(Vol. 1, No. 1 - Winter 1996/1997)
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IDEAS:
Why Middle School?
A message to business partners
By Cindy Read
Cindy Read is supervisor for public affairs with UPS Airlines
in Louisville.
One of my favorite quotes about middle schools is from June Hampe, a dedicated
employee of the Jefferson County Public Schools who works with families
relocating to Louisville. The parents June assists are understandably concerned
about their children's transition to a new school system. If the children
are going into middle school, the parents are often even more worried about
the move.
Many bring with them a wild variety of rumors and misconceptions about middle
schools.
In these situations, June has been known to look the parents in the eye
and proclaim with a deadpan worthy of Bob Newhart, "Well, you know
middle school causes puberty."
This usually gets a laugh and breaks the tension, but it does point to the
reason so many adults have problems with middle schools. It's not the schools
themselves, but the age and developmental stage of their inhabitants. How
many of us have great memories about seventh grade? How many in this youth-obsessed
culture would actually choose to be 12 again? It's a wild, difficult, troubling,
painful, vulnerable time. For many adults, the farther away from young adolescence,
the better.
Unfortunately, the same principle sometimes holds for businesses considering
where to get involved in education. Those elementary kids are awfully cute!
And with high school students -- so much closer to actually joining the
workforce -- businesses can see the return on investment in the
near future. But middle school? Don't go there . . .
Well, I'm here to urge businesses to em-brace middle school when forming
education partnerships. Every age and grade level is important, but connecting
at the middle school level is especially critical.
Why? Because more than anything else, middle schoolers need connections
to caring adults. Even as they seem to push adults away, they really need
and want the safety net of role models who will protect, encourage, motivate
and advise them. When business people go into to middle schools, they are
sending young people a powerful message: "Your community values you
-- we care about you and your education."
Businesses can also demonstrate to students what their teachers can only
describe: that those pesky academic skills really do come in handy in the
workplace.
Middle school students who have come to UPS for job shadowing and other
projects have learned that it takes math to ensure that planes are loaded
correctly and fly safely. They've seen that everyone has to know how to
write -- whether they fix planes or talk to international customers. And
they've found out that "soft skills" like teamwork, punctuality,
and positive attitudes make it possible for people to get important packages
on time, all over the world.
High school is too late for many students. If their expectations weren't
raised in middle school, they may not have taken the kinds of courses they
need to get into college or other post-secondary training programs. Worse,
they may have already dropped out.
So check out middle school. You may be pleasantly surprised. After all,
many of us forget all the great aspects of this time of life -- the honesty,
the humor, the sense of adventure, the passion for causes, the ENERGY!
Commit yourself and your business to middle school students, and you can
count on two things: you will make a difference, and you will have fun.
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