Nearly without exception, early adolescence is a time when students are struggling with multiple things, from their social lives to their quest for identity. What makes this time such a challenge? As Arnett points out, “In their conflicts with their parents, in their mood disruptions, and in their higher rates of a variety of types of risk behavior, many adolescents exhibit a heightened degree of storm and stress compared with other periods of life” (p.324). The students are attempting to go from kids to adults emotionally, in addition to their bodies rapidly changing physically. A large part of this adjustment period takes place between the ages of eleven and fourteen. Thus, regardless of whether at that age students are in middle school or junior high, adults need to be cognizant of the changes occurring to them and adjust the schooling so that the students have the highest rate of success possible. However, the best school model for the adolescence to achieve the highest academics and confidence in themselves is the middle school theory.
The biggest difference between Junior High and Middle School is that Junior High is typically seen as a ‘mini high school’ whereas Middle school is more of a transition school. Junior Highs are known to have classes that are constantly switching teachers and classrooms in addition to having higher academic demands and stricter discipline policies. Eccles illustrates, “junior high school classrooms are characterized by a greater emphasis on teacher control and discipline, and few opportunities for student decision making, choice, and self-management” (1993, p. 93). The extremely dramatic shift from elementary school to junior high can easily cause anxiety for adolescence that are going through many other changes in addition to changing schools. Another difference is that the school is departmentalized instead of teachers collaborating and each of the junior high teachers has more students than the typical middle school teacher. Due to the higher number of students and the stronger focus on academics, the teachers are not as focused on the psychology of the adolescences and the changes they are going through. Eccles summarizes, “environmental changes often associated with transition to junior high school seem especially harmful in that they emphasize competition, social comparison, and ability self-assessment at a time of heightened self-focus they decrease decision making and choice at a time when desire for control is growing; they emphasize lower level cognitive strategies at a time when the ability to use higher level strategies is increasing; and they disrupt social networks at a time when adolescents are especially concerned with peer relationships and may be in special need of close adult relationships outside of the home” (1993, p. 94).
In contrast to this, is middle school. Most middle schools focus on interdisciplinary teams to enable the students to learn a central lesson in multiple subjects. For example, perhaps in English the students will be reading a book written by an African author, in social studies the students may be learning about the history of Africa, while in science they may be learning about the different chemical compounds of the African soil. Thus, by the time the students are done with their unit on Africa, they would have a much firmer grasp of it. Another benefit to the middle school system is that typically, teachers also have less students and work as advisors as well. This allows for the teachers to get to know the students better and have stronger, closer relations with the students.
The motivation level in adolescence is greatly reduced during the time of middle school and junior high. As Hicks demonstrates, “For many students, motivation for academic work declines, sometimes quite markedly, at around the time they move from elementary to middle grades schools” (Hicks 1997, p. 18). Because of the lower motivational levels, students are not as focused on school and it becomes part of the educator’s job to instill more motivation into the students. It is possible to get past the unmotivated students with determination and perseverance from the teachers. Hicks points out that schools should “facilitate academic engagement by working with students’ social motivation, rather than against it” (1997, p.20). Because the students are at an awkward stage both emotionally and physically, at times, it may be beyond their abilities to adjust to these changes, do well in school, make social connections and stay motivated. Thus, Hicks continues to point out some possible solutions for motivation.
One of the solutions is to “build positive peer interactions into the
school day” (1997 p. 21). This solution is probably more attainable
in a middle school setting. Because the students are with the same
group of kids throughout the day and switching classes at the same times,
they will not only feel more comfortable talking with these peers, but
they will also have time between the classes to walk and chat with their
peers on the way to their next class. In contrast, the junior high
school has students having lunches at different times and students going
to different classes so the students can not walk and talk on the way to
the next class together.
Another solution Hicks offers is “Within classrooms, relationship and
responsibility goals can be well served through collaborative work in groups”
(1997 p.21). By having the students in groups, they have the abilities
to interact with their peers and create friendships. Group work also
motivates the students to do better because their peers are depending on
them instead of just the teacher expecting them to turn in their individual
work. Again, this solution works better in the middle school because
the teachers tend to be more focused on the students and nurturing them
whereas in junior highs, the teachers are more focused on discipline.
Within group work, there is a greater chance that situations might get
out of control so the junior high teacher would most likely veer away from
that.
Additionally, motivation can be achieved though “encouraging students
to see their school as an interdependent community, one within which they
have a stake” (1997 p.21). If the students feel that they personally
can make a difference in the school, they will be more likely to be motivated
to try and make a difference. Like the last two examples, the middle
school concept is more accepting of interdependent communities. The
middle school theory fosters a sense of community between the students,
teachers, and the school. Thus, is would be more encouraged to make
changes in the middle school setting instead of the junior high setting.
A large part of the motivational challenges are probably derived from
biological changes that are happening in the students. Many of the
students see themselves awkward looking during the time of adolescence
and are often worried about their appearances. Despite the fact that
more changes take place during infancy and adolescence than any other stage
of life, it is only since the 1980’s that people really began to study
the changes that occur to adolescents (A. Ryan, personal communication,
March 17, 2002). What are the changes that cause students to sometimes
be unmotivated or moody?
Girls and boys, while both going through many changes, experience those changes in very different ways. Girls begin to hit their growth spurt of 3.5 inches around the age of nine whereas boys hit their growth spurt of 4.1 inches around the age of 11. There are also changes in body muscle and body fat. By the time the girls have reached about the age of 18, about fifteen kg of muscle mass and fifteen kg of body fat. In contrast to this, the boys by about 18 have twenty-four kg of muscle mass and seven kg body fat. Thus, while the men are getting stronger and losing the body fat, the girls are becoming obsessive about their appearances of less muscle mass and more body fat (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002). Another huge difference is that the girls go through puberty much earlier than boys do. Girls hit puberty between the ages of seven and thirteen and its last for one and a half to six years. Boys go through puberty at nine and a half until thirteen and a half and it last anywhere from two to five years (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002).
The age difference when puberty hits can cause drastic changes in the student’s behavior. For boys, if they mature early then they tend to be more confident and popular. They had a positive body image. These boys also tend to be the ones that have more school problems such as delinquency and drug or alcohol abuse. In contrast, the late bloomers are more intellectually curious and have more social initiative. Later in life, the boys that matured early are responsible, cooperative, social, self control, conforming, and conventional and the boys that matured late are humorous, creative, insightful, and impulsive. Although these characteristics are very different, none of them are particularly negative (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002).
For girls, the scenario is much different than that of the boys. Girls that mature early feel that they really stand out and are objectified by both sexes of peers and adults. These girls have problems with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, school problems, drugs or alcohol, and early sexual experiences. When the early matures are older, they continue to have some issues, but their psychological profile drastically improves later in life. In contrast, the girls that mature late have high self esteem and confidence. When they are older, they tend to have achieved a higher education (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002).
These differences are imperative for the teachers to acknowledge and to recognize that the students can be influenced by the type of school they attend during these changing years. It is only by understanding what the students are going through that it becomes possible to help them. One of the biggest advantages of the middle school in this situation is that they tend to have special certification for working with early adolescence whereas junior high teachers are normally just certified for high school. With the incredible amount of changes these students are going through, it is extremely helpful to have teachers that are trained to work with the early adolescence. Another advantage of the middle school theory is that the teachers also act as advisors. Hence, the teachers will have a better relationship with the students to know what is bothering them, and from that, be able to come up with other ways to teach the material. In the middle school model, teachers are there also as mentors and friends, not just teachers. Thus, the students will feel more comfortable approaching them with a situation they do not feel comfortable with. Overall, the middle school model offers more positive benefits than the junior high model does for adolescence going through puberty.
What about the rebelliousness and moodiness of adolescence? As Arnett points out, “Adolescents tend to be more volatile emotionally than either children or adults. They experience more extremes of mood and more swings of mood from one extreme to the other” (1999, p. 319). Part of the problem of moodiness comes from the feeling of being “self-conscious and embarrassed two to three time more often than their parents and are also more likely to feel awkward, lonely, nervous, and ignored” (1999, p. 321). These feelings of inadequacy combined with the physical changes that are occurring, it is no wonder that adolescence can be characterized as moody. However, Larson and Richard believe that pubertal changes have little to do with the moodiness. “Rather, adolescents’ newly developed capacities for abstract reasoning ‘allow them to see beneath the surface of situations and envision hidden and more long-lasting threat to their well-being’. Larson and Richards also argued that the experience of multiple life changes and personal transitions during adolescence (such as the onset of puberty, changing schools, and beginning to date) contributes to adolescents’ mood disruptions. However, Larson and Richards emphasized that it is not just that adolescents experience potentially stressful events, but how they experience and interpret them, that underlies their mood disruptions” (Arnett 1999, p. 321).
It is this last point that makes the middle school model so much more effective than the junior high model. With teachers that understand how to relate to the students more and are closer to the students, they can guide the students to experience and interpret situations in a helpful productive manner. This way, the students have an adult to guide them instead of only themselves or their peers that are also not entirely sure how to deal with various situations. Additionally, by not changing classes as often, and having as many teachers as the junior high model has, there are less changes that the adolescence have to go through and adjust to.
In addition to everything else, the students are also facing changes cognitively. It is during this time that students really begin to form their identity and independence. During this stage, they are separating from their parents, attempting to redefine themselves as an adult. They are learning how to interact with adults as adults instead of as children. They are also dealing with the frustration of beginning to feel like an adult, but still facing age laws such as drinking, smoking, gambling, voting age, and parental rules (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002). Thus, it is during this changing cognitive stage that trying to figure out what they define themselves as and what society defines them as. One of the main advantages of middle school theory during this time is that as the adolescence pull away from their parents, the students still have a close adult influence they can depend on. These teachers are their advisors and their friends. In contrast to this, the teachers in the junior high model are more focuses on the discipline and academics, thus not fostering a close adult relationship with the students.
The media also heavily influences the cognitive changes that are happening during this time. With students watching an average of three hours of television a day, it is logical to assume that there must be multiple media influences. There are seven main theories of how adolescence learn from TV. The first is Social learning theory where the students learn from observation. The second is Cognitive Associate Theory which associates images with other things, such as, drinking beer will be fun. The media also provides the social norms for how people should act through the Cognitive Scripting theory. Another media theory is the Cultivation Hypothesis which teaches adolescence what to think about the world. There is also the Displacement Effect in which watching television replaces something more constructive. Finally, the Catharsis Theory involves getting things out of the adolescence system through watching TV (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002). With these seven various ways for media to influence kids, teachers must acknowledge that there is a lot of cognitive development students receive from the media. Most of the effect of the media are so indirect and subtle that the students do not realize that they are cognitively being influenced by what they are watching. Because the cognitive development of media is so great, educators should teach students about the media and how it influences. There is no point in pretending that the media doesn’t exist. The middle school would be more apt to educate the adolescence on the implications of media because of the flexibility of scheduling, the smaller classes, and the stronger focus on students instead of simply academics.
Peer influences are major facet of the adolescent experience. Hicks illustrates the importance when he says, “young people who do not form satisfactory peer relationships are more likely to be at risk of academic and adjustment problems in their later schooling and beyond” (1997 p.19). This issue is probably a result of peer pressure that “rises as children become teenagers, peaking sometime around eighth or ninth grade” (Steinberg 1996, p.141). Because peer pressure is the greatest during adolescence, it is imperative that the students make connections with other students that will help them make positive decisions. Steinberg continues to prove this point when she states, “All other things being equal, adolescents who are members of more academically oriented crowds do better in school that other students, whereas those who are members of more alienated crowds do worse and are more likely to get into trouble” (1997 p.148). Thus illustrating how important groups of friends are to adolescence. The friends are the motivators, the supporters, the encouragers, and the ones that are able to persuade people to do things. Without friendships in middle school, kids feel neglected and left out.
There are also large changes that are occurring in the peer groups during adolescence. In addition to less adult supervision, there is an increased time spent with peers and more time spent with opposite-sex friends. Within these groups of peers, there are different groups of cliques. There are the popular kids that get a lot of attention, the wannabees who are on the fringe of the popular kids, the average ones who don’t strive for popularity and are well adjusted, and then the isolates that do not have reciprocated friendships and are not good at communication. This last group of kids are particularly at risk kids (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002). What causes these differences between groups? For boys, popularity is based primarily on athletic ability, coolness, toughness, social skills, cross gender relations, and academic performance. Popularity for girls is based more on physical appearance, social skills, cross gender relationships, and academic performance. For the popular kids, academics can sometimes cause conflict (A. Ryan, personal communication, March 17, 2002). At times the cool kids may feel that if they are smart and do well in school then they might lose some of their popularity. In contrast, the kids that are more average work together to achieve higher academics and are not as influenced by the importance of status.
How can the middle school model help all groups of students to achieve the highest amount of academic prosperity possible? First, by having the interdisciplinary teams, the students have the same peers in their classes. Thus, they will feel comfortable with the other students, enabling them not to feel as though they have to impress them by doing well, or acting too cool to do the academics. The teachers in middle school settings also have less students so they can concentrate more individually with each of the students. With the individual concentration, the students might feel more pressure from the teacher, than their peers, to do well. The middle school also has a stronger focus on group learning so the students will interact amongst social groups more often. This will begin to break down the peer groups, thus allowing the students to not feel as much pressure from the other students. In contrast, the junior high model focuses on comparison and competition, which would only accentuate the peer pressure. There are also higher academic expectations in the junior high so if the students feel as though they are not up to the challenge, they simply will not do it and spend more time with their peers. Overall, the middle school is better for students’ success in school because it has a more accepting and encouraging atmosphere for all students.
Adolescence is a time of storm and stress. There are social changes,
physical changes, academic changes, and cognitive changes. With all
of this chaos going on in the body of a young adolescent, there around
bound to be problems, situations, and dilemmas that exist. However,
the best solution to eliminate as many outside factors as possible resides
in using the middle school model instead of the junior high model.
The middle school model focuses predominately on the students, what can
help them the most, and how to relate to them and their needs. It
is within the middle school model that the students will receive the best
possible social adjustments and education.
Works Cited
Arnett, J. (1999). Adolescent Storm and Stress, Reconsidered.
American Psychologist, 54, 317-326.
Eccles, J., Midgley, C., Wigfield, A., Buchanan, C.M., Reuman, D.,
Flanagan, C., & Mac Iver, D. (1993). Development during adolescence:
The impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents’ experience in
schools and families. American Psychologist, 48, 90-101.
Hicks, L. (1997). How Do Academic Motivation and Peer Relationships
Mix in an Adolescent’s World? Middle School Journal, 18-22.
Steinberg, l. “The Power of Peers” (1996). Beyond the Classroom.
New York: Simon & Schuster.
