Full Podcast Response on Middle School

I don’t know what it is about the middle school episode of This American Life, but it seems that everybody is able to connect with this episode. I think this happens for a couple reasons. 1) As far as I know, everybody went through middle school and it was only a couple of years ago. Therefore, we can all look back and remember a lot of little details from middle school that lets say a 40 year old wouldn’t be able to remember. 2) Middle school was a very important time because it was really when everybody started to grow up. It was that huge transition period between elementary school and high school (two completely different things). This transition is what caused the problems and laughs of middle school because everybody took this switch into the teen years at different paces – some people more mature then others, some people focused on sports or school or girls/boys or drugs. There were so many possibilities that none of us had ever experience. Stuff completely new to us. Didn’t know what to expect. Didn’t know what to do. And look what happened as a result: Middle School.

The podcast starts with Annie who is a little unsure of herself, which definitely is common in middle school. She doesn’t want to put her name out because of all the bullying and making fun of that could happen if anybody catches wind of her talking on the radio. However, she seems to express the same feeling that everyone has: middle school is just awkward and no one really enjoys it.

Probably my favorite part of the podcast is what follows Annie’s session: Middle School Dances. Once again, no one really knows what to expect or even what to do at a middle school dance because we had never done anything like it before. This uncertainty is progressed even more by the interviews of various middle school students. Ethan is afraid that he won’t know how to dance correctly, and as a result, he doesn’t slow dance with anyone. 5 different guys asked Autumn to the dance. However, instead of saying yes to one guy, she gives all the guys an “I don’t know,” leaving them in a state of befuddled hopefulness.  Also, the 20-minute middle school relationships are classic. They show the kids as having a elevated aggressive amusement with "love" but it is very far from pragmatic. 

Overall, the bleak pessimism that the kids exude through their unsureness about middle school underscores the negative influence that middle school has on young teenagers.