Education

‘Class Of 2025′ episode 5: Boys ‘Fall Apart’ in middle school

By Elizabeth Miller (OPB)
Dec. 21, 2020 6:22 p.m.

When it comes to middle school, male students tend to have a harder time than female students. Why?

composite image of school photos from all children in the project, showing their kindergarten photo next to their current photo.

OPB's Class Of 2025 project has been documenting the growth of 27 students who started school together in Southeast Portland for 8 years.

Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

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“I feel like a lot of people in middle school, because of the way they have to adapt so suddenly from elementary school, it can leave a high amount of people stressed,” says Johnathan, one of the Class Of 2025 students we’ve been following.

Middle school is different from elementary. It’s more strict, and succeeding in school takes more effort.

At the same time, students are going through changes socially, emotionally and physically. For boys, puberty tends to start later than it does for girls — in the middle of middle school. What effect does that have on differences between boys’ and girls’ learning and behavior? And how much do gender roles play into it?

“Class Of 2025” is a six-episode podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting. The podcast is hosted and produced by OPB’s Elizabeth Miller with editing and production by Rob Manning and Elyssa Dudley. Episodes are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR One app, and at opb.org.

The Class Of 2025 podcast was made possible with support from the Education Writers’ Association Reporting Fellowship.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:

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