Masculinidades e insucesso escolar dos rapazes: uma leitura a partir dos estudos de gênero na educação

Abstract

This article problematizes the relationship between constructions of masculinity and the school failure of boys and young men, a topic that has gained increasing attention in Brazilian and Portuguese educational studies. It starts from the observation that school failure disproportionately affects male students at different levels of education and seeks to understand the symbolic and relational mechanisms that sustain this phenomenon beyond interpretations focused solely on socioeconomic factors. Through a qualitative literature review, studies were analyzed that connect the theory of hegemonic masculinity, formulated by Connell (2016), with school dynamics involving peer hierarchies, resistance to the curriculum, and the devaluation of academic effort as a marker of male identity. The intersection of gender, race, and social class is also discussed, drawing on studies of Black boys and young men from working-class backgrounds (Brito, 2019; Marcelino, 2019). The results indicate that male academic performance is shaped by symbolic disputes in which virility is perceived as being at risk when associated with behaviors regarded as feminine. This leads a significant proportion of boys and young men to distance themselves from school knowledge as a strategy for affirming their identity within their peer group. It is concluded that overcoming school failure among boys and young men depends on pedagogical policies capable of dissociating academic performance from gender stereotypes and recognizing the plurality of possible masculinities within the school environment.