Eleven

"So, I was thinking," a teacher friend started, "isn't middle school the time in their lives when kids are gravitating toward their peers and away from adults? Think about it-- school is run by adults! Doesn't it make sense that they wouldn't like it? Could it be developmental?"

I'm so happy she's reading my blog, I thought, and the look on my face must have tipped her off to something.

"Uh oh," her toned changed. "Is this going to show up on the internet?"

"It's funny you should bring that up," I returned to the original subject. "Yesterday, I asked my students to decide if they liked school or not and explain why, and then they were to write a slice of life story that showed what they meant." I took a stack of papers from the corner of my cluttered desk, and examined my informal data. "It's about half and half," I reported.

"But how much of that is kids who don't like school because of the social challenges?" she wondered.

"That's a good question," I said. "There are a few who say they don't like school because they don't feel like they fit in. BUT, there are just as many, or more, whose primary reason for liking school is that it's the place where they see their friends."

We pondered that in silence for a moment.

"Other kids say that they don't like school because it's not worth their time," I continued. "My favorite example is the boy who wrote, probably the biggest waste of time was when my third grade teacher tried to teach us to read lips," I laughed, "but that was followed closely by the girl who said that if she wasn't stuck at school, she could be doing really important things like playing games or hanging out at the mall." My friend nodded, unsurprised at the mall thing.

"Then there are some kids who don't feel challenged, some who think there's too much work, and some who don't think their teachers treat them fairly." I flipped through the papers. "But... several said that they do like school because they learn new things and their teachers are nice," I added hopefully. "That's not too bad."

"I'm kind of compliant," she said, "and I went to Catholic school, so I was used to doing all sorts of things I didn't want to, but I didn't mind middle school."

"I liked school," I agreed. "Look, I came back forever."

"Well, keep thinking about it," she said. "It's good material."