Summary of Middle Years of Schooling Conference Paper
This is a summary of the keynote speech given at the Annual MYSA Conference in Brisbane on the 26th May 2001
The Psychological justification for middle schooling has never
been stronger. Not only do the developmental stages of adolescence
seem to be happening earlier (Herman-Giddens ME, Slora EJ,
Wasserman RC, Bourdony CJ, Bhapkar MV, Koch GG, Hasemeier CM.
Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in
office practice: A study from the Pediatric Research in Office
Settings network. Pediatrics 1997; 99: 505-512), but the rates of
drug use, depression, eating disorders, teenage pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases seems to be increasing.
The causes of early puberty are unclear. The theory that has the
broadest support among scientists holds that early puberty is
somehow tied up with a much more familiar phenomenon: weight
gain. Australia, like America is in the midst of an epidemic of
overweight and obese kids; between the late '70s and the early
'90s, the percentage of children ages 6 to 11 who were overweight
nearly doubled, from 6.5% to 11.4%, according to the National
Centre for Health Statistics. Also implicated are the chemical
pollution resulting from PCB's and DDE in our environment,
chemicals thought to mimic the action of sex hormones. Others are
also investigating the effects of early sexualisation which may in
some way trigger the mechanism that kick starts puberty.
Irrespective of the reasons, this phenomenon has the potential to
disrupt the latency period, when girls used to turn their backs on
boys and vice versa, and bond with their same sex peers - it
was a time when they gathered a lot of strength - they did well in
sports, art or drama, investigated the world, became confident
learners, and confident socially. In essence, they marshalled
their psychological forces in order to be able to go into puberty.
The problem for Australian teenagers is that the cultural
pressures (TV, videos, movies and magazines) along with such
precocious puberty, all combined, has the potential to
short-circuit the latency period, which allowed them to develop a
sense of who they are and where they fit in to the world. When a
young person's body develops early, they are more likely to hook
up with a partner - and leave their same sex peers - before the
vital developmental work of the latency period is done. This means
that some Australian young people are hitting puberty
psychologically unprepared, which may cause all sorts of harmful
social, academic and psychological consequences.
The question for leaders in the middle school movement to
consider, if indeed the stages of childhood development are
getting out of sync, and nature is pushing these young people into
puberty before their hearts, minds and souls are ready, is whether
the timing, nature and extent of the sex, drug and personal
development curricula needs to be re-examined in the light of this
phenomenon? What are the implications for Australian educators and
the parent community?
The fact that more and more young people are experiencing
difficulty tackling the developmental tasks of adolescence is
documented in The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
report titled "Australia's Young People: their Health and
Wellbeing." The report found that mental disorders accounted for more
than half the total youth disease burden to the community, and
that 1 in 5 young men and 1 in 10 young women in the 18-24 years
age group had a substance use disorder. The AIHW report also
documented the fact the youth suicide rates for young men
increased by 71% between 1979 and 1997. Not withstanding the
slight decline in the overall suicide rates, recorded in the past
two years, seven young people, still take their lives in Australia
each week - that's one a day. For each completed suicide there may
be up to 150 attempts, which thankfully do not succeed.
Depression (see Beyond
Blue - the National Depression Initiative) in young people
lies behind many of the problems that plague middle schools and
parent communities across Australia, including substance misuse,
deliberate self-harm, unsafe sexual practices and is the major
risk factor for youth suicide. (George C Patton, Lynelle J Moon. The health of young
Australians, Medical Journal of Australia 2000; 172: 150-151)
One of the most worrying trends and a major challenge to the
pastoral care services in middle schools across Australia is that
it seems as if we are not managing to identify many students with
the most serious problems. The National Survey of Youth Mental
Health and Well-being, launched on the 29th November 2000,
found that a paltry one in four students with mental health
problems actually received professional help and only half the
pupils with the most severe problems had received any professional
help.
The research suggests that connectedness to one other adult, a
school or a belief system are key protective factors. For more
information on the risk and protective factor framework, click here.
The challenge for middle schools in the face of this data is to do
everything in its power to foster psychological resilience
in its students. The MindMatters
program seeks to support secondary schools in promoting and
protecting the mental health of school communities. In addition to
authoritative information, and practical planning strategies
- the program includes curriculum material for use in a range of
learning areas and a professional development program. Resilience
is a concept first popularised in the early 1970s, and focuses on
young people who, against long odds, succeed. Research shows that
resilient young people know how to solve problems, have some sense
of mastery of their own life and learn from mistakes. Most
significantly for the middle school movement in Australia,
psychologists agree on the necessity of a linchpin relationship
between the child and at least one parental figure. Julius Segal,
spoke of a "charismatic adult," a person with whom
children "could identify and from whom they gather
strength." While the obvious candidate for the role would be
a mother or father, Segal noted that in a "surprising number
of cases that person turns out to be a teacher." Many
of the most disturbed young people in our schools glaringly lack
such a mentor.
The middle school movement must realise that to build resilience
in a child does not require the moulding of a super kid. What's
needed is to find one or two things (what psychologist refer to as
"islands of competence") at which the child can
succeed and thus derive a measure of self-confidence. Middle
schools should put a premium on encouraging students to master
something even if they struggle in an academic subject- a sport,
music, someplace they can go where they are of value.
The final challenge, is to recognise that parents are struggling,
and that many lack the skills knowledge and strategies to parent
effectively. The
Australian Institute of Family Studies report on parenting
styles found that relationships between depressed teenagers and
their parents were less warm and of poorer quality than those
between problem-free teens and their problems and that depressed
teenagers felt more alienated from parents and communication
wasn't as open. (The Age 19th May 01) Given that young people
without behaviour problems had warm close relationships with their
parents, - the middle school movement needs, as a priority to
examine new and innovative form of parent education, such as the
Parenting Adolescent Quiz, for information click here.
Conclusion
Never before in the history of Australia have young people been
told so much, but never before have they known so little, they are
drowning in an information explosion that is unique to our time,
yet wisdom has never been so sparse a commodity. We seem to have
created a generation of young people who's alleged street wisdom
is nothing more than a flimsy covering, over an aching void of
vulnerability. They are only 18% of the population, but 100% of
the future - a future that is very much in the hands of the middle
schooling movement. As Martin Luther King jr once said,
"...we shall have to repent in this generation, not so much
for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling
silence of the good people."
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg is an adolescent psychologist who works at the Albert Road Centre for Health