigh this. It may be that 50 years after deinudstrialisation, we will increasingly be talking about boys full stop.

20 years ago that was true - partly because they would have long absences from school - eg a whole term. But since then they have gone from underperforming to exceeding the average. White working class boys are definitely the lowest performers currently.

Just 36% of wwc boys on fsm reached the expected standard in GCSE maths and English in 2025, for Bangladeshi boys it was 68%.

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/newsroom/white-working-class-boys-still-at-the-bottom-of-the-class-says-race-report-chief

It’s interesting you say “no option”. This has always been my attitude, I’ve said since by children were in the womb that no child of mine will leave school without a minimum of a C at GCSE in maths and English (obviously numbers now!)

I said this once on here and I was torn to shreds. I was told how I couldn’t possibly know how my children would do in school, they could have SEN, it was unnecessary pressure. For me it’s why would I possibly start this journey with a ‘wait and see’ attitude? I personally think having goals and expectations incredibly important, I feel like there’s much less chance of not achieving a goal if you assume it has to happen.

As it goes one of my children does have SEN and is hugely struggling with maths, I have a regular dialogue with his teacher, he does extra work (with reward) for exams, and we are getting a tutor. I am not giving up, nor is he, he knows he’s not allowed! Culturally this seems to be a bit taboo on here, but frankly, I don’t care.

Historically there has been little attempt to address poor performance in these groups. There is quite a lot that can be done by targeted mentoring, adapting the curriculum and raising expectations. I undertake mentoring and am a link from a professional firm to a group of schools in poorer areas. One of the things that always surprises me is that the number of children I speak to from these areas who have never met an Accountant or a Lawyer and cannot even begin to imagine doing these roles. I am very committed to trying to change this position.

It is taboo in white British culture across all classes. I don't think this was always the case though. Both my parents are from WC backgrounds and education was seen as the way forward. You were under the authority of your parents until you left home and were expected to abide by their rules. This has drastically changed now.

That absolutely happened with both my kids plus school wouldn’t listen that dyslexia means extra support/ learning in a different way is required. My DS is 14 and has just started reading for pleasure, it’s such a relief but he’s missed out on a lot and I put a lot of blame on his primary school experience putting him off. He used to hide his school reading books.