Interesting, provocative article - Why Middle Schools should be Abolished

[Arcadia]

It's not very efficient to have an orchestra program at every elementary school, for instance, or a shop program. So that would be an argument for putting middle schoolers in with the high school.

The orchestra program and technical workshop program starts in 3rd grade for k-8 schools because of the allocated funding given to the middle school grades. The K-5 schools do not have band/orchestra or shop program because there is no allocated funding. There is a lot of fundraising for band/orchestra but the initial cost was paid by the district.

 

Of course each district budget differently.

[Farrar]

<<But my experience in a women's college convinced me that single sex education is not the way to go for most for a variety of other reasons>>

 

What about your experience convinced you of this? I'm just curious because I have two friends who went to different women's colleges who think the experience was wonderful - that it made them concentrate of studies more, etc. I have no real knowledge of the topic, but I think I'd be more inclined toward sex/gender segregated schools earlier on than at the university level (since generally speaking, boys/girls seem to develop at different rates in different areas). At university level, I'd probably be a little more concerned about women being in schools with a social science emphasis and men with a STEM/business emphasis.

 

I attended Mount Holyoke so there was a STEM focus there, though I was interested in humanities at the time.  It's hard to put my finger on it exactly, but I came away feeling like the all women environment took the edge off of arguments and discussions in a way that was not desirable.  I felt like there was a strong "we must all agree and come together" feeling there.  Some of my Hampshire friends said every time they came over it was like being at a giant pajama party and I can't say I really disagree.  Milk and cookies (that's a nightly Mount Holyoke tradition)!  I hate to badmouth MHC...  a lot of this is just that it turned out to be a bad fit for me and women's colleges have their place, they're just not for everyone...  and some of it is specific to the women's college I attended (Smith had a very different vibe, for example).  

 

Anyway, I went in with a strong belief in single-sex education and emerged with a belief that it wasn't right for me at the university level.  BUT...  I think it would probably have been much more right for me in middle and possibly high school, so I guess I agree with you there.  I think taking the edge off and looking for consensus might be a much better environment when you're looking at middle school than university.

[KrissiK]

I have taught at them all - middle schools, K-8 schools and K-12 schools. They were all private Christian Schools. My favorite was the K-12 school. My least favorite - the middle school. I am very much against the whole middle school thing. There is a big difference between having a basic core of kids who have been together since kindy and know each other, grew up together and in most cases are very accepting of each other, vs. a group of kids you just throw together right when hormones start to rage.

[itsheresomewhere]

Girls only classes of middle school age would be akin to hell.

The group dynamic of preteen girls ruled by popular Queen Bee is pretty vicious.

Bullying in girl only classes would be much much worse than it already is.

 

It was the middle grades when I vowed never to take up a profession that would require me to work in female dominated environments.

We could be friends. It is my version of hell. I would have hated an all girl type school.

[Farrar]

No clue, and anecdotal, but my mother started when she was 9 while I started when I was 15. 

 

Not sure how much I buy that.

 

I'm pretty sure that it's a documented trend that the onset of puberty in the US is younger now than several decades ago.  It's mostly to do with better nutrition, as I understand it.  Obviously, there will be many individual exceptions.

[Laura Corin]

We could be friends. It is my version of hell. I would have hated an all girl type school.

 

I went to an all-girls school from age 11 to 18.  I don't remember the early years being vicious - I wasn't particularly popular, but I had a couple of friends and no-one messed with me.

 

The school had a system where you were assigned a 'big sister' in one of the senior years when you arrived.  If you had any problems that you didn't want to talk to a teacher about, you could talk to your big sister and she could take action for you if necessary.  I never had to do this, but maybe the structure helped some.

 

L

[MBM]

The problem is not middle schools (or raging hormones) but how adolescents are affected by the changes happening in their brains--massive pruning and rewiring--which are necessary to help them become independent adults.

 

Some schools are using secular mindfulness exercises to help the students develop non-cognitive skills like attention, self control, empathy, etc. My son's school implemented one of these programs which is used from elementary through high school. Any interested parents may participate in free workshops as well. In England Richard Burnett co-founded a program called .b for students. It's now used in other countries as well. Here is Burnett's TED talk where he discusses the benefits he saw from .b:

 

http://www.mindfulteacher.com/learn/mindfulness-schools-ted-talk

 

I admire the author, David Banks, for working with at-risk students but these are kids who need even more help and support because they've experienced more trauma than others. Early trauma physically changes their brains and affects their ability to learn. The more trauma a child experiences, the more likely they will be adversely affected all throughout their lives (Adverse Childhood Experiences Study); however, the brain is plastic and with proper intervention at least some of the harm can be undone. (Linda Lantieri has done work in this area.)

 

The Waisman Center at U of Wisconsin - Madison is researching early trauma and what can be done to help. Here is a short article explaining that young children who experienced a certain amount of early trauma have a smaller amygdala and hippocampus.

 

http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/news2014-PollakJune27.htm

 

[Desert Strawberry]

These threads baffle me. They just don't reflect my experience at all.

 

I went to a very good junior high school. It was easily the most nurturing, academically enriching time in my life. The focus of the school was performing arts and lab sciences.Being situated between Warner Bros and NBC studios, that meant serious business.The science requirements went well above district minimums. There were no alternative courses. Everyone completed the higher level courses.

We behaved reasonably well and we worked hard. Our faculty genuinely cared about us, and we about them. We were a wide cultural and socio-economic mix, with the school in a wealthy neighborhood, drawing from ghettos and projects. There were problems, but considering the roughness and dangers we brought with us, they got amazing results.

High school was a waste of time.

 

I am seeing something similar in my own kid. He's 11, embarking on puberty, and taking responsibility for his own education. I am still choosing his materials and organizing and structuring everything, but he is invested in his work. He is lit up. He reads everything I give him, he is anxious to progress through his programs. He enjoys learning.

It seems typical of the homeschooled teens and preteens that I know (I don't know any public schooled students of this age more than in passing). By 11,they know what they are interested in, and are eager students.

 

 

[Korrale]

I'm pretty sure that it's a documented trend that the onset of puberty in the US is younger now than several decades ago. It's mostly to do with better nutrition, as I understand it. Obviously, there will be many individual exceptions.

14-16 was pretty standard for girls to get their first periods when I was in highschool in the late 90s in rural Australia. I can't fathom all these young ages that I hear reported. Sure there were some exceptions with girls being younger. But that was rare.

When we were in 8th grade there was one guy that started to scratch more than the others. He told us that he was growing hair. He was an early bloomer. So when I hear about the hormone driven middle schools I just can't fathom as most of us, boys and girls went through these changes well into highschool.

 

So I did some research and 12ish appears to be the average Australia now. And possible younger in the USB However some girls can be as young as 9 or as old as 16. There is a lot of data and it is all over the place. a lot of variance in ages. For example 180 years ago in the UK 15-16 was pretty standard.

African Americans are about 1 to 1.5 years ahead of Caucasian Americans. Native Americans even younger.

In 1901 in the US 12.9-13 was pretty standard.