Not Much Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers
Publication Type:
Web ArticleYear of Publication:
2003Abstract:
Cossondra George, a Michigan teacher, says that, “following a group of students at Wilde Lake Middle School during an entire school year, Perlstein takes a brutally honest look into the lives of this unique set of youth.” She interviews and follows individual students.
Citation: Perlstein, L. (2003). Not much just chillin’: The hidden lives of middle schoolers. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Full Text:
by Linda Perlstein
2003 (304 pages/hardback)
Farrar Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374208824
$24.00
Reviewed by Cossondra George
Newberry Middle School
Newberry, MI
"There's nothing to be scared of in middle school," the teacher said, "except all the teachers, and half the students."
Such is the wisdom of being a middle school teacher, according to Linda Perlstein in her new book, Not Much Just Chillin': The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers. Following a group of students at Wilde Lake Middle School during an entire school year, Perlstein takes a brutally honest look into the lives of this unique set of youth.
"Middle school pulls in children and pitches back teenagers." Parents and teachers are often amazed by the transformation these adolescents experience between 11 and 14, the middle school years. Perlstein points out, though, that the youths themselves are often as shocked as anyone else about the changes their bodies, minds, and souls endure. They have the "desire" to be both adult and childlike, at the same time, with traits such as mood shifts, short attention spans, clumsiness, and defiance marking the transition.
By introducing the reader to a full cast of characters, Perlstein gives a wonderful overview of the diversity in this age group.
We meet Mia who is popular, but does not always realize the power this affords her. Mia unwittingly manipulates her following of girls through a complex social hierarchy.
Our introduction to Eric, whose biggest struggle is the lack of stability in his family, shows the impact a middle schooler's home life has on school. His study skills class tells him a "well-lit place to study each day" is critical to his success, but even Eric can understand that "having at least one person in your family who consistently takes an interest in you and your schoolwork" has much more to do with school achievement than where he completes his assignments.
Elizabeth's parents, who are realistic about their daughter and the changes she is experiencing, struggle with the appropriate level of involvement when Elizabeth has teacher relationship problems. Elizabeth feels everyone is out to get her, even declaring the lunch monitor as singling her out. She declares, "She doesn't pick on anyone else the way she picks on me."
Perlstein's words of wisdom on Elizabeth's proclamation: "This is the unanimous complaint of middle schoolers, a scientific impossibility."
My favorite character was Lily, a smart talented young lady who flits from decision to decision almost like a butterfly in a field of wildflowers. She cannot commit to a new friendship with Beth with whom she has much in common, because Mia is more popular, and just being around Mia affords her more social opportunity. Her struggles with friendships and clothes and parents and life, seem so typical of the seventh graders in my math classes.
Aside from interviewing the wide cast of characters, Perlstein points out such insights of middle school as for a middle school boy, being called gay is the "biggest insult in the male middle school lexicon," worse even than having your pants pulled down or being made to touch another male. Bullying takes many such forms but the most prevalent in middle school is exclusion from a group. The large popular group takes on the role of the bully, as one large entity, with those at the lower ranks suffering at their mercies.
Perlstein offers sound advice for parents and educators in how to make these emotionally charged years less traumatic. Ideally, middle schools would offer students the opportunity to think and create, while collaborating on real-life projects on which they have input in designing. Teachers would make lessons hands-on and relevant. They would also realize that in the world of reality for most of their students, schoolwork takes a far back seat to friends and relationships, family, and social commitments.
Advice to parents gives ideas on the appropriate level of involvement in school work and social lives, looks at brain development research on how video games, forgetfulness, and moodiness all tie together to create young adults, and offers comfort that parents are not alone in this difficult journey through adolescence.
Perlstein has captured the very essence of "middle-schoolness" through her winding tales interspersed with sound scientific practices and analogies. As the reader becomes more involved with the characters, you can't help but feel the pain, the joy, and the frustration, but you come away from the book understanding more than ever, that often the journey for these adolescents requires the roadblocks and side trails adults often seek to eliminate. Without those obstacles, it really isn't middle school after all.
It is almost as if middle school is a play: the students are the characters, the adults in their lives are the stagehands, and the director has gone home early. While the characters on stage are whom the audience sees, the back stage folks are just as critical to the ultimate success of the play. As the Wilde Lake principal points out, "You just ever know who you're getting through to. That's middle school for you."
