Development of NHS Students

[Anonymous]

The students at NHS S120 are going through what Erikson would call “Identity vs Role Confusion” stage. Spontaneous acts such as engaging in conversation with one another or attempting to draw attention to oneself to “prove oneself”, which might be more frequent in elementary school or middle school students going through the “industry vs. inferiority” stage, are much less frequent, and all students seem to reside in an almost “cocoon-like” bubble, surrounded by an oddly inapproachable atmosphere that only the veterans are able to penetrate.  This bubble feels like a protective layer, or an insulation from the possible unexpectedness that might arise from engaging in any sort of interaction with the members of the classroom. In a period of life where each day seems to pose a different storm, retreating to the world of their mobile phones where they have “full control” of what they consume cannot be more attractive.

The reason that these students are in S120 in the first place, is because in some way or another they need some help to excel at school. However, rarely did students ask questions to the TAs first. Only after being approached by the TAs several times did some of them open up about their confusions. The most frequent response the TAs got was ‘I got it.’ But can we trust their words entirely? Would it be more beneficial for them to experience a failure themselves and realize they need to change some things, or for a TA or a teacher to guide them a priori, based on their previous understanding of the student’s performance? When is it the right time for the teacher to intervene and actually sit down with the student even if he/she says “I’m fine?” It is a delicate question of balance, but from what I see, teachers and TAs at S120 mostly provided minimal guidance, if not otherwise explicitly asked for help. For example, during my period, there was one student who was working extensively with Sam, an AmeriCorp TA, on some math homework. But this happened only because the student explicitly asked for help.

The reason I ask this question is that I believe not completing their work to their best effort could also be part of the “role-confusion” crisis that the students are going through. To a high schooler, perhaps team sports, friendships, or even romantic partnerships, and many other ‘roles’ that they play on a daily basis, could pose a significant psychological energy deficit, which might lead to lessened motivation or just simply, lack of energy. These roles are necessary to explore oneself in different settings and are synthesized in order to form one’s “identity” –but also, there is only so much energy that one can spend on each of these responsibilities. When one becomes older, I think he/she becomes more conscious of their energy levels and starts pruning out unimportant roles while strengthening others, but for most teenagers, this is not something that they seem particularly aware of. From my own experience too, I only realized these things after I came to college. Of course, there are individual discrepancies in the timing and degree, but from what I observed, this was a common trend for the students at S120.

In terms of Marcia’s status extension to Erikson’s theory, I think I fall in between moratorium and identity achievement. I would say I have experienced a fair amount of identity crises throughout college especially in terms of my future plans and career, but now I have a pretty solid understanding of what I want to become, and am currently focused on a path to achieving this goal. Obviously, in other aspects of my life too, especially when it comes to religion and political stance, there are many crises that still arise, particularly in my relationship with my family, but these crises do not take me by storm anymore, and I am learning to cope with them more wisely. I mentioned this during my group discussion, that maturity and ‘identity achievement’ for me are not necessarily synomous with “having it all figured out” — it is also about learning how to cope with crises when they do come, and not letting them get to me too much. I can be shaken, but with a strong foundation of my beliefs, I am less likely to be toppled over.

As for the students that I’m observing, I could tell that some of them are going through the moratorium stage, as although seemingly tranquil, the constant exposure to the media and school material would not be so forgiving of their “foreclosed” or “identity diffused” tendencies if they happen to have them. Everything is subject to change. And this I believe is the beauty of teenage years. Although right now studies is part of their most central chaos, soon they will realize that all that was for good, and that their identity achievement owes in part to these uncertainties both devastating and exhilarating.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by admin.

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