Many South African boys are labelled 'poor reader', 'underperformer' or 'slow learner' without understanding of their wider context and, worse still, without targeted support to address their challenges.

The anxiously awaited matric results are out, and once again the dropout rates among boys and young men are in the spotlight. The Department of Basic Education estimates that 40% of pupils drop out of school, most of them boys. Boys are also more likely to repeat grades.

These stats are well known, but they raise questions: What conditions underlie them, and, more importantly, what plans and strategies are in place to support our boys?

Shafika Isaacs's critical research study (2019) offers a glimpse into this issue. Using a "thick description" approach, Isaacs looks beyond the "underperforming boy" and observes the lived realities of her subject matter, Kabelo, a nine-year-old boy from Soweto. Kabelo was struggling with reading in both English and Sesotho, but he was far more than a struggling reader.

With Soweto as his vast playground, Kabelo demonstrated remarkable capabilities: navigational knowledge, political awareness, family religious affiliation and cultural practices. Yet, these strengths were undervalued, misrecognised and overshadowed by his academic challenges.

Isaacs's observations of Kabelo over 18 months highlight the importance of acknowledging and recognising the whole person: the boy beneath the literacy scores. Like Kabelo, many boys across South Africa are branded with the deficits of...