| ||||
|
|
||||
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
A changing realityIssues facing high school students have changed in last several decades
CNN Correspondent Brian Palmer visited his old high school a few days after a California high school freshman was accused of shooting classmates, killing two. Palmer found that the building and some of the teachers were familiar. But he also discovered how 19 years had transformed the cliques and classes at his alma mater. TEANECK, New Jersey (CNN) -- Marc Gruber, my social studies teacher twenty-something years ago, doesn't recognize me when I walk into his classroom at Teaneck High School. The years have changed us -- particularly our hairlines.
The castle-like school building looks much like it did when I graduated in 1982. And nearly 90 percent of its graduates still continue their education with 65 percent of graduating seniors heading to four-year colleges. Other things, like Gruber and I, are different. Teaneck High is a four-year school instead of three. The student body has grown by 200 to 1,500 kids. And classes, at 85 minutes, are 40 minutes longer. But it's the student body that reflects the effects of time. The Gay/Straight Alliance, the Student Organization of Latin Awareness, Students Opposed to Prejudice and AIDS Awareness are listed among clubs for future homemakers, debaters and jazz musicians. My classmates were either black or white. But during my visit I watched a Muslim girl wearing a headscarf brush past a group of Jewish students dressed in costumes for a Purim carnival. Principal Joe White, an educator for 34 years, says the students haven't really changed that much.
"They want to be successful, they want to do well and that has not changed," he said. "The world has changed in terms of technology, in terms of what youngsters are exposed to. They're exposed to more." Yet, teens these days face an astonishing array of challenges, more than I encountered while growing up in the '70s and '80s. They tackle AIDS, the Internet and bloody strings of highly-publicized school shootings -- in communities like Jonesboro, Arkansas, Paducah, Kentucky, Littleton, Colorado, and, earlier this month, Santee, California. English teacher Alice Twombly, who graduated from Teaneck High School 40 years ago, says she sees a difference in the students. "They're language has coarsened," Twombly said. "I think they speak more aggressively, and I think the aggressive speech translates into more aggressive behavior." But not necessarily dangerous or violent behavior, she adds. Talking to these teens, I'm struck by their ability to respond to my questions, as if they talk to reporters all the time. They don’t. But they have grown up watching TV and surfing the Internet. I ask about peer pressure, racial tension and get polite, camera-ready answers. "Racism is not a problem at this school," says one student. "You have to be happy with who you are," another chimes in. A few minutes into the conversation, one girl punctures the balloon: "People call me the rich white girl," she says. Others acknowledge that upperclassmen sometimes pick on freshman.
They speak frankly about conflicts between haves, who "rock" the latest fashionable clothing, and the have-nots. They talk about pressure to get into college. And they talk about school violence, in particular Columbine and Santee. A couple of the students I talked to say they think it could happen in Teaneck. Most say it couldn't and cite factors like the many forums kids have to communicate, the high level of teacher involvement and the difficulty obtaining guns. They sound more like teens when they open up, just more worldly than I was at 14. Stanley Zak, who teaches a course in Television Production, was my homeroom teacher in 1982. He ascribes their worldliness to our culture. It "is forcing teenagers to try to make these life-defining decisions at a very early age." RELATED STORIES: Education secretary: Guns not to blame in shootings RELATED SITE: Teaneck High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
