Chapter Nine:
The Middle School Years: How Much They Mattered?
As the school year wanes, many ninth graders have finally
figured out a fact that earlier may not have been obvious: everything counts.
It is not
hard to comprehend the truth of that
statement. All grades will appear on
high school records. High school records
(not to mention test scores) lead to college acceptance letters. The caliber
of college one attends determines the extent
to which one will succeed in life. It
sounds kind of ominous, doesn’t
it? You wouldn’t mind crawling back
under the covers, or back to eighth grade, right?
Seen from
this narrow perspective-as merely a
summary of grades earned-the middle school years might not look like much. In this limited
sense, middle school simply end when high school begins. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
But there
are a few ways in which middle school matters very much. This is something the alert, conscientious middle school students has always known.
For most
students, academic success is not something that can be turned on and off like
a faucet. The study habits one brings to
high school and beyond were formed during the previous thirteen or fourteen
years. As the word “habit” suggests,
learning to be an excellent student is largely a matter of practice, of establishing and repeating study
routines that lead to success.
Skills are
of paramount importance in the
middle school years. Both middle and
high school teachers are concerned, of course, with content, as well as with skills.
However, in middle school, the primary focus is on skill building. In order for students to be able to assimilate the content of high school
courses, they must, for example, be good readers, but they must also be taught
to think while they read. A skilled
middle school reader will discern,
for example, a writer’s purpose, while a merely adequate reader cannot. A student who comes to high school locking
these essential skills will have a hard time trying to fill in the gaps.
Finally,
middle school is a great time for trying things out. It’s a great time for adopting a risk-taking attitude, for losing that cautious old self
who may have cared too much about winning, losing and public opinion. You’d like to be a member of the debate
club? Check it out? You wanted to try your hand at lacrosse? Hey, why not?
You wondered if musicals might be your thing? Go and find out? There’s no time like the present.
Here’s the
long and short of it: Anyone who thinks
middle school doesn’t count has probably missed out on a great
opportunity. There’s nothing that counts
more than opportunities that won’t come again.
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