A popular explanation for this would be the boys underachievement in school as a result of poor behaviour in and around the school, however this is not always the case. Many of the boys just simply viewed school as very low on their priority list. Instead, they viewed things such as pop culture, music, the local area, gender and racialized relationships much higher resulting in a ‘bad boy’ label. Much of the music is centered around ‘gangster’ identities, drug taking, heterosexual prowess, material items and public hypervisibility. This often comes off to the public as uneducated and a lack of respect mainly towards females and authority figures. However, the boys typically use this ‘bad boy’ label to garner respect from other males and a sense of power into …show more content…
A link between continuing school (post secondary) and shaking the ‘bad boy’ label was found and as a result many of the boys were reluctant to continue schooling. One boy described these identities as “ A source of enjoyment, friendship, fun and power/status” however they’re also associated with inertia, education failure and deflect. While not all feel this way many of the boys stated they have regretted previous actions such as skipping school to hangout with friends and are aware of limited benefits of the ‘bad boy’ label in comparison to academic success and future job