Commentary from Dr. Curtis Branch: Adolescent development among students of color and implications for public secondary school practitioners.

Interview with Dr. Curtis Branch

Dr. Curtis W. Branch, Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice in New Jersey, Author of Clinical Interventions with Gang Adolescents and Their Families, and served as Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Clinical and Counseling Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University and Co-Director of the Center for Urban Youth in New York City.

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Lancer: As you go about your work with adolescents in public schools, especially those who may be gang affiliated, what have you found to be their greatest frustration with public schools? Based on your observation and analysis, how would you describe their greatest frustration with traditional public schools? How do the students respond as a result?

Branch: Many adolescents complain that much of what happens in the classroom is “boring.”?It is often not clear to me if they are complaining about the subject matter or the pedagogical techniques of the teacher. An additional possibility that emerges is that the boring description that they are referencing is a statement about how they are feeling emotionally. Of course one way of establishing with certainty what is being described is to invite students to “share” what they are thinking and feeling (making certain to distinguish the two). My experience has been that when students complain about subject matter being boring they are talking about not getting a fresh or contemporary look at canonical ideas or that old material is not being given a new face even while maintaining its educational value. An example of this might be teaching about the generation of the 60s and failing to connect the Vietnam War, Black is Beautiful, and shifts in migration patterns within the United States. A bigger and perhaps more pervasive issue arises from students statements about being “bored” when they are describing their own emotional state. This introduces the idea of student mental health. “Bored” is often a code word that many adolescents use as a synonym for clinical depression. The incidence of affective dysregulation among adolescents is increasing, especially subsequent to the COVID 19 Pandemic. Consideration of an intensified mental health canvass and consultation model is an idea whose time has come!

Lancer: Given these experiences and frustration with traditional public schools, what would secondary school practitioners need to do in order to create safe and supportive learning context for students?

Branch: Safe and supportive learning contexts for students can be created by community partnerships and dialogues. The essential ingredients necessary to meet the conditions of safe and supportive are that everyone who is a stakeholder in the school community will have a valued voice in helping to shape it. So doing will give rise to a sense of collective ownership and therefore an investment in wanting the outcome to be positive. I think school practitioners could benefit from creating different ways of having conversations about what matters to the members of a school community. Regular “open microphone” type of meetings, to elicit statements of what is important, would be an ideal way to start. It should be stressed that the open microphone forums could be the catalyst for shaping the behavior of all participants by insisting that all speakers are respectful of others. In addition the open microphone could be followed with workgroups (student, staff, and teachers) that will develop plans for ideas introduced in the open microphone sessions. Parallel to “hearing” from everyone school practitioners could also spend time thinking about/analyzing what is the basic idea(s) behind the articulated ideas.

Lancer: When you think about your work and adolescent development, what are you most concerned about and that most needs to change in public high schools for adolescent students of color in order to experience a more socially and psychologically supportive learning environment?

Branch: Teacher attitudes and level of preparation regarding adolescent development are vitally important for creating a supportive learning environment. My recent experiences have caused me to reflect on what teachers appear to need in order to increase their effectiveness with adolescents, especially adolescents of color. Two or three findings have emerged: 1. The need for constant checking of one’s frame of reference to make certain that deficit model thinking is not central in formulating attitudes about the nature of adolescence itself 2.) A need for fresh and contemporary ideas about the limits of adolescence (i.e., it is more than the teenage years!) 3.) An awareness of societal changes that attributes new demand characteristics to adolescence. All of that leads me to frequently ponder when and how do teachers arrive at conclusions about what adolescents need in order to have an optimal learning environment. For example, the recent legalization of the recreational use of marijuana, by adults, has set up interesting dynamics in many communities. A big question that I have recently posed to many school personnel is how this issue gets/does not get positioned in discussions within the classroom. Or, is it off limits, for no apparent reason, other than it has a historic taboo.

I am most concerned that issues of daily and social engagement that confront many adolescents are not integrated into the larger curriculum of schools. Do social issues such as smoking marijuana get addressed in a systematic way that will help adolescents make good and well- informed decisions about the topic or are the issues simply not addressed? I think the issue of not directly addressing the socially compelling issues such as marijuana smoking should be addressed. (i.e., Let’s talk about why we don’t talk about).

Jared R. Lancer ? Copyright 2022