October
is the Month of the Young Adolescent
October is the Month of the Young Adolescent,
an annual international collaborative effort of education, health, and
youth-oriented organizations. Initiated
by National Middle School Association (NMSA, now the AMLE -- Association for Middle Level Education), the Month of the Young Adolescent
brings together a wide range of organizations to focus on the needs of this
important age range, ages 10 to 15. The
key messages for the celebration are: 1)
The importance of parents being knowledgeable about young adolescents and being
actively involved in their lives; 2) The understanding that healthy bodies plus
healthy minds equal healthy young adolescents; 3) The realization that the
education young adolescents experience during this formative period of life
will, in large measure, determine the future for all citizens; and 4) The
knowledge that every young adolescent should have the opportunity to pursue his
or her dreams and aspirations, and post-secondary education should be a
possibility for all.
For the most part, the general public has lacked an adequate understanding of youth in the transition period between childhood and adolescence. As a result, young adolescents often have been "growing up forgotten." The English language contains no single word for this life stage, having only the terms infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood to designate periods of life. Yet it is during the period of early adolescence, generally between the ages of 10 and 15, when young people leave childhood and move toward full adolescence that they make major decisions about their values, standards, attitudes, and personal beliefs. Many of these decisions direct their behavior throughout their lives.
Working together, we can highlight the need for strong educational partnerships among the school, parents, students, and community members so that every 10- to 15-year-old will have the opportunity to become all he or she can and should become. That’s why October has been declared Month of the Young Adolescent, and why everyone in a community should ask, “How can I help a young adolescent reach his or her potential?” This collaborative approach continues to be important to the success of this initiative because it will take all of us working together to make a real difference in the lives of 10- to 15-year-olds. We invite you to join with us in this important initiative. The young adolescents with whom we work and live on a daily basis deserve our best efforts if each is to have the chance to become all he or she can and should be. Together, we can make a difference ... to insure a bright future for all young adolescents.
Most of the ideas above emphasize the thought that we are a
team: parents, community, and
school. We have to work together in
order to insure all students succeed; it is an essential key to that success. One which will reap major rewards for all
constituents: parents, school,
community, and especially, the students themselves.
This blog isn’t much from me, but I am a person
who feels that there are many times when people can say it better than I
can. In that vein, I will finish with an
article excerpt from Richard W. Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education. It is worth noting because it discusses the
role of adult figures in the ever changing lives of middle school aged
children. The complete article and many
others can be found at the website of the Association for Middle Level Education, http://www.amle.org/
.
“Pay Attention to
Our Adolescents”
“Young people grow up fast these days and adolescents are
making critical choices about their lives and what they hope to become. The gawky eighth grader who is struggling to
define who he or she wants to be may decide to be a high school dropout by the
tenth grade or may realize that going on to college is much more rewarding. If ever there was a time to pay attention to
our children, it is in these middle years. For that reason, I believe it is absolutely
essential that every student have a parent, a counselor, or a caring adult
mentor who can help guide them as they make important choices about their
present and their future. Growing up is
full of pushes and pulls, stops and starts, and detours along the way. The middle school years are the starting point
for this unique phase of our children’s lives. Kids try out new versions of themselves,
experiment, stop, start and go in other directions, and certainly test
boundaries. Adults have an important
role to play during this intense period when growing up takes place in so many
different ways. We need to ‘hang in
there,’ despite all the ups and downs and trials and tribulations that occur
during the adolescent years. Parents who
have attended countless PTO meetings during the elementary years have a
tendency to cut back when students get to those middle years. The truth of the matter is that parents need
to be just as much of an active presence in the lives of their children during
these transition years and stay involved in school activities. Above all, parents, educators, and other
adults need to help children develop a value system that allows them to make
healthy and smart choices about who they are and what they hope to become.”
Thank you,
M. R. Geoghegan
