
Why is Middle School so hard? - laurex
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/10/why-middle-school-and-preteens-are-so-challenging/599542/
======
itronitron
In most US school systems, middle school marks a transition from students
having one teacher and classroom for most of the day to having multiple (6 to
8) different teachers and classrooms during the day. So that is potentially a
5X multiplier on the number of different social interactions that each student
will have to deal with each day. On top of that they have to learn each
teacher's style and expectations in order to do well.

I used to think the difficulty was due to the onset of adolescence but I think
if you forced most working adults through such a transition for a year they
would not fare well. This is why most people hate service jobs.

~~~
Dumblydorr
I taught science in grades 3-8 in low income US schools. The main difference
between 3-5 and 6-8 is puberty. These humans are undergoing the most radical
shift in their hormones and behavioral regime in their entire life. They go
from caring what their teacher thinks to caring what their peers think; the
kids get louder, stronger, less respectful of authority, more likely to join
gangs or do drugs. Everyone gets a lot more talkative and disruptive. Middle
schoolers are simply the hardest age group to teach.

~~~
tbyehl
> Middle schoolers are simply the hardest age group to teach.

But how much of that might be structural?

Under ideal circumstances, a K-5 student has one teacher each year, in a class
largely composed of students they were in a class with the previous year.

We throw them into 6th grade, now they have what, 5-6 teachers for 40-50
minutes each? In my district, two elementary schools feed each middle, so
their grade size has doubled and even many of the students they shared an
elementary school with will be unfamiliar.

That's a whole lot of social upheaval to subject 11 y/o kids to. Puberty is
just icing on the cake.

~~~
tbyehl
I'll add, my partner's children enter middle school next year and thinking
about all of this is concerning.

My partner points out that this is where children start to "slip through the
cracks" \-- teachers' ability to provide individualized attention is greatly
reduced by the reduction in class time and increased number of students to
educate. The difference in structure has a big impact on both sides.

------
JulianMorrison
Have you considered not combining "a place of learning" with "a violent, over
controlled, over policed, oppressive bureaucratic autocracy, that replicates
all the usual dynamics found in prisons"?

~~~
microcolonel
As somebody who's attended a North American public school in my life, this is
roughly the slap in the face I feel when politicians talk about abolishing
vouchers or charter schools, with _no mention of the appalling baseline
quality of public education_ , despite _dramatically higher spending than most
or all other developed nations_. Meanwhile, those voucher systems and charter
schools have been the thrust of almost all improvement of education in
America.

At the end of the day, it is rich to hear from politicians who have literally
never attended a public school about how we should send our kids to schools
they've avoided. A greater proportion of public educators send their own kids
to private schools than the general public, by a long shot.

~~~
notfromhere
Most politicians come from the middle class, so I'd wager most of them
attended public school.

The most predictive stat for educational attainment is household income and
parental educational attainment, so if you want to fix education, you need to
fix income inequality.

~~~
asdkhadsj
Depends on how you view fixing income inequality, I would imagine. For
example, I don't think you could simply give the poor loads of money and
suddenly their kids do well in school.

Personally, I view it as an education problem first and foremost. I think the
incoming inequality is a red herring, and people are focusing on the wrong
problem.

Yes, fixing income inequality is required. Yes, fixing income inequality would
improve education to a degree - but my contention is that people merely having
money won't help the broken education system. Not everyone can go to private
schools. Furthermore, "giving people money" in college tuition has been part
of the problem in driving prices unrealistically high and reinforcing
predatory systems.

In my view, focus on education first. More educated people make smart
financial decisions. Educated people make better decisions about their life,
risk assessment, and quality of life. Educated people raise better children.
Educated people are more difficult to fool in blind party politics and do-
nothing politicians/systems.

Luckily we can do both, education and inequality, but I don't think we can or
should expect to ever fix income inequality without at least in tandem fixing
education. We need capable humans, and education is the only way to do it; I
think.

~~~
jrkatz
Reducing income inequality has direct effects on education quality. Much of
the public school budget is drawn from local funding. In short, impoverished
areas beget impoverished schools and wealthier areas have well-funded schools.
Parents working in precarious positions - part time jobs with shifting
schedules, or _multiple_ part time jobs with shifting schedules - can struggle
to find time to provide support like homework help or supervision to their
children. Reducing income inequality increases the tax base & school funding
while granting parents more opportunities to engage with their children's
education. Many of these poor people are already making the best decisions
anyone can in their position: taking the job(s) they can get for the
paycheck(s) they can get so they can put food on the table and eke out another
two weeks.

~~~
brycesbeard
I was in a public school district that made public the funding received by
each school. Because it was a large metro district, we had wealthy areas and
impoverished ones.

The schools in worse areas were getting about 30% more money from the
district, per student, than the wealthier ones. This was to balance out the
superior amount of parental funding in the richer neighborhoods.

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_bxg1
Weirdly, middle school was one of the high-points of grade school for me. It
saw the initiation of nearly every important interest and passion that I have
(mostly by coincidence, but still):

\- Middle school band introduced me to music - both listening and playing -
which was life-changing for me. Band remained the best thing in my life
through the rest of gradeschool, and music still is.

\- I learned to play guitar for the first time, joining a wonderful freeform
after-school club for it

\- I discovered Tolkien, JRPGs, and Morrowind (and their respective music),
all of which seeded my imaginative life in ways that are still felt today

\- I tried programming for the first time (over a summer), awakening another
passion and putting me on a trajectory for my future career

Socially, middle-school was rough. But that was true for pretty much all of
grade school. And inwardly, middle school was amazing. I still look back on it
fondly.

~~~
sorenn111
Weirdly I relate to some of your experiences in a lot of ways.

\- Middle school was really the only time in my life i had the free time to
learn instruments. I played a lot of guitar and even played with friends.
Never had the time after.

\- Morrowind. I loved this game even though I was too young to really know
what I was doing.

\- My passion for math and science was ignited at this time which led me on
the great path of focusing on math/physic in High school. Double majoring CS
math in College and programming today.

\- Was able to compete in chess tournaments regularly, never have had time
since.

Socially, I had some friends, but they were nerds too. Honestly I'm glad I
wasn't "popular". The kids I know who were became just boring popular people
who started drinking and doing drugs way too early, obsessing about sports
that they'll never play again, and never advanced their lives in fulfilling
ways (in my opinion, though i think getting distracted by over socializing
early in school [ie partying] distracts one from the good grades/drive needed
to achieve good a good career).

Being popular and good at sports in middle school is a curse! Nerds ftw!!

~~~
_bxg1
It seemed like it was an interesting mid-point between elementary and high
school: they start giving you some real extracurricular activities and
electives and such to start exploring, but you don't yet have the highschool
pressures of more difficult classes and preparation for college. Maybe that
sweet spot is why it's a renaissance for some people.

It's even analogous to college, a midpoint between grade school and adult
life; a sudden increase in experiences without a proportionate increase in
responsibilities.

------
ImaTigger
Middle school is hard because it's the point at which parents are cut out of
the educational system, either by virtue of their not being able to be helpful
(e.g., they can't do algebra or speak French either!), or by the child
(through mis-directed rebellion or overzealous DIYishness).

~~~
watwut
At some point, parents have to be cut out. A child wanting to handle things
more independently from parents is not a bad thing - learning to do it
independently is important. What you call "mis-directed rebellion or
overzealous DIYishness" is them reaching developmental milestones.

A school system that requires extensive parental help is bad system.

~~~
aidenn0
Most 7-12 grade teachers I know would be much happier if the parents weren't
involved at all in the kids education. All of the dozen or so secondary
teachers I've talked to who left the educational field gave the exact same
reason: "The parents."

~~~
abrax3141
You are making an unwarranted conclusion from this comment. Is it merely that
the parents are there or not there? Could the parents be there in a more
helpful capacity? Clearly just “the parents” is not a reason for anything.

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sylens
People who have been out of the school system for a while should watch Bo
Burnham's "Eighth Grade". It's an incredibly accurate take on what being in
middle school is like, especially today where your self-worth can fluctuate
based on the amount of likes your last Instagram post got.

~~~
wolfgke
> especially today where your self-worth can fluctuate based on the amount of
> likes your last Instagram post got.

Simple solution: delete your Instagram account.

~~~
SuoDuanDao
That's indistinguishable from the number of likes being zero.

~~~
authoritarian
It certainly isn't. If you are active on social media and post something you
care about only for it to get no likes the majority of people would feel
significantly worse than simply enjoying something and not posting it on the
internet for praise/approval from strangers and acquaintances. I'm very happy
to have not had instagram, twitter, facebook, etc. for the majority of my
early education

~~~
SuoDuanDao
Me too, but for that to be possible requires friends who don't demand that one
uses them to voluntarily associate.

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anonytrary
All I remember in middle school was the sheer amount of bullying. There was
almost no bullying in my high school.

~~~
non-entity
Yeah it was pretty similar for me. Unfortunately, there were times in middle
school, where I was the bully as well. Once I got to high school though,
everyone was mostly cool, never had any of the issues I had in the past years.

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throwaway66920
Bullying was not prevalent in my school. But I did notice an abrupt change
from elementary school. Before middle school grades were meaningless. Middle
school was when kids started to be grouped into advanced and not advanced
groups and your grades started to matter (not really but it felt like they did
at the time). A large problem for me was the sudden collective understanding
from kids and parents that most of them weren’t as special, smart, or talented
as they thought. Middle school was the first time kids had to internalize that
they were not particularly good at things and likely never would be.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Agreed. I remember waiting outside a middle school, for my son's elementary-
school orchestra practice to end (they met at the middle school). Every middle
school student that walked by, had a recognizable emotional/psychological
problem. Tics, staring at the ground and not looking anyone in the eye,
startling at the approach of other students, and on and on. It was shocking.

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rollthehard6
Apart from the US, where else has middle schools? Here in Scotland there is
(Optionally) nursery, primary school (5-12) and then secondary school
(12-16/18), no middle.

~~~
bayesian_horse
In Germany it's worse. We don't have a distinct middle school as such, but we
have three parallel tiers after four years of elementary school. One is only
until grade 9, one until grade 10, the third is up to 13 years.

I'm leaving out a lot of details here, but basically students have to choose
one track after elementary school. And upgrading is hard, especially because
the lower tracks are "optimized for slower learners". Side-Note: As you might
have guessed, the track selection has become more and more based on ethnicity.

Studies have shown that such a tracked system is worse in every imaginable
way. But it is extremely attractive to conservative academics.

~~~
cf141q5325
After a long discussion with little alternatives, my little cousin went to a
Realschule mit Förderstufe. The problem with the school has less to do with
ethnicity as i can see it but the fact that large parts of her class dont
speak German good enough to be educated in it. And that they are not grouped
up by language to help them catch up in their first language. Pair that with
the "slower learner" approach and all of those kids are simply left behind. I
dont think its an issue of racism but simply abandoning anyone who, for what
ever reason, cant hold the pace. Simply no parent wants their kid to be in
such a class with two multilingual teachers to at least partially cover
multiple languages to try to communicate with the kids in their class. They
have to deal with the consequences of not thought trough political maneuvers.
And the kids who suffer from that are generally those that already live in
precarious situations. Painting it as a problem of racism, misses the point
entirely from what i have seen and I think framing it this way is deeply
counterproductive when it comes to these fundamental issues of our education
system.

~~~
pluma
It's not so much intentionally racist as it is classist.

When I was ready for secondary education, it was clear to me that _Gymnasium_
or ("at least") _Gesamtschule_ was where you went if you were later going to
study in a university, _Realschule_ was for trades and _Hauptschule_ was for
"stupid" (or "troubled") kids. Needless to say, it was clear to me that I had
to go to _Gymnasium_ and then university because both of my parents had
attended university.

Of course those were unfair generalisations but when I was in university I met
many people who retained exactly the same perception of those differences.

~~~
bayesian_horse
You are kidding yourself if you think that system isn't also driven by racism.
A few decades ago it was virtually impossible for Turkish children to attend
Gymnasium, regardless of the grades.

It is hard to quantify, but the attitudes of teachers, in elementary school
and beyond, does shape this process. If they don't believe those children can
catch up, they won't...

~~~
pluma
The point is that the division pre-dates the racist impact it has now. Racism
and classism go hand in hand in this case the same way they do in many others.

I don't think the multi-tiered system would be salvageable even if there was
no racism involved. Whether you doom children to economic failure based on
their ethnicity (or lack of fluency in German, which is often abused as a
shorthand for "low intelligence") or because of their social status
(manifesting in various ways that ultimately lead to "poor performance")
doesn't make this system any fairer.

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mkaic
I’m in high school. The education system’s only saving grace is the small
group of exceptional teachers and administrators that dare to defy what’s
expected of them by the government-approved programs and curricula.

It seems inherently wrong to place energetic, lively people like teachers and
curious, high-potential kids in such a strangely restricting and oppressive
environment.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Unfortunately it’s also daycare for the unwashed masses and unmotivated.

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Consultant32452
Public schools are literal prisons for children and for most people is the
only place they'll experience violence first hand. Middle school is the age in
which children's awareness of these facts start to become more clear in their
minds, even if they lack the ability to articulate them so clearly.

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ropiwqefjnpoa
Almost everyone is going through puberty at the same time for one thing.

~~~
ken
That seems to be the only basis this article presents at all for the claim
that "middle school is hard".

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kelnos
> _After all, middle schoolers are “kind of the best people on Earth,” says
> Mayra Cruz, the principal of Oyster-Adams Bilingual School, a public middle
> school in Washington, D.C._

She appears to be at a _very_ different middle school than I went to. Or is
painfully oblivious as to how cruel children of that age can be to each other.

~~~
scarejunba
I hear this on the Internet all the time but in middle school everyone was
nice to me and I was nice to everyone. There was some banter and we sometimes
accidentally injured each other because we're clumsy and sometimes we fought,
but 'cruel'? I don't recall anyone being cruel.

In fact, I remember seeing this right after I finished high school too. The
Internet was always "Kids are so cruel to each other" and now I wonder to
myself if this isn't just the culture you guys have built where you live.

Of course we had uniforms and nearly everyone came in on public buses unless
they were rich or lived close to the rich kids.

~~~
ohduran
Not cruel, but self-centered. Infancy seems to me like a progression from
complete self-centerness (if I'm not pleased, I'll cry until I turn blue) to
become functional, socially. Adolescence is part of that process of gauging
how much to conform to society vs stand up for yourself, until (ideally) you
reach a mature state in which the interaction with other human beings is
healthy.

I'm no psychologist so please take my input with a grain of salt.

My point is, kids aren't cruel in the sense that we use to refer to adults.
They, instead, are socially inept, and can't fully grasp the consequence of
their actions.

It's always helpful to keep Hanlon's razor in mind: assume stupidity before
malice.

~~~
fnord123
If you spend time with babies you will find they are actually very sociable
and giving. Indeed when they are worms they can only scream. But once they can
interact they often love sharing and contributing.

They don't develop a theory of self until they are 3 or 4 so they can't
anticipate what your needs are and that they are different than their needs,
but they will try to share what they like with you.

~~~
watwut
They also go out of way to help when you do house work. They are not really
useful, but really wants to be. They will "clean", "wash" and what not and are
super happy when you thank them.

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closeparen
Until late high school, grades were pretty isolated from each other. There
were some really awkward structured mentorship programs, and some
extracurriculars like theater that had less of a Varsity / JV bifurcation, but
your social circle was still pretty much grade level peers. Sometimes their
siblings. I can’t imagine the set of grade levels sharing an institution being
a major part of the story.

~~~
jacobolus
In primary school, most American students have one main teacher and one class.
In middle school, most American students walk from class to class, each less
than 1 hour long and with a different teacher, and are with different students
in each class. Often many primary schools feed into one middle school, so the
school can be bigger and has less familiar students. The students and teachers
don’t know each-other and have a harder time getting to know each-other. The
school is often more formal and the schoolwork is often less enjoyable. There
is significantly more homework.

Students (often strangers to each-other) end up very quickly establishing a
new social hierarchy in a context with less oversight and less adult support.
It can get pretty brutal.

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JoeAltmaier
It can simply be that, the middle school aggregates several elementary school
populations under one roof.

Wherever you were on the spectrum in your (small) elementary school, put you
in a bigger population and you will likely move toward the mean. Which is
humbling for many.

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dangus
Disclosure: I did not read the article.

It's because middle school-aged kids are awful, evil people.

Every bad social trait comes out at that age without any of the adult filters.

------
Nasrudith
From my experience part of what sucked about middle school was all of the
responsibilities with none of the privledges and a seeming determination to
make things suck as much as possible.

Also exacerbated by things like overcrowded halls, air conditioning only in
the library the faculty office, and a goddamn obsession with collective
punishment.

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cryptofits
From my personal experience, it's hard because of all the hormones.

~~~
bayesian_horse
Also the prefrontal cortex is not yet developed enough to keep the hormones in
check.

~~~
danesparza
(for those that don't know, the prefrontal cortex is one of the centers of the
brain. It's responsible for 'planning'. Think about the last middle schooler
you saw that had a cunning plan and I'm sure you'll agree their brain wasn't
fully formed either.)

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perseusprime11
I also think Middle School is hard because elementary school is so easy.

~~~
shantly
Middle school (well, Junior High) was the first time I couldn't understand a
concept the first time it was explained. I'd had almost no experience of that
K-6 so I had no idea what to do and thought something had gone wrong with my
brain. Seriously. It was especially bad in math where "understanding concepts"
plus some memorization is basically the whole deal, at least for most of K-12
education. I'd gone from among the best at math (with zero effort, because I
probably should have been moving through the curriculum 2-3x as fast as I had
been) to barely holding on somewhere in the middle, in a matter of months.

~~~
Technetium_Hat
you were lucky to hit that point in middle school. i am in high school
currently and am struggling due to not ever learning proper study skills.
everything before was too easy for me which ended up hurting me in the long
run.

~~~
perseusprime11
Looking back, can you please think of somethings that could have helped you
and share here?

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pointerpointer
> Why is Middle School so hard?

Because it's mandatory, and you are forced to be around lots of people you
don't really want to be with. You are forced to learn things you are not
interested in at all, while being punished for not performing well. And all
that, while your body goes through a major transformation sexually. There can
only be very few people enjoying that. For most it is a horrible way to end
their childhood.

And we (parents, governments) think it is beneficial, until the kids come from
middle school and cannot find a job that easily, often ending up doing
completely stupid work like cashier or whatever else for the rest of their
lives.

~~~
bachmeier
"until the kids come from middle school and cannot find a job that easily,
often ending up doing completely stupid work like cashier or whatever else for
the rest of their lives."

Your comment took a strange turn there at the end. I don't know even a single
person that went from middle school to the job market. And if someone does,
the job market probably won't be very good, that's common sense.

~~~
goldstone26
Isn't that illegal in most places? In the US, High School is compulsory until
you're 18 (so most people at least get 3 full years).

~~~
astura
Nah, definitely not illegal in the US, like 30%-40%+ of my high school dropped
out at the day they turned 16 (or maybe 15... forgot exactly which one they
let you drop out at).

Also... I graduated before I was 18.

EDIT: I was in high school two decades ago, so it might have changed since
then.

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Porthos9K
There's nothing wrong with the average American middle school that can't be
fixed with evacuation and controlled demolition.

~~~
dang
Please don't do this here.

~~~
Porthos9K
OK. How about I suggest scrapping mandatory attendance instead?

