Middle School is different than Elementry and High School

The configuration of schooling has changed dramatically over the course of the United States. Traditionally, a K-8 school elementary school and a 9-12 high school was considered the norm. As time went on, teachers and members of the science community noted that around between fifth and seventh grade, students began to change. Students were going through something completely normal known as early adolescence in which behavioral changes began to change. For example, adolescents were subject to mood swings and experience a pattern of highs and lows. Many other adolescents tend to experience depression. Adding to these behavior changes are learning how to interact, socialize and date the opposite sex. Educators also noted the physical changes that occurred during this time period. Males and females experience growth spurts, genital regions growing and pubic hair begins to form. Male’s voices tend to get deeper and they experience wet dreams or ejaculation. Females begin to have enlarged breast and experience menstruation.

What is interesting is that Americans realized that adolescence is a normal process in life that everyone experiences; however, most states do not represent teaching middle school as a distinctive license. Elementary School Teachers are licensed through 8th grade and high school teachers are licensed to teach grades 6-12. This is an injustice because the techniques used to teach middle school students are different from high school and middle school. Teachers have to be sensitive and understand the need for middle school students to develop social skills, managing hygiene, rebellious nature, changing individual perceptions, redefining what is wrong and right and the development of intellectual operations. This transitional period starts and ends at different times. Children are at varying levels during this period, so it takes special training to teach middle school children. As a result, I think those who teach middle school should have to obtain a separate license or degree to learn how to teach early adolescents and not elementary or high school students.

The Media and its Unfair Treatment of Children

Chapter 7 was about how the media unfairly portrayed youth in the United States. Chapter 7 appealed to me because it proved that many Americans based their beliefs off of what the media says without any sound evidence. The chapter had sections termed “Media Myths” about various teenage sterotypes which counterevidence proved to not be true.

For instance, the media has developed the stereotype that teenage sex equates with “kids having kids. It is true that sometimes children do have children, but in the overwhelming majority of cases this is not the case. According to the United States Public Health Service, 71 Percent of all teenage parents have adult parents over 20 years old! Men over 20 years old are five times more likely to impregnated middle and high school girls! Yet, the media continues to focus on sexual irresponsibility of teenagers!

The myth about teenage violence is another example of an unjust stereotype the media presents. Newsweek has presented articles such as “Teen Violence: Wild in the Streets” and “Kids and Guns,” just to name a few. Articles tend to focus on fictionally information in regards to teen violence such as gun-toting, TV images, rap music and lenient youth court judges. The media’s rhetoric fails to mention that far more adults violently abuse children. According to the California Department of Justice 83 percent of all murdered children were killed by adults over 20 years old. FBI Reports sow that people 47 years old are twice as likely to commit murder on a 32 year old. The National Center of Child Abuse and Neglect reported that at least 350,000 children and teens were confirmed victims of sexual and violent abuse every year by adults.

The big question I am left to ask after a brief overview of the evidence, is what does the media have to gain from distorting the truth about teenagers? Does stereotyping children as violent or sexual beasts sound better than the media painting out that thousands or maybe millions of children are not safe because of adults in today’s world? That this is a failure of the government to protect innocent children who are our future in this country? Truth be told, I do not know what the media gains from these lies.

Puberty and Multicultural Educators

In chapter two this week, we read about the “Role of the Pubertal Process.” Puberty is the end of childhood and the beginning of adult hood. Lots of scary changes happen to adolescents during puberty. For instance, increasing amounts of public hair, menstruation, growth spurts and changes in the voice just to name a few. Due to the fact that we are going to be multicultural teachers in a diverse society, we need to examine the role puberty plays in different cultures!

In the mainstream white middle class society, for instance, many adult women reported they were upset by their first menarche. They were afraid to tell there mother and most never told their father about it. Many boys are just as uneasy talking to there parents. They do not inform their parents about their first ejaculation or wet dream. However, both boys and girls begin to develop an interest in the opposite sex. The bottom line is that this is a very scary time because the Endocrine system is causing all these changes. White-Middle Class mainstream culture is not the only culture that has to contend with the onset of puberty, all cultures and all people do! For instance, in Liberia puberty is viewed as a right of passage from childhood into adulthood. In New Guinea, the onset of puberty is viewed as a rite of passage with various celebrations that involve the community.

Multicultural educators need to understand children go through puberty and cultures have different ways of celebrating the changes. Studying adolescence shows that Middle School students must be treated differently; they are not quiet adults but not quiet children. They are going through a lot of changes, which teachers must be sensitive to. It can sometimes explain why students become so moody! We all go through things that scare us in life. Some children will be more open and embrace the experience. Others are scared while in some cultures the whole community celebrates puberty which teachers must learn to accept because no culture or person is the same in the world and it is the differences that must be embraced.

The "Other"

The article Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education was an interesting read. The article claimed students are oppressed in school because a group of victims (which Kumashiro called the "Other”) are treated in a harmful way. The beginning of the article grabbed my attention because counter evidence was provided to the myth there is not oppression in school. For instance, on page 27 Kumashiro claimed minority students were subject to dangerous infrastructures and insufficient resources. Kumashrio also claimed research suggested that racist and sexist prejudices and stereotypes affect how teachers treat their students. My big question that I do not feel was answered was how to teachers treat their students differently and to what extend? For instance, do the schools try to steer females away from taking sciences or automotives classes? Do Caucasian teachers treat their minority students like second class citizens? I know that Kumashiro’s information is true from information in my other classes, I just want more information.
I took one critical thing away from this reading: that curriculum, pedagogy and instruction harms the “Other.” Kumashiro argued that schools can increase prejudices and stereotypes against the “other” due to a lack of knowledge. Teachers do not attempt to help students to “unlearn” their prejudices and stereotypes. Outside of the school, students learn about the “other” through many outlets: the media, Internet, family, movies, television and friends, just to name a few. This spreads prejudices, stereotypes and myths a just society should attempt to distort through education in the schools.
Throughout the reading, I wondered how I could integrate content into my Social Studies classes to eliminate oppression of the “Other.” Kumashiro offered many suggestions such as including specific units on the other and attempting to integrate entire lessons about the “Other” into the entire curriculum. My big question is in what ways can I integrate lessons about the other? I want more ideas and techniques I could use to integrate the “Other” in my class. I want more ideas on how to integrate the curriculum. Integrating feminist movements or racism into one of my history classes would be easy, but what about the history of those with disabilities that are also oppressed?