Ok. There’s nothing to make you feel old like hearing a 13 year-old say the hottest fashion trend in middle school is one that was hot when you were in middle school, "like, a thousand years ago." And one you thought would never, ever, ever come back:
Legwarmers? Really?
But, hey, fashion trends come and go and come back again. The same could be said for educational trends, except that when I was in middle school ("like, a thousand years ago") we never had study hall for 45-90 minutes a day in a library with 70 other kids, or on the gym floor with 120 other kids. (Full disclosure: I am a recent Massachusetts transplant. I went to middle school in Oregon.)
Students at the William Galvin Middle School in Canton are essentially sitting idle for up to an hour and a half a day. These massive study halls, which can take up more than 20% of instructional time, are a result of several waves of staffing cuts Principal Tom LaLiberty has had to make in the past three years.
The result: not enough teachers to fill classes. LaLiberty felt the only option was to use the free time for study halls. It could be worse. North Reading Middle School dismisses students and shuts down the school entirely on Wednesdays after mid-day.
The Canton study halls are supposed to be silent, studious, and serious. But these are 7th and 8th graders:
Kid-consensus seemed fairly universal in the two study halls I visited. Seventh graders in the library (there were almost 60 in the study hall I saw) said the "studies sucked" but, they’re "better than class."
The eighth graders agreed. They often have their study halls in the gym, sitting on the floor, against the walls. There were 132 in the cafeteria when I dropped by. Two haggard teachers tried to supervise. There wasn’t much studying going on. There was mostly talking, and talking, and talking…
Yes, I love America’s Next Top Model. It was hard not to talk about it, ok? But the serious reporter in me couldn’t help being a little sad as well. Sitting for almost an hour with no supervision and little to do is hard for anybody. For middle schoolers it’s nearly impossible. They’re bursting with energy and emotion. Their bodies are changing every day. They can’t contain themselves. There was so much motion and chaos in the cafeteria study hall, I was exhausted by the end of it.
Should this be time spent in a class instead? Can study halls be counted as time in learning as mandated by the state? ("Structured" study halls do count as time in learning, but let’s face it, with 130 kids and two teachers, these study halls were unstructured.) Is this the best option for students at Galvin Middle School?
I understand the "do what you can with what you have" line of thinking that many voters have. With wages stagnating, an economy in contraction (if not outright recession), a falling dollar, rising food and fuel costs, almost everyone is feeling the squeeze. The situation at Galvin Middle School may just be another barometer of our current economic climate. More than one voter said the school, like regular families, has to put its head down and soldier on until times get better.
I hear that. Yet, I also hear what other voters told me. They wondered what the "warehousing" of middle school students in study hall says about the basic values of the town of Canton. Others wondered if the core beliefs of the town and country had permanently changed. There was a head-shaking despair among those voters who said that if the $4.49 million override does not pass, the basic character of the town, and what it means to live in Canton will have changed. More than one person said, "no kidding", when I asked them about a recent poll where 81% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
So, in the mosh pit atmosphere of the middle school study hall, I witnessed the reality of the override question, but not necessarily the answer. Here is where abstract economic policy intersects with fiscal reality. Here is where globalization intersects with local life. Here is where historical precedent intersect with current outcomes. Here is where values intersect, and clash, with values. Here is where choices have to be made.
