High School Dating Essay

Daven Trammell
November 11, 2010
Scott
English 2010

Because I am planning to be a high school teacher there are many things that I need to understand in order to do my job successfully. One of which will be understanding how teenage minds work. It is important for any person going into high school education to realize that high school dating, whether it is exclusively or openly, is a huge part of the teenage experience, and it affects many aspects of students’ lives. According to a survey done on Dixie State College students, everyone polled had taken part in high school dating. Imagine a scenario as a teacher: One student is very hardworking, happy and eager to learn; although, you can see that she does have a small self esteem problem. Then suddenly, she begins to miss class more and more often. Her test scores drop, her homework isn’t getting turned in, and she doesn’t smile much anymore. Come to find out she recently got a boyfriend that verbally abuses her adding to her already pretty low self esteem. What should the next step be? Those that plan to work in education with high school students need to understand the massive impact dating and relationships in high school have on students’ lives and why the negative transition seems to affect almost every other aspect of their futures.
Dating is a proven psychological need for most. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs directly depicts this. Dating potentially satisfies a person’s love and belonging needs. In order for a person to grow and progress with their life these needs must be satisfied, thus representing why people sometimes seem to throw every else in their lives away for that one seemingly special person.   Another need that dating could affect is the need for self esteem. As in the scenario above, sometimes, especially among teenagers, it can negatively affect it, but usually dating in high school makes for a higher self esteem and satisfies that need so that a person can continue their journey to...