The bottom line in education …

A Spectrum, by Michael Dishnow

Twenty years ago, during my Alaskan career, I ventured into the world of middle school education.

I was in the Matanuska-Susitna School District at a time of unprecedented growth. A bedroom community, 50 miles northwest of Anchorage, our district was the fastest growing district in the state and one of the fastest in the nation. A middle school designed for 400 to 500 students was facing an enrollment of 900. A new junior high and high school combination was planned, but would not open its doors for two more years. The upcoming school year would bring a double shift, one morning session and one afternoon session.

Two additional factors were exacerbating the potential difficulties in the middle school. Our district, in the middle of the technology explosion, was installing sophisticated student accounting software and the resident counselor would be on maternity leave during late summer and early fall. My avocation was computers and I had been a leader in the implementation of student accounting in the high school and was teaching adult education computer classes evenings. A professional colleague and friend was one of the middle school administrators and was lobbying me to transfer; she felt that my years as a guidance counselor and my computer skills would be valuable assets in successfully implementing the double shift.

I worked the morning session the first year and the afternoon the second. In both years, I was responsible for setting up and running the scheduler (I scheduled the students into their classes). I handled the student accounting for both sessions and the counseling duties for one session. When the new Houston Middle/High School opened Wasilla Middle School returned to one session and I moved to the guidance office at Houston.

What remains with me from my sojourn into middle school education is not the technology and the changes therein. These responsibilities and skills have long since passed to the secretaries and administrative assistants. I had waded into the realm of grade retention and all the controversy surrounding this issue. In my high school career I was not faced with the question of retention, a student may fail a class or classes, they may even fail to qualify for graduation as four-year seniors, but they are not retained in grade 9,10 or 11.

Wasilla Middle School had a clearly stated and written retention policy. Any student failing two or more academic classes would be retained; parents had input, but were not afforded veto power. The principal and vice-principal favored retention, as did the bulk of the academic staff, and I leaned in this direction as well. We would clearly document progress or lack thereof during the year and parents of failing or near-failing students were regularly brought in for conferences. A clear paper trail followed each struggling student and warnings of potential retention were forthcoming at the first sign of trouble. It was a very conservative environment and students and parents were held accountable, as were teachers.

I was the chair of the retention committee. I was the person who called the parent meetings, maintained the records and asked for the faculty vote at the final and telling meeting each spring. The first year we retained 25 students, mostly 7th-graders. Next year 22 retained; this pattern persisted throughout my four years in middle school education.

One thing became obvious very quickly; the overwhelming majority of students repeating a grade were boys. The first year there was only one girl, the second only two. This did not change during the two years in Houston Middle/High School. The reality was that boys were far more likely to be retained than girls were.

I had long been aware that mothers, not fathers, usually appeared at student teacher conferences. This was not unusual, this had always been the case during my tenure in Michigan prior to Alaska, and has been since in Wisconsin as well. As a counselor my experience also pointed towards mothers as being much more communicative than fathers are. The truth was the women shared information, personal and otherwise, much more quickly than men did. In the guidance office, I often learned more about Mom than I did about Johnny or Suzy.

I began to sense that these failing boys often came from single parent families, headed by females and that, usually, there was not a significant male figure in their lives. Fathers were absent or non-involved, the boyfriend or boyfriends were not significant and could actually pose a problem. Step-dads simply did not show up; I remember one blended family that did a superb job, but generally Mom was on her own in the school environment.

In De Soto, prior to my retirement this year, I was the liaison between the middle and high school and the Afterhours Program of the Family and Children's Center in Viroqua. Teachers assign students who have incomplete or missing assignments to Afterhours. The van picks students up at the high school and drives them to the center. When the student has finished all assignments satisfactorily they are driven home. Only students whose parents have entered into an agreement with the Family & Children's Center are enrolled in the program.

Again, most of the enrollees were middle school boys. These boys are treated fairly, but held to task. I noted over time that the boys, albeit initially upset with me for their assignments, often began showing up in my office in subsequent days to visit or to tell me how well they were doing. I did not see lingering anger; I did see improvement in classroom performance and attitude towards school in many cases. These boys were the ones most likely to come and wish me well on my retirement. One stated, "The school will not be the same without you, Mr. Dishnow."

What role did I play in the lives of these young boys? Is it the role of surrogate father? I do not know for sure, sometimes I wonder. It would be interesting to do a scientific study into the role of "positive male models" in the lives of adolescent boys. The high divorce rate in our society, and the high percentage of children placed with their mothers, mitigates toward the lessened role of fathers in the lives of their sons.

I see situations in which another significant male plays a highly positive role in the lives of adolescent boys. Coaches, scout leaders, and male elementary school teachers, uncles and stepfathers, among others, can do a lot to fill this void. So do divorced fathers who stay closely involved with their sons. Dads are best, of this I have no doubt. But, the bottom line appears to be the need for a "positive male role model(s)" in the lives of adolescent boys.

Michael Dishnow was a teacher and counselor in the Mat-Su schools.

He currently lives in Wisconsin.