Adolescence is a time of growing and expanding, discovering a sense of self outside the influence of parents.
The place where most teen-agers learn about themselves—and learn to work, socialize and act independently—is the school.
What happens in school—the pressure, the rewards—is part of the secret life of the teen-ager, often quite alien to the school life parents remember about their own school days in the past.
In a recent survey of more than 160,000 teen-agers, researchers reveal how today’s teens deal with school life.
For most kids, school is a necessary evil that has one major benefit: It’s a prime place for socializing. In fact, for some it is the only positive aspect.
Sixteen-year-old Susan W., a WWHS senior, explains: “My entire life is really about school. I don’t mean the work, but my friends and talking to them. Besides, it’s the only place I can meet boys.”
In school kids learn to function as learners, conformers, leaders, social rebels, romantic/loving beings, and athletic competitors. They
discover how to get along and how to solve problems with little, if any, adult help. Indeed, since most adults don’t really understand what teen-agers face in school today, kids learn to devise their own solutions for survival.
“There are plenty of hassles because some of the kids are totally obnoxious,” says Sandra L., an Independence High School junior. “I’ve had my lunch money stolen when I was younger, and I was picked on plenty during the last couple of years.
“Last year, one of the kids who’s about 6 feet tall (I’m short) picked me up and held me over a stairwell. I was sure he was going to drop me down. But I stayed pretty cool and I guess it just wasn’t interesting enough for him since I didn’t scream, so he let me go.”
Meanwhile, there’s no other non-family setting that consumes so much of children’s time, involves so much of their attention, and demands so much effort from them.
For the average teen-ager, any prolonged absence means the disruption of social maturation and the development of true independence. In fact, for many kids the actual process of formalized classroom activity is secondary, even irrelevant and boring.
When asked “Do you study to pass tests?” on another survey, some 60 percent answered “Yes.” Asked if they study to really learn, only 40 percent answered affirmatively.
Six in 10 teen-agers study to pass tests, which isn’t surprising considering the great emphasis that educators and parents place on grades.
According to many of our teen-agers, studying is nothing more than preparation for the ultimate Scholastic Aptitude Test scores.
Kenny H. is a 16-year-old who addends Liberty High School in Raleigh County that prides itself on the number of graduates who enter top colleges in the region. He says, “All I do is study for tests. It’s always constant pressure and my parents are on my case every minute. I can honestly see why kids drop out and some even do more drastic things.”
Kenny isn’t planning to drop out. He’s a strong student and copes with the pressure. But what is he learning?
Lucy L. is in the top 5 percent of her class. She plans a career in psychology and has to maintain a 3.0 average for the college she hopes to attend. She has developed an effective if unsatisfying method for surviving in the system.
“I’ve learned how to give a teacher whatever she wants. In tests and everything else. I know what each teacher looks for, so to get a good grade I give it to them, even if it’s not what I believe I should be doing. I wrote the worst paper in English and I knew it stunk of crap the teacher loved.”
Meanwhile, other students aren’t as adaptable as Lucy, So how do they cope?
They cheat.
By their own admission, 55 percent of our teen-agers cheat. This practice may not be as American as apple pie, but it comes close. Here are their reasons to a survey question: “If you cheat in school, why do you do it?”
Some 45 percent say they don’t cheat, while another 55 percent say they do cheat, because it’s easier than studying, 11 percent; while some 6 percent says, “Everyone does it,” and 14 percent say, “It’s the only way you can get a better grade.”
For most teen-agers, the pressure to get good grades is constant. And when all their teachers demand results at the same time, many kids simply can’t cope with the workload.
As one 15-year-old from Shady Spring explains: “Each teacher thinks they’re the only ones giving homework and tests and they pile it on. But it should be staggered so that you could take just one test a day and give it all you’ve got.
“But the way it is now, it’s not humanely possible to study for all the tests, so one subject always gets the short end. So, you end up cheating in the subject you don’t have time to study for.”
It is easy, therefore, to see a collision between two sets of values–achievement and honesty. In this dilemma, it seems that achievement wins out. Where then, does it leave honesty? When our kids cheat, do they feel they are being dishonest, immoral, improper, or unethical?
Nearly six in 10 students feel little or no guilt, because they can justify cheating for one reason or another. One 17-year-old explains that he wasn’t willing to spend any time studying for a subject that didn’t interest him, so he cheated instead.
He was a good student, and he preferred to devote his efforts to the courses he liked. “Besides,” he reasons, “how can you feel guilty when they pressure you into getting good grades or else?
“I’d love to just take a course to really learn something and not feel pressured to do well in it. That would make school OK.”
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Top o’ the morning!