The boys’ favorite things to do together are play video games,

talk about video games, and taunt each

other. This sort of taunting is tolerable, a

sign of affection almost, coming as it

does from true friends.

THE MAIN CHARACTERSERIC ELLIS

JACKIE TAYLORELIZABETH GINSBURG

JIMMY SCHISSELLILY MASON

MAIN TOPICS:COMMUNICATIONRELATIONSHIPS

BEHAVIORAL CHANGES IN ADOLESCENTS

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDSTEACHER PERSPECTIVES

BULLYING

COMMUNICATION

In the nineteenth century people came calling, in the twentieth century they phoned, and now preteens communicate on the Internet. They type to each other fast as thirty-dollar-an-hour secretaries (except that secretaries can spell), one instant-message box on the screen for each conversation:

Wus^.NMJC

RELATIONSHIPS

Sometimes the stars converge and a boy and girl actually go out. “Out,” these first times, would better be described as “in,” either because of

discomfort or lack of opportunities. A few awkward phone calls, a lot of empty instant-messaging, a mildly flirtatious note or two, a slow dance at the

school social, no kisses, no dates. Still, the elation could be immense, and the heartbreak inevitable,

rejection being the most miserable thing imaginable.

RELATIONSHIPS—BOYS AND GIRLS

It seems like everyone is ganging up on me these days and taking sides, like I’m a nobody,” one

seventh grader says. “Like, one day we’ll be really cool and hanging out, and the next day one of them is all mad at me for saying the wrong thing.” God, this sort of thing drives Ms. Thomas nuts. “Best friends one day and the next day they hate each

other. And the girls just don’t let it go. Boys, if they have an issue, they get it out and it’s over. Girls, it

can linger for quite a while. So dramatic. Ugh.

BEHAVIORAL CHANGES IN ADOLESCENTS

Just like that, Jimmy has stopped sitting up in bed wondering about the universe. “I’m not that curious anymore,” he says. This, too, is part of the changes engulfing him as he enters adolescence. No

longer is pleasing his parents a major factor in the equation of how to spend his time. Just the contrary: For reasons he cannot figure out even while it’s happening—and not like he loves them any less—Jimmy, like his peers, finds great sport in contradicting

his mother and father.

Kids don’t dance face to face anymore. A boy approaches a girl from behind and grinds his groin against her butt. At school and church dances the chaperones act as freak cops. But at teen dance clubs like the one a half-hour away in suburban Baltimore where a few Wilde Lake kids have gone, children as young as eleven simulate sex on the dance floor as rappers bleat about oral gratification.

(87)

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

It’s no mystery to the staff that Eric’s home situation has a huge amount to do with his academic problems and

his behavior, and that worse problems could emerge soon if it

doesn’t improve.

TEACHER PERSPECTIVES

A teacher can give students a dozen opportunities to retake the quiz they bombed—Come in before school! At study hall! At lunch! After school!—and they won’t, either because they forget or because their time is too important to them. A child can be asked again and again

how her social studies project is coming, and she’ll say it’s done; then, the day before it’s due, she asks for help.

“Middle-school kids,” Ms. Thomas says, “have to move around. They have to be able to talk, they want to be engaged in what they’re

learning, and you really can’t do anything in the classroom for more than fifteen or twenty minutes without losing the class.” A teacher

learns at a middle school seminar to divide his class into four segments: the teacher speaking, the students speaking, the students

working alone, the students working in groups. When the teacher doesn’t make movement a priority, the students fidget.

BULLYING IN SCHOOLSDodge ball has been banned this year in the Howard County public

schools—too violent, too humiliating. In a way, middle school is a game of dodge ball, except instead of a red ball you avoid

annoying people.

Teasing is some people had their way, would become a federal crime. Brightly colored pamphlets tout efforts like the National Education

Association’s National Bullying Awareness Campaign; “bully proofing” schools is debated on the floors of Congress, with that

idea that bullying is why angry teens turn guns on their classmates; Miss America takes it up as her platform. Just like

with sexual harassment, schools teach prevention.

Lily has been pleading with Mia to do an act together at the outdoor-ed talent show, and even though they did one last year, Mia says no way. “This is middle school,” she says. “People look for the

littlest thing to pick you apart.”

BULLYING IN SCHOOLS

WHAT’S THE WORST THEY CAN SAY?

Gay. Used to describe an activity, say, or a book, it’s a simple synonym for “lame.” Used to describe a person, it’s the biggest insult in the male middle-school lexicon. If someone called you gay, a boy this age figures it would be even more upsetting

than if he spied on you in the shower or pulled your pants down or even made you touch him. A boy

knows he can’t deviate or he’s a “fag.” Not being a fag preoccupies him. Being normal preoccupies

him.

BULLYING IN SCHOOLS

THOUGHTS

The section of the brain where thoughts about notes and gymnastics jackets once resided is now occupied

by thoughts about themselves.

There came a time when it was no longer okay to be nice………..

THEN THIS HAPPENS……..

DID THEY DO ENOUGH?

THAT’S WHAT THEY ALWAYS SAYEDUCATE

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