Middle School Chaos

In response to Gootman's article on Chaotic Middle Schools, I must say that I am rather surprised with some of the changes that are being made to improve students learning. Just on the first page I was shocked to see that one particular school in South Carolina is actually separating students into boy classrooms and girl classrooms. I don't think this is a good idea at all. We cannot allow our students to control our classrooms. I understand the reasoning behind it, as middle school is definitely the time where boys and girls become most self-conscience, flirtatious, and distracted. But I don't see they should be separated from one another. By doing this, students are missing out on other student's interpretations of literature, media, websites, etc...There must be a more appropriate and less drastic change that can be made so that this doesn't have to happen anywhere else. If I had a son or daughter I most certainly would want them to be in a co-ed classroom. Just because they may be more "distracted" by the opposite sex doesn't mean we should separate them. I would want my child to receive an equal distribution of male/female opinions in the classroom as well as in life. If we separate them now, we are shunning them from the social aspect that school brings. In my opinion this is definitely a step in the wrong direction.

On the other hand, in regards to another new idea brought about in Brooklyn that school doesn't begin until mid-morning as opposed to the crack of dawn, is a great idea in my opinion. Now I know I may be a bit partial to this, as I love to sleep in and could essentially sleep all day, however, I feel as though people in general are far more productive in the latter morning hours. 9:00 is the proposed time for grades 6-12 to begin, and I couldn't agree with this time more. My high school began at 7:15 and I remember dreading hearing that alarm at 6:00am. At these wee hours of the morning students, especially teens, are lethargic, unfocused, and simply worn out. Why not begin school a bit later? Now I know this doesn't hold true for all kids, some are early risers who give their best performance in the morning. But if I were to guess, I would bet that the majority of students would be more than willing to begin the school day a couple hours later. I wish when I was in high school this was being considered. I truly feel that I would have been able to perform better all around.

Again, I know this is a very difficult topic to write on, as children in middle school are coming-of-age and are very different from one another. So what is the solution to the many problems at the middle school level? The best answer I can give is to think back to when I was around that age and what were the things that I liked/disliked when it came to school. Again, I hated getting up so early in the morning. Breakfast at 7:00am was a complete drag and it was so hard for me to become motivated for the long day ahead. I remember my favorite classes being those that allowed for class collaboration. I enjoyed getting into groups with my peers and meeting new students. I definitely would not have liked being seperated from the boys, because let's get real here, a lot of times in latter middle school years, the main reason you went to class was to sit next to your crush. Gym, art, and music classes were also still the most popular, but student/teacher interaction was key. If you didn't have a teacher that was personable, there was no way anything productive was going to be done.

After reading this article I can really say that I feel somewhat sorry for middle school teachers, as it is such a tough age for both student and teacher. I can understand why this is such a huge topic of interest, as the years one is in middle school are some of the most important years of one's life.