Another important point highlighted in the inquiry was the fact that boys had a reluctance to excel in any subject at school except for sport, where if successful their peers would look up to them, rather than the student who is academically performing well. Other issues raised in the report include boys lack of communication skills, low self esteem, lack of dispute resolution skills where they often resort to physical confrontation to resolve conflict, issues relating to harassment, particularly towards girls, but to others such as boys and teachers, their higher suicide rates, low participation in positive leadership roles and higher than average rates of problem behaviour. It is evident that there appears to be a lack of appropriate positive role models in the media, in the community, in schools and families. There is also an evident lack of male primary school teachers who can act as role models for boys growing up, particularly in single parent families. Sport for many boys is seen to be the most pleasurable part of all school experiences.
Sport blends power, symbolism and emotion in a particular potent combination.
The media reinforces these images of masculinity, and often glorifies the actions and attitudes of those involved in the sport, and society generally regards these people as heroes. This report highlighted the role that the school system as a whole has to play in the formation of gender disparity. For many boys this creates conflict between their gender role and their role as a student which may lead to dissatisfaction, lower achievement and poor self esteem. The report into Boys Education by the NSW government argues that the problems being experienced by boys have not been caused by changes for women in recent years, but are associated with what they and society regards as acceptable masculinity. As a result, an understanding in the role which the schools and teachers play in shaping masculinity, empowers those who can recognise that there are problems experienced by boys in schools and can address these problems through a positive approach to these issues.