According to the government report Men and equality, the gap between boys´ and girls´ performance in school, is increasing. Different reasons for this increase has been brought up, for instance an anti-school culture within group of boys, different job markets after upper secondary school and mainly the role of masculinity within the school system. In this study I have chosen to perform a focus group consisting of 4 boys in year 2 in upper secondary school about their thoughts on school, the subject social studies and their view of good qualities for teachers. By examining the students view on their education and their motivation based on Carol Dwecks’ theory on static and dynamic mindset, I believe it could present a clearer view on what determines the student mindsets.

When it comes to the students’ interest in different areas within social studies it is clear that the more the area is relatable to their everyday life and background, the more interested they are. Areas that contain subjects that are useful to them after they graduated had more sense of purpose to them. They had less interest in areas involving how Sweden is governed and the European Union. The students found these areas to complicated and too big to grasp. The students filled in a questionnaire concerning the different mindsets and they all lean towards a static mindset which could influence how they handle difficult tasks. .

When it came to their view of their previous teachers the students often felt misunderstood and unwilling to ask for help which could be on explanation behind the different results in school. The dominant view of masculinity prevents the student from going outside the role of what is considered masculine.