It was cool to see my 11 year-old deal with discomfort as he walked into his new school for Open House last night.
It was due time, IMO, for him to shake off the complacency of having spent the last eight years (PPK, VPK, K-5th grades) at the same elementary school. Even the most ambitious little ones can develop a ho-hum mentality in the same building, with the same kids, walking the same halls for nearly a decade.
Not only was I impressed with my son facing his mild anxiety, I walked away generally encouraged with the direction our schools seem to be going.
The Good
First things first, the energy that radiates from a teacher in front of a new crop of kids and parents is palpable and impressive. Man, that job is ridiculously more and more difficult – and these saints among us sign up to do it each year with very little (or no) reward to do so. I have so much respect for teachers who, after having a few summer months to regroup, charge back into a long school year with a decorated room, crisp agenda, and a rejuvenated willingness to deal with all of us.
Next, having just read “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt, a book that links pre-teen and teen cell phone and social media usage to heightened mental anguish, it is clear that schools are trying to figure out how to limit the interruption of phones in the classroom. This is no small feat. Several states, in fact, are attempting to pass legislation aimed at prohibiting phone use at school. Enforcement, though, will always fall on the teacher’s shoulders.
As we passed in and out of each classroom, teachers harped on the need to have kids store their phones in their backpacks during school hours. I love the idea of no phone usage but, as I scanned the room, I did not detect that was met well with many of the parents around me.
Just like we saw firsthand at Open House, all schools will have to convince both kids and parents that limits to phone usage during school hours is a great thing. The automatic objection (from kids and parents) will be emergencies which, I’d argue, is a hallow argument completely.
Parents of middle schoolers and above need to pay attention to cell phone policies and hold the schools, kids, and each other accountable – whether it is a full “no phone” policy or free range or something in-between. Based on what I’m seeing and hearing, I’d expect schools (especially pre-high school) to attempt to drastically limit phone usage while in the building.
I love it.
There is another form of technology, though related to phone usage, that schools are obviously trying to curtail – earbuds. Wired, USB headphones were required and anything wireless was strictly forbidden at our school. I’m not sure if this is a cheating thing, or a distraction thing, a phone prevention thing, or just an annoyance, but I like the school attacking trending distractions for kids head on. Enforcement, though, remains to be seen.
The Not So Good
As with most parenting things, the Open House wasn’t all roses for me. A few aspects of teacher introductions I did find to be a bit, well, underwhelming.
First, communicating with teachers is completely fragmented. One teacher uses the district’s online platform, another uses the “Remind” app, another wants a direct email coupled with a 24-hour response window (“because the portal can delay message”). My head spins figuring out how to communicate with each teacher, if necessary. I believe I heard four different communication methods in six classrooms.
Can the school agree on one?
My last gripe percolated as I passed numerous lines of zip-tied lockers in the school hallways.
Lockers, it seems, went away during COVID and have never returned for any level of education. No lockers in elementary, middle, or high school anymore. (I know I’ve written about this before)
I hate it.
There is nothing better for kids than hanging out face-to-face without adult intervention. There is really no natural venue to do that at school anymore. There is a courtyard at school, there is a breakfast/lunch area, there are the bike racks – but they are all supervised and mandated by rules. Not to mention, how cool was it to decorate your locker back in the day?
So many school memories are falling by the wayside because their lockers are now relics.
Despite these “get off my lawn” complaints, I walked away from the middle school Open House encouraged with what I saw – from the teachers, with the school policies, and in my little guy’s enthusiasm for jumping out of his comfort zone and into a new environment.
Now…to make that zest last for the next 10 months! Here we go.
