Colony students prefer middle school education model

Ashlee Cronk, Celia Darrough, Blake Kinsey

Rumors have been flying about Colony Middle School changing into a junior high next year due to budget cuts. It is not true. CMS will not be the philosophically correct middle school next year; it will instead be designed as a "modified" middle school. The school will have few changes other than eliminating team planning time. The rumors, however, demand that the differences between middle school and junior high be understood.

A junior high is not based upon teams, it organizes teachers within departments, where they each have their own planning period; they are not able to talk to the other teachers about their students. A junior high is subject centered. It requires a six-period day of 50-55 minutes each. It organizes around an interscholastic athletics concept, playing competitively against other schools. A junior high offers subjects for either one semester or one year. It offers study halls and access to counselors. If Colony Middle School were based around a junior high concept, there would be rotating classes every day, classes mixed with older and younger students, and a less comforting atmosphere for students, thereby increasing the chances that a student needs to relearn something or doesn't learn it at all. A junior high is almost the opposite of a middle school.

On the other hand, in middle school, teachers and students form a bond. According to The National Middle School Association in a position paper entitled "This We Believe," middle school is based upon teams -- small communities for learning. It organizes teachers on teams where they have a common planning period to talk to each other. Therefore, it seems as though a middle school is student centered. It allows for flexible scheduling with large blocks of time. Additionally, middle schools revolve around an intramural concept -- playing athletics within your school. It also includes a full exploratory program. A middle school varies the length of time that the students are in each class, and offers an advisor/advisee teacher-orientated guidance program. Middle school gives students a taste of high school while not rushing them into anything, while a junior high mimics high school completely. A middle school helps students gradually mature and become prepared for a high school education, or any education at all. So which is better, the middle school or the junior high?

While there are interesting aspects to both a junior high and a middle school, it seems a middle school is the preferred choice. The maturity level of sixth-graders is nothing like the maturity level of a ninth-grader, which is what is necessary for success in a junior high. With all the hustle and bustle of a junior high, the students could simply get lost. The loss of the student-teacher connection in a junior high as compared to a middle school would be a disadvantage to the students, due to the fact that there could be less homework assistance. The teacher may not be able to understand each student and their needs as well as they could in the middle school arrangement.

Many people are not aware of the differences between junior highs and middle schools. The final verdict on this controversial topic is that middle schools are the most desirable, despite the extra costs, for both the teachers' and the students' well-being. Obviously, a junior high interferes with the learning, safety and well-being of students. People who agree with a junior high school plan would be violating our school rule: "No one has the right to interfere with the learning, safety, and well-being of others," and they would be choosing step.

Ashlee Cronk, Celia Darrough and Blake Kinsey are Colony Middle School students and writers for the CMS Knightly News, a school newsletter published by Emily Forstner's 7th- and 8th-grade English classes. This opinion piece originally ran in the May 2003 newsletter.