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Today’s post: Remember middle school? For many gifted kids, it’s a time for talent searches, MathCounts and other great things, but a new study from Cheri Pierson Yecke, “Mayhem in the Middle” says American schools are not taking these critical years as seriously as we could. In the past few decades, she writes, a new philosophy has seized education thought leaders, one called “middle schoolism.” This philosophy holds that the early teen years are best devoted to socialization, learning to get along with other people, and learning one’s place in the world – not academics.
Anyone who’s lived through middle school knows that the young teen brain is developing on all those social fronts. But Yecke points out that it’s still developing on the academic front, too, and this country pays a terrible price for not demanding rigorous work from middle school students. While American 4th graders do as well as the rest of the world on TIMSS scores, American 8th graders lag behind. Are middle schools to blame? Maybe we need a bit less mayhem, and a bit more mindfulness.
-Laura
Welcome to Gifted Exchange, the blog about gifted children, schooling, parenting, education news and changing American education for the better. This blog is supported by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.
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2 comments:
Hi Lynne, yes it is available, here is the link:
http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/2960_MayhemFINAL.pdf
There is a certain element of middle school that comes across as containing children at the most "awkward" moment of their lives, I guess so they're not allowed out in public with everyone else (!). But I think there is a small counter-trend the other way, toward making schools K-8 so parents and children are more invested than they are in a 2-3 year school. This would be helpful for younger gifted children (a 4th grader could work with 8th graders without changing schools).
I went to a middle school that was not only in the throes of "middle schoolism," it was also an "open concept" school- no walls. You would hear the film strip the social studies teacher was showing seven times a day as you moved around the open concept space. No wonder nothing got done.
Joel- Thanks for linking to us! I will check out those studies, and your blog- Laura
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