The Middle School Mess

The majority of tweens find themselves being educated in middle schools between the fifth through eighth grades.  This article takes a look at the history, wisdom and current trends of middle schools.  The article targets principals, teachers, and parents as its audience. It seems that the idea of middle schools historically came about after educators, not mistakenly, identified tweens as suspended "between childhood and the adult world”, and that “pre-teens have been called the toughest to teach."  As we have discovered, tweens do in fact hold a unique place in the physical, intellectual and emotional development of human beings. The article aptly describes tweens as youngsters whose "bodies and psyches morph through the most radical changes since infancy, leaving them torn between anxiety and ardor, dependence and autonomy, conformity and rebellion. "The middle school model was to provide this unique group of students with a safe and nurturing environment where they would have more opportunity for self-discovery, exercise, exploration, resources for their growing needs and a lessened emphasis on academic subjects.

Perhaps the grand experiment has failed. The deemphasis of academic subjects, not surprisingly, has left middle schoolers, in general, scoring low in both math and English on standardized tests. Several studies cited in the article confirm the low academic achievement of students enrolled in middle schools.  A powerful conclusion is that “These statistics about young adolescents' poor academic performance suggest that many middle-grades schools are failing to enable the majority of their students to achieve at anywhere near adequate levels."

With the evidence mounting, many parents are leading the call to eliminate middle schools and return to a K-8 and 9-12 model for education.  The K-8 model is also confirmed through studies as an environment where tweens actually have higher academic achievement.  Studies also support the finding that K-8 schools reduce behavioral problems.  A study as recent as 2010 in New York concludes that middle schools are not the best way to educate students and that “ the effects are large, present for both math and English, and evident for girls as well as boys.”

There is a trend across America to move away from the middle school. In 2005, there were 9000+ middle schools and today that number is down to 7,950.  My sense from the article which is well written and research supported is that a return to the K-8 model is worth considering.

Meyer, P. (2011). The Middle School Mess. Education Next, 11(1), 40-7. Retrieved from                

             Education Full Text database

Coming Out in Middle School

This New York Times article has impacted me greatly.  I am reminded, as set out in the article “In Search of the Roots of Adolescent Aggression”, that is included in another of my professional reading log entries, “We go through seven profound biological changes during our life, and three of these generally occur from ages 10 to 14 - the middle school years!”  The three which occur in a portion of the tween years are; shifting from childhood to puberty (the beginning of reproductive capability), shifting from concrete to formal operations (the maturation of intelligence) and shifting from an authoritarian to consensus morality (the maturation of personal and social identities).”  As if this weren’t too much for tweens to cope with already, add grappling with being gay to a tween’s life and it seems daunting! 

The author spent time with a 13-year old gay middle schooler named Austin who lives in the heart of America, Sand Springs, Oklahoma.  One of the disturbing aspects revealed is that for gay youth, “middle school is more about survival than learning.”  A parent of a gay teenager compares her child’s middle school as a “war zone.”  This would not sound like an exaggeration when confronted with the statistic that 81% of gay middle-schoolers report that they are “regularly harassed on campus because of their sexual orientation.”  The severity of the burden for openly gay students who experience gay bullying is evident in the significant number of suicides attributed to this behavior.

Thankfully present in the article are many trends in schools to positively support openly gay students.  Shifting attitudes among teachers is vital.  Using the expression “That’s so gay” should be dealt with as seriously as if the expression were  “That’s so Black” which would never be tolerated. At least 120 middle schools across the country now have active gay-straight alliance (G.S.A) groups. These G.S.A.’s are providing much needed awareness, anti-bullying programs, gay issues resources and organizing events like the Day of Silence. 

As a public school teacher, I feel a need to not only continue my tolerance, but to be more aware of this student population and do everything I can to support them in many of the ways described in the article to assure equality and help students to navigate the incredibly murky journey of being a gay tween. Please click on the link below for a mind opening reading of the full article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27out-t.html