What does our knowledge of adolescents imply about school? As you have read, adolescents are capable of deep and wide-ranging thought, no longer limited by concrete experience, yet they are often egocentric, intuitive, and impulsive.

Education is crucial for later life, but the quality of schooling matters. A year of school can propel thinking forward or can have little impact: What matters is how much learning occurs, not how much time has elapsed (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2015).

Consequently, educators, developmentalists, political leaders, and parents wonder exactly which curricula and school structures are best for 11- to 18-year-olds. There are dozens of options: academic knowledge/vocational skills, single-sex/coed, competitive/cooperative, large/small, public/private, religious/secular, and more.

No single school structure or style of pedagogy seems best for everyone. Various scientists, nations, schools, and teachers try many strategies, some based on opposite but logical hypotheses.

Secondary education—traditionally grades 7 through 12—denotes the school years after elementary or grade school (known as primary education) and before college or university (known as tertiary education).

Adults are healthier and wealthier if they complete secondary school. This is true within nations and between them, for people of every ethnicity, gender, and SES. Even something seemingly unrelated to education—cigarette smoking by European American adults—is almost three times more common among those with no high school diploma than those with some college (41 to 15 percent) (National Center for Health Statistics, 2014).

In many nations, two levels of secondary education are provided, once called senior high and junior high. As the average age of puberty declined, middle schools were created for grades 6 to 8, and sometimes for grades 5 to 8.

Moving from primary to middle school is stressful, because teachers, classmates, and expectations all change during a developmental period considered especially crucial for learning (McGill et al., 2012). Many developmentalists find middle schools to be “developmentally regressive” (Eccles & Roeser, 2010, p. 13), which means learning goes backward at the very time it could speed up.

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For example, a longitudinal study of primarily European American students found a decline in school interests and grades from age 7 to 16, with a notable dip in the transition to middle school (Dotterer et al., 2009). A similar middle school decline in school engagement occurred in research on African American and Latino students (McGill et al., 2012; Hayes et al., 2015).

Indeed, students of every group tend to dislike middle school, for good reason. Bullying increases in middle school, particularly in the first year (Baly et al., 2014), and friendship with either sex is complicated by unfamiliar sexual urges. Students are less likely to have supportive adults, partly because young adolescents seek independence and partly because the school undercuts student–teacher relationships (Meece & Eccles, 2010) and discourages parent involvement.

Parents underestimate the stress of day-to-day social problems of many students in large schools, and they worry instead about rare events. For example, parents tend to fear school shootings, which actually are very rare—an adolescent is far more likely to be hurt at home, on the street, or in an after-school game than in school. Parents also fear that their child will be targeted by another child, but in fact 90 percent of injuries are accidental, usually caused by the student’s own impulsiveness (Amanullah et al., 2014).

Unlike primary school, where each classroom has one teacher all year, middle school teachers may have hundreds of students. Teachers become impersonal and distant, opposite to the direct, personal engagement that young adolescents need. Thankfully, some middle schools are organized to allow teachers to have fewer students (such as the same teacher instructing in English and history), but many more keep the old model.

Early signs of a future high-school dropout are visible in middle school, but most prevention measures are absent. For example, low-SES boys from minority ethnic groups are at risk of quitting school, yet few guidance counselors or teachers are African American or Hispanic American men. Given their egocentric and intuitive thinking, some students who see no successful, educated men as role models may decide that school is not for them (Morris & Morris, 2013).

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To pinpoint the developmental mismatch between students’ needs and the middle school context, note that just when egocentrism leads young people to feelings of shame or fantasies of stardom (the imaginary audience), schools typically require them to change rooms, teachers, and classmates every 40 minutes or so. That makes both public acclaim and supportive new friendships difficult to achieve.

Recognition for academic excellence or for conscientious work is especially elusive because middle school teachers assign marks more harshly than their primary school counterparts. Effort without accomplishment is not recognized, and achievement that earlier was “outstanding” is now only average.

Acclaim from after-school activities is also scarce, because many art, drama, dance, and other programs put adolescents of all ages together, and the younger students are not as skilled as older adolescents. Finally, athletic teams become competitive; those with fragile egos avoid them.

Many middle school students seek acceptance from their peers. Bullying increases, physical appearance becomes more important, status symbols are displayed (from gang colors to trendy sunglasses), expensive clothes are coveted, and sexual conquests are flaunted. Of course, much depends on the cultural context, but almost every middle school student seeks peer approval in ways that adults disapprove (Véronneau & Dishion, 2010).

COPING WITH MIDDLE SCHOOL One way to cope with stress is directly cognitive. Students may blame classmates, teachers, parents, or governments for problems, and that removes some anxiety, as well as some responsibility, from them.

This may explain the surprising results of a Los Angeles study: Students in schools that were more ethnically mixed felt safer and less lonely. It was not that they had more friends from other groups. Instead, if they felt alone or performed poorly, they could “attribute their plight to the prejudice of other people” rather than blame themselves (Juvonen et al., 2006, p. 398). Furthermore, members of each minority group tended to support and defend each other, giving everyone some ethnic allies.

Another way middle school students avoid failure is to quit trying. Then they can blame a low grade on their choice (“I didn’t study”) rather than on their ability. Pivotal is how they think of their potential, according to a series of studies inspired by Carol Dweck’s understanding that the interpretation of intellectual achievement is crucial, as already mentioned in Chapter 8.

If students have an entity theory of intelligence (i.e., that ability is innate, a fixed quantity present at birth), then they will conclude that nothing can be done to improve their academic skill. Thus, if they think they are innately incompetent at math, or reading, or whatever, they mask the self-assessment by claiming not to study, try, or care. Over the years of middle school, they learn less (Romero et al., 2014).

By contrast, if adolescents adopt the incremental theory of intelligence (i.e., that intelligence can increase if they work to master whatever they seek to understand), then they will pay attention, participate in class, study, complete their homework, and learn.

This is not hypothetical. In the first year of middle school, students with entity beliefs do not achieve much, whereas those with mastery motivation improve academically. This has been found in many nations, including Norway (Diseth et al., 2014), China (Zhao & Wang, 2014), and the United States (Burnette et al., 2013; Romero et al., 2014).

The contrast between the entity and incremental theories is also apparent for teachers, parents, schools, and cultures. If the hidden curriculum endorses competition among students and if class composition or curriculum conveys the message to some students that they are not “college material,” that is entity theory. Then students are less likely to study or help each other (Eccles & Roeser, 2011).

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International comparisons reveal that educational systems that track students into higher or lower classes, that expel low-achieving students, and that allow competition between schools for the brightest students (all reflecting entity, not incremental, theory) also show lower average achievement and a larger gap between the students at the highest and lowest score quartiles (OECD, 2011).

Many of the patterns and problems of middle school continue in high school, although with puberty over, adolescents are better able to cope. As we have seen, adolescents become increasingly able to think abstractly, analytically, hypothetically, and logically (all formal operational thought) as well as subjectively, emotionally, intuitively, and experientially. High school curricula and teaching methods often require the former mode.

THE COLLEGE-BOUND From a developmental perspective, the fact that high schools emphasize formal thinking makes sense, since many older adolescents are capable of abstract logic. Schools need to provide opportunities and encouragement for metacognition so that students can understand how to learn more.

In several nations, adults hope to raise standards so that all high school graduates will be ready for college. For that reason, U.S. schools are increasing the number of students who take classes that are assessed by externally scored exams, either the IB (International Baccalaureate) or the AP (Advanced Placement). Such classes satisfy some college requirements if the student scores well. More and more students take such classes: 33 percent of high school graduates did so in 2013, compared to 19 percent in 2003 (Adams, 2014).

In addition to mandated courses, 24 U.S. states now also require students to pass a high-stakes test in order to graduate. (Any exam for which the consequences of failing are severe is called a high-stakes test.) In 2000, no state had such a test as a graduation requirement. Because the more populous states more often have high-stakes tests, 74 percent of U.S. high school students must take exit exams before graduation.

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The worry, of course, is that raising standards and requiring a high-stakes test will discourage high school graduation. That does not seem to have happened, as graduation rates are slowly rising in the United States (see Figure 9.7).

COLLEGE FOR EVERYONE? In the United States, some (about 30 percent) high school graduates do not enter college. Moreover, of those who enter public community colleges, most (about three-fourths) do not complete their associate’s degree within three years, and almost half of those entering public or private four-year schools do not graduate. Some simply take longer, or they enter the job market first and complete the degree later. But even 10 years after the usual age for high school graduation, only 34 percent of U.S. young adults have earned a bachelor’s degree (Snyder & Dillow, 2013).

Internationally, students who do not attend college but instead take courses that explicitly prepare them for employment (combining academic classes and practical experience) get better-paying jobs than those given a general curriculum (Eichhorst et al., 2012). That does not usually happen in the United States: Students who decide to enter the job market typically leave school or college without explicit preparation.

One problem in the United States is that many parents and teachers believe that every student should graduate and then go on to college. Some adolescents resist adult pressure by failing. At the other extreme, many students with high grades and test scores do not enroll for reasons other than ability.

Encouragement and opportunity varies from place to place. That may explain why students who entered ninth grade with high achievement scores in two major cities in neighboring states (Albuquerque, New Mexico and Fort Worth, Texas) had markedly different rates of college enrollment (83 percent compared to 58 percent) (Center for Education Policy, 2012).

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The data present a dilemma. Suggesting that a student should not go to college may be racist, classist, sexist, or worse. On the other hand, many students who begin college do not graduate, so they lose time and gain debt when they could have advanced in a vocation. Everyone agrees that adolescents need to be educated for life as well as employment, but it is difficult to decide what that means.

MEASURING PRACTICAL COGNITION Employers usually provide on-the-job training, which is much more specific and current than what high schools provide. They hope their future employees will have learned in secondary school how to think, explain, write, concentrate, and get along with other people.

As one executive of Boeing (which hired 33,000 new employees in two years) wrote:

We believe that professional success today and in the future is more likely for those who have practical experience, work well with others, build strong relationships, and are able to think and do, not just look things up on the Internet.

[Stephens & Richey, 2013, p. 314]

Those skills are hard to measure, especially on national high-stakes tests or on the two international tests explained in Chapter 7, the PIRLS and the TIMSS.

A third set of international tests, the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), was designed to measure students’ ability to apply what they have learned. The PISA is taken by 15-year-olds, an age chosen because some 15-year-olds are close to the end of their formal school career. The questions are written to be practical, measuring knowledge that might apply at home or on the job.

For example, among the 2012 math questions on the PISA is this one:

Chris has just received her car driving license and wants to buy her first car. The table below shows the details of four cars she finds at a local car dealer.

What car’s engine capacity is the smallest?

A. Alpha  B. Bolte  C. Castel  D. Dezal

For that and the other questions on the PISA, the math is simple—most 10-year-olds can do it; no calculus, calculators, or complex formulas required. However, almost half of the 15-year-olds worldwide, including 20 percent in the top nations of Hong Kong and Singapore, got that question wrong. (The answer is D.)

One problem is decimals: Some students do not remember how to interpret them when a practical question, not an academic one, is asked. Another problem on this question is that distance traveled and price are irrelevant, yet many students are distracted by them.

Overall, the U.S. students perform lower on the PISA compared to many other nations. In the 2012 assessments, U.S. scores are markedly below 27 other educational systems, below the PISA average in science and math, and they are just about average in reading. International analysis finds that the following items correlate with high achievement (OECD, 2010, p. 4):

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The PISA and international comparisons of high-school dropout rates suggest that U.S. secondary education can be improved, especially for those who do not go to college. One complication is that adolescents themselves vary: Some are thoughtful, some are impulsive, some are analytic, some are egocentric. All of them need personal attention.

A study of student emotional and academic engagement from the fifth to the eighth grade found that, as expected, the overall average was a slow and steady decline of engagement, but a distinctive group (about 18 percent) were highly engaged throughout while another distinctive group (about 5 percent) experienced precipitous disengagement year by year (Li & Lerner, 2011). The 18 percent are likely to do well in high school; the 5 percent are likely to drop out. Schools and teachers need many strategies if they hope to reach every adolescent.

Now let us consider a general conclusion for this chapter. The cognitive skills that boost national economic development and personal happiness are creativity, flexibility, relationship building, and analytic ability. Whether or not an adolescent is college-bound, those skills are exactly what the adolescent mind can develop—with proper education and guidance.

Every cognitive theorist and researcher believes that adolescents’ logical, social, and creative potential is not always realized, but that it can be. Does that belief end this chapter on a hopeful note?