Why did a rumor tell me more about teenage culture than eight months of observation?

1.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, a new kind of research was brewing on the shores of Lake Michigan. Several social scientists working at the University of Chicago developed new methods of studying human behavior on both the social and individual level on a more intimate and in depth level than had been attempted before. This form of investigation became known as the “Chicago School” of sociological and anthropological research and focused on applying scientific principles to fieldwork practices. The chief tool of a “Chicago School” researcher was participant observation, wherein the researcher would actively join in with the group she was studying over an extended period of time. Once the researcher integrates herself into the culture she is able to gain better insights into the workings of the group, and is able to gain freer access for discussions, interviews, and data collection. Over the last 70 or so years since the “Chicago School” has become a commonly accepted research practice a stunning amount of information has been gained about different sub-cultures and groups in our society. A terrific example about a grad student at U of Chicago who spends years living with a crack gang in the Chicago housing projects is discussed by Steven Levitt and Scott Dubner in their book Freakonomics. This example demonstrates how a participant observer can bring subtle details of how a group, in this case a fairly successful street gang that traffics crack cocaine, organizes itself, supports itself, and communicates both internally and externally. I personally have taken a great interest in these research practices as I have been completing my student teaching and I have theoretically been a participant observer for the last eight months.

The most obvious question to ask me as I complete my teacher training is what I learned during my observations? Unfortunately the obvious question isn’t necessarily the best question with which to start this conversation. First, you have to consider which group I am meant to be studying. High school buildings are homes to two distinct sub-cultures, one of teenage students and one of the slightly older teachers. Given that the purpose of my time as a student teacher is to teach me what it takes to become a full blown teacher, the answer once again appears clear; I should be observing the “teacher culture” to learn what makes a successful teacher. Yet, that simple answer belies the complexity of the student teacher interaction. My training has continually emphasized that ineffective teachers focus classroom activities on what the teacher likes to do, while effective teachers base their instruction on what best engages and interests the students. So to be an effective teacher I have to learn both how a quality instructor delivers information, and how a quality student processes that information. By understanding the students I can spread good learning habits, and activate the mental processes my students already use.

Thus, as I undertook my student teaching I had to keep one eye on my mentor teacher and which of her practices seemed effective, and my other eye on the students and what educational strengths and needs they exhibited. Over the past school year I feel I have become a sufficiently skilled teacher. I was able to incorporate a number of practices I observed from the teachers with which I work and my mentor teacher and instructors have given me plenty of positive feedback. I would have to say that my observation of the teacher sub-culture had born terrific results.

Until a few weeks ago I thought I had achieved similar results with my observation of the student sub-culture. My students had responded well to the instruction I designed; they were highly engaged and seemed to retain the information well. I was able to relate to the students, since I am still young enough to catch most of their pop culture references. I felt I had a good handle on how to communicate to students and gain their cooperation. Then, last month, I heard about a rumor that passed amongst my students that taught me more about teenagers’ and their culture than I had gained in seven months of observation.

2.
The story begins about a month ago, in early May 2006, in my U.S. history class. My mentor teacher had assigned a major research paper as the last significant assignment of the school year. They were first given the assignment about five weeks before the final paper was due on May 18th. They had to create an outline for their paper and turn that in after two weeks. From there on out though, they had nothing to do but work on their final draft. They were told all of these facts in very clear terms when the paper was first assigned and given assignment sheets for each student so they could have a resource in case they ever needed to remind them of this, and of course they all knew they could talk to either my teacher or me if they had any questions. My mentor teacher and I both felt that the students had been well guided and prepared for this particular lesson. Our confidence about this should emphasize just how little we understood about the students at the time.

On May 4th, three weeks after we had originally assigned the paper, as one of the students paused at the door as she left class. She turned around and asked very sheepishly whether the research paper was due that day. My mentor teacher wasn’t in the room at the time, but I knew the students still had at least two weeks before they needed to turn in the final paper. I looked at the student with a puzzled expression and then explained the situation. She gave me a relieved smile and said that she had spent most of the previous night working on it. I asked her how she had come to believe that the paper was due today. After she gave me the details of the rumor she had been swept in, I realized I was on top of something special, and I asked her to write it down for me. What follows is her account with the students’ names replaced to protect their identities.

Student #1’s experience with the rumor:
While I was at a café after school, I got worried that the paper might be due tomorrow. So, I called Student #2. Student #2 said the paper wasn’t due until May 18th. Then later in the evening I received a call from Student #3 saying that the paper was NOT due tomorrow, and that he was making phone calls to clarify. A little later I went online on an instant messenger and Student #2’s away message said the paper was not due tomorrow. Later on when chatting, Student #4 asked me if it was due tomorrow and I told her it was not. I heard that Student #5 thought it was due and that Student #6 actually wrote her paper.

I was fascinated by this for a couple of reasons. The rumor was actually so convincing that someone wrote the paper two weeks in advance of its due date. I knew the rumor had to be responsible for this flurry of activity, because I had learned from experience that the consequences for turning in work late had never inspired such dedication on their own. Moreover I was struck that at least six different students had heard this rumor and NONE of them had attempted to contact either my mentor teacher or me to clarify the issue.

Having read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point which discusses how social memes like rumors are spread and where they gain their power, I decided to dig into the story a little deeper. I wanted to gain a better understanding of how this rumor had started and spread. I also was curious to determine what gave it the power to make a student write an entire research paper in one night. Rumors being so ethereal and temporary by nature, I needed to quickly gather more information while it was still fresh and available. I sought several of the students who took part in the above story and had them share their account of how the rumor spread and how they reacted to it. The following examples provided special insight.

Student #4’s account:
That evening I got a call from Student #5. She said the paper was due tomorrow and that Student #1 and Student #7 were already working on the paper. So, I started working on my paper. A while later I called Student #2 to figure out if the paper really was due today or not. Student #2 said it definitely was due, so I kept working on it. When I was almost finished I called Student #3, who told me the paper was NOT due. I decided to still go ahead and finish it since I was almost done anyway.

Student #3’s account:
What happened was Student #5 misread the assignment sheet, and she told a bunch of people that she thought it was due. So Student #2 called me to see if it was due or not and I told her it wasn’t. Then a while later Student #4 called me to ask if I knew whether the paper was due. I told her no. So, I called Student #5 to let her know that it wasn’t due, so she wouldn’t tell other people it was due today. Then I went ahead and started calling lots of people in case any of them thought it was due today.

These three accounts alone provide a robust amount of information that we can use to investigate how rumors and other comparable social memes form and travel. The insights may not seem especially groundbreaking, though that does not limit my interest. This one rumor revealed a level of complexity and autonomy to teenage culture that I had never before thought existed and which I can use to great effect as a teacher.

Let’s begin with how the rumor traveled between the seven or so students who became wrapped up in it. Since each of the student accounts above had their own sequence of events, I’ll lay out a general timeline to clear up the muddle.

First, Student #5 somehow, reportedly through misreading the assignment sheet, came under the impression that the paper was due the next day. She may have contacted multiple students, but the most important person she contacted was Student #2. Notice how Student #2 appears in all the accounts at some point spreading the rumor. It seems that most people who began working on the paper were prompted to do so by Student #2. As the rumor spread, to at least seven students, though I suspect more, it eventually reached Student #3 who seems to have been the first student to encounter the rumor who had enough confidence in his own accurate knowledge to begin countering the rumor. Many students who heard the rumor apparently were only convinced of its falsity after hearing from Student #3. While Student #3 did not seem to convince Students #4 and #6 that they did not need to complete their papers, he still made the effort to contact them and many others.

3.
In The Tipping Point Gladwell describes the kinds of people social epidemics like rumors require to spread and to be made believable. He creates categories for these people like connectors, who can contact a great number of diverse people, mavens, who others rely on to provide important information, and salesmen, who can convince others of an ideas value. In the rumor I have recorded, I believe no one person falls neatly into any of these categories, though several display attributes of some.

Like mavens, Students #5 and #3 were trusted by their classmates to be sources of information. Other students trust them so much that even upon hearing the rumor the others don’t check their own assignment sheets, instead relying on the word of Student #5 or Student #3. It may even be possible that some students don’t worry about keeping track of information and things like assignment sheets, because they know someone like Student #5 who they trust to remember that stuff so they don’t have to.

Student #3 also served a role as a connector along with Student #2. Both these students seemed to be directly responsible for either spreading or dislodging the rumor. The accounts shown above clearly show the lengths to which both Students #3 and #2 will go to share a piece of information they feel is important. Part of the story of this rumor which the accounts don’t reveal, is how dissimilar the students who encountered it were, or at least how dissimilar they seemed to me as the classroom teacher. The students involved had class with me at different times, they were different races, they came from different backgrounds, and they seemed to belong to different social circles. Yet Students #3 and #2 were both capable of connecting most of the people in this loose social network that tied them all together.

Additionally, Student #2 seemed to have the skills of a salesman, she was able to state a case for the rumor so convincingly, that some students actually went forward with the paper. All students had been informed to the contrary previously by my mentor teacher and I. On some level they should have known Student #2 was misinforming them. Yet, Student #2 must have stated the rumor in such a persuasive way as to compel many of the students to take some kind of action. Furthermore Student #3 seemed to lack the skills of a salesman. Though he supplied numerous students with the correct information, he still couldn’t dissuade some of their fears. Clearly a social epidemic requires some convincing power to become contagious or to stick around long enough to make an impact.

4.
All of these skills have been identified by Gladwell and others and crucial components of any information sharing network. Yet prior to the day I heard of this rumor neither I nor any teacher with whom I’ve spoken had thought that high schools students would have developed them so completely. To some degree it seems obvious; we are talking about the children of the information age. They likely have been surrounded by advanced information/communication technology since birth. For them forming complicated and sophisticated networks probably comes as naturally as farm work came to our ancestors. With this in mind imagine, then, what schools could accomplish by including the students more in their plans.

I have witnessed many occasions during staff meetings or other school events when the teachers fretted about how best to get some important piece of news to the students or the parents. The task always seemed challenging because schools are still committed to old fashioned top-to-bottom methods of spreading information. This always requires time and planning to ensure the full population is covered by whatever announcement method is used. Think about how much simpler it could be for schools if they didn’t have to worry about contacting every student, just those that act as information banks for the general population. Consider how much quicker news could be spread when schools feed announcements to those students who can connect a wide variety of students instead of trying to use an endless stream of pamphlets, phone calls, and P.A. decelerations. Any of these tools can be powerful aids for schools, but I have never seen or heard anyone in education attempt these methods.

One important fact underlies all of this: the students formed this information network independently. I cannot emphasize how surprising this was too me enough. I really shouldn’t have been surprised though. I have heard of everyone from marketing firms to government agencies delving into the teenage subculture. Why then has no one attempted to make use of this in education? The students’ information networks already exists, it’s as much a part of their culture as anything else I observed during my student teaching. It may even be one of the more fascinating aspects of student culture. The fact that the teachers’ culture is so ignorant of the students’ networks marks the need for better participant observation by educators. The lesson for me is clear to best deliver information to students more educators have to learn how to share in their culture.