Deferred but not deterred: A middle school manifesto

Abstract

Before providing a historical perspective on the middle level movement, examining its past successes and failures, and envisioning future improvements, I must declare my great admiration for our public schools. Although I am critical of certain recent developments, I believe that when historians look back on our civilization, they will point to our public school systems as America's greatest achievement. And today, in a climate of accountability, it is simply not fair nor appropriate to label public schools in the United States as failures. Schools and teachers have been and still are America's greatest resource for good. What would we do without them? Public schools in the United States evolved without benefit of a master plan. The elementary, secondary, and collegiate levels developed rather independently of one another. Elementary schools were not established first, and young men attended colleges such as Harvard long before we organized public secondary schools. America's school systems developed piecemeal over time and are still very much works in progress. By the late 1800s, however, many states had organized elementary schools and high schools in an 8–4 pattern that would become the standard as our country began to put its revolutionary vision of education for all American youth into practice. The still relatively young middle school movement is part of the larger reorganization initiative that led to the creation of the junior high school in the first decade of the last century. The following four statements highlight relevant developments since then. Exactly 100 years have passed since the Indianola Junior High School, generally acknowledged as the first junior high school, was established in Columbus, Ohio, in 1909. In 1946, 37 years after the junior high school was introduced, the 6-3-3 pattern of school organization became the predominant pattern in the United States, replacing the 8–4 plan. In 1963, William Alexander, speaking at Cornell University, first advanced the term "middle school. " This event, 46 years ago and just 17 years after the junior high school had become majority practice, is commonly used to mark the beginning of the middl