One of the most critical junctures in the life of a child is the arrival of puberty... the dreaded teen years. Something comes over children during this age, and their parents don't know what to do with them. Children who had been honest, decent and trustworthy suddenly become just the opposite.
I can vividly remember more than one occasion of looking across my desk at frustrated middle school parents who told me that their child always told them the truth and that I must be lying. Then, I would produce some irrefutable evidence quite to the contrary of the parents' beliefs of their child. I can still see the look of disbelief and then agony and then disappointment. It was right about then that I took the opportunity to advise them that their children had now entered the time in their lives where they would lie, cheat, and steal despite the best home rearings.
And, so the terrible middle school years must ensue if these children are to ever grow into young adults and leave the nest. I simply advised the parents that if the children continued to be the dream like characters of the 8's through 10's that we would never wish for them to grow up and leave us. It was all God's greater plan to insure that we kick the little birds out of the nest on time. And, then I would clasp my hands in a tight bond to provide the parents a symbol of the visual confirmation that we would somehow make it through these tough times together and would laugh about it in years to come. Somehow it helped them through this stage; but it was a bit trying for me to re-enact the moment of revelation year after year with multitudes of parents.
It was always a little easier with the second and successive child from the same family. So, it is actually a very good thing for those early teen experiences to happen, so we still have the mettle to guide and sustain their growth at a time when we still have some sway with the horrible little monsters. This happens to be the exact time when most young adolescents move from the comfort of one significant teacher for the majority of their school day to many teachers over the course of the day.
Many parents and lay people alike prefer to blame the problems with adolesence on the educators who deal with them. And, the fault is not in the teachers; it is truly in the service delivery model. For few can adequately educate the urban children under the most trying of developmental experiences in the sheer lunacy of the model. These teachers may have the responsibility for over 100 students; just learning all their names and eccentricities is quite a challenge to most middle school teachers. Their commitment to each and every one of their charges becomes more limited-- although far greater and more devoted through advisories and middle school philosophy than their brothers and sisters in the high schools. Their commitment to subject area specialty becomes more devoted.
In fact, most secondary teachers take great pride in being subject area specialists. You'll often hear such profound statements as "I covered it, they just didn't learn it"... "I am not here to be liked"... "They didn't have the requisite skills to learn my subject material"... "A certain percentage of children will fail, and that's just a fact"... (essentially, the answer is... it's not my fault). Drop out rates are high. Children having children is a sad statement of the disenfranchised time of adolescents. Drug experimentation-- use and abuse-- effects those who do it and those who are effected by it. Lack of motivation, failure to adequately conceptionalize a future, lack of affiliation within the positive school elements... it's a time of deep failure for public schools.
And, private schools don't get off unscathed either. And, still we teach the children as if there was a finite amount of knowledge. And, no longer is this true. We live in an information explosion. We are so far outclassed by the ability of our students to locate and procure whatever information they have a desire for, that we could easily become the students of most of our students.
And, yet, we resist the allure of becoming guides to our students in favor of doing what we have always done... We fail to give our students the significant relationship with a significant adult committed to their personal growth. We fail to become generalists in the complete education of the child and opt instead to become specialists in some arcane practice of our field of specialization. We succeed with those students who could probably learn without us, and we leave behind those who stumble in their adolescent years.
Our success stories rarely are found in urban public schools (except those that become specialty schools or magnets or suburban schools or schools within schools catering to the most elite of their clientele or are able in some way to limit the "undesirables" from becoming educated with those who are not white, bright, or mainstream).
And, so, if I were King of the Jungle, I would visualize a whole new world for secondary education. I would have a guide, a teacher who had been trained as first a generalist in adolescent learning theory and second as a subject area specialist, to be assigned to children to take them through the maze of education from middle school through middle high school. I would have the curriculum delivered through an inquiry based approach with one adult to twenty to twenty-five teens for a majority of the day. Of course, it seems futile to dream like this. But imagine the world we could create with teachers who taught students and not teachers who taught the subject.
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To a large extent I agree with your writing. I do think that we need to take into consideration that different teachers may still be needed to teach different subjects. In my opinion, this is even more true at the secondary level where some subjects get very complicated.
In many cases, I tell people that teaching my subject is less important than teaching my students to be good successful people. I think that the whole idea of being a guide fits right into this line of thinking.
Posted by: B. Johnson | July 12, 2007 at 09:20 AM
Having been a middle years teacher for most of my short career - just 16 years - I can appreciate what you are saying. As my own children move into the teenage years - I have seven, the oldest fifteen; the youngest 2 - I know that what you say to be accurate. As an administrator, I am now in that position where I must work with parents to build a relationship that will work together to see their children through these years.
It is wonderful thing to watch students move through these years and develop in young adults. Some struggle and are lost in the jungle when they leave and I only hope they find their way during their adult years. Sadly, some never do.
Your vision of a guide assisting students through these years is one I to which I can relate. Luckily, I am in a small rural school - 200 kids from K - 12 - and we can get to know students in a much more personal way than in large urban settings. Sometimes it makes it easier - sometimes it makes it much more difficult. As someone in the middle of a career, it's reassuring for me that someone like you, with the experience of time, can reaffirm what I am doing. Thanks!
Posted by: Kelly Christopherson | July 10, 2007 at 11:57 PM