Entry #4: Junior High, the worst two years of my education

In discussion to what is a tween, our class has considered biological changes, age transitions, media perceptions and how school can play a role. I wanted to see how school can affect the idea of tween. I remember as a student hating junior high school. It wasn’t so much my schooling, but rather the social cliques and hierarchy self imposed by students. While one of my previous entries looked at bullying, I wanted to see what types of information was available about school itself.

In a search on the King Library databases I found an article entitled, “Middle and High School Transitions as Viewed by Students, Parents, and Teachers” (2004). The article wants to determine how students, teachers and parents are similar in their ideas about school transitions both from elementary school to middle school and from middle school to high school. While the article initially cites articles about transitions from one point of view, either from a student, teacher or parent, the authors look to find comparisons between the three.

Using surveys the authors, Akos and Galassi, found that both parents and students had similar concerns in homework load. Different from the two were concerns about fitting in, the parent’s fear, and getting to class on time (students). For me this was very telling. While the authors did not discuss possible reasons for these differences, inferences may be made. Perhaps, like me, parents are focusing on the stereotypes often played upon by the media: the idea that Junior High School was so tough socially.

While students do fear bullies, the article cited that there was a level of excitement for tweens in the added freedoms and the larger school population and thus possibility for more friends. This might show that tweens are expecting to retain friends while transitioning and adding new ones, so the fear of being ostracized or not fitting in, isn’t so much an issue.

So, what does this mean for librarians? As adults we should be careful as to how we present these transitions to tweens and teens. By proving these young adults with the tools they need would be most helpful. Finding fictional stories about these transitions which reflect positive outlooks can help reinforce these changes. Additionally, it could also mean helping tweens find materials on school subjects that might help them succeed in higher level classes. Keeping an open mind, and not telling student show much I hated junior high school until after they move onto high school would probably be best.

References

Akos, P., & Galassi, J. (2004). Middle and high school transitions as viewed by students, parents, and teachers. Professional School Counseling, 7(4), 212 – 221. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier.