The Students are Watching by Theodore Sizer

Author:Theodore Sizer [Sizer, Theodore R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8070-9571-3
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 1999-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

SORTING STARTS early in life: prenatally, even, when one’s mother eats well or abuses alcohol during the pregnancy. Once a child is born, the story is about careful or careless child tending, good or bad nutrition, welcoming or frightening schools. When the time comes to choose one’s high school, each student has more or fewer options depending on his record, his wealth, the part of the country he lives in. Even where there are several options, she has probably already developed a pattern of decision-making in which more or fewer factors are taken into account. The way the choice of high schools is made usually has a large influence on its outcome. Some students make the decision themselves after considerable research and self-knowledge; others move along with the crowd; still others do what their parents think they should do. Some kids are happy enough to admit that their parents were right; others put a lot of energy into proving them wrong.

Even after a high school is chosen, more sorting needs to goon before a student feels comfortable in it. Another cafeteria we visit serves a small city’s only high school. In some ways, it would be the answer to Tom’s prayers: no choice needed. It is a friendly place which enrolls some 1800 students. The clatter and chatter are overwhelming, but charming in their way. There is a noisy air of good feelings. A few teachers on “cafeteria duty” hang around, chatting with each other or with clots of students at a particular table. The rest of the teachers share a glassed-in alcove, the faculty dining room.

The food lines are off to the side. There is variety from which to choose, a series of outposts of well-known fast food marts. Burger King. A fried chicken outlet and one for pizza. There is a salad bar, a magnet for girls and faculty members. Marriott provides the traditional fare. Kids on “free or reduced lunch,” compliments of the federal government, must use that line. Sorting occurs even here.

Closer observation of all this happy hubbub tells us more. There is a sociology to the long eating tables, each served by individual metal stools levered from under the table top. There are several distinct groups, each one totally engrossed in its own world. After a morning ranging over a large high school, these lunch friends make the cafeteria feel like home. Over there to our left is an overcrowded table made up entirely of younger white girls, all talking at once. Ninth graders from South Middle School, we are told. Over here is a table of three distinct groups: some younger black boys, a mix of kids whom a teacher identified as track enthusiasts, and some older, noisy black kids, male and female.

In the middle is a quiet table of youngsters eating alone or in pairs. On the corner are what a teacher called the beautiful people, regal and assured older kids, conservatively dressed, largely but not exclusively white. It is with them, and

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