Most people have awful memories from middle school. My memories, for the most part, are not so awful. There's one specific day that I don't think I will ever forget, and it happened in 8th grade.
I went to a small private Christian school that goes from pre-K 3 through 12th grade. My graduating class had 45 students in it. But in 8th grade, my class was the biggest class in the school with roughly 110 students. We were the biggest, we were the loudest, and we were definitely the most obnoxious.
One day during 8th grade, my bible teacher proposed a class-wide challenge. For one whole day, we had to be silent. We were not allowed to talk at all. The only opportunities we were allowed to talk was when we were called upon in class to answer questions. He made all of our teachers (and various other faculty) aware of this, and if any one of them heard a student say something without permission, they were to notify him so that he could deduct points from their grade.
He had us do this to show the power of words. The question he posed to us for this challenge was "Would you be a better Christian if you couldn't talk for a day, or would people miss the encouragement that your words brought?" I would interpret that today as: Do you use words to put others down or to build them up? Are you better off silent, or would people actually miss hearing what you have to say?
Considering the fact that we studied the book of Proverbs extensively during my 8th grade year, the verse Proverbs 17:28 (ESV) comes to mind: "Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent."
Though the purpose of the assignment was lost among some my peers - and even myself over the years - I think the one thing that stuck with me is the surprise that the whole grade did pretty well with the task. We arrived in silence, sat in class in silence, and with surveying eyes hovering over us, we walked through the halls in silence. Teachers were able to get through lessons without interruption; we were able to get our classwork done before the bell rang; we were all able to get to class on time. When we came into school the next day, we were asked if we would do it again. Some said yes, others said no. I was one of the ones that said I would do it again.
From that experience, I learned a couple different things. One, I learned how distracting talking is. We talk so much that we don't actually stop to focus on the things we have to do. Being in silence for a day was a great way to get work done without anyone bothering me. The second thing I learned was how much I was able to observe and focus about other people. We spend so much of our time trying to talk over people and throwing in our two-cents that we don't actually listen to what they have to say. By being quiet and actually listening to them, we can learn so much more about them while observing their mannerisms.
Now, to pass that challenge along: be quiet for a day. Give your mouth and your vocal cords a break. See what you can learn and accomplish. The results may surprise you.
