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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]MS is usually miserable for so many kids it makes me wonder why it even exists. Or what could be done, if anything to make it better.[/quote]

I mean the concept of middle school is fairly recent. Elementaries used to go through 6th grade and then you either had a junior high (7-9th) and high school (10-12) or in rare cases a combined high school that was 7-12.

At some point they figured out that separating all the super hormonal kids at peak puberty from everyone else would at least make elementary school and high school a bit better. But I don't think they've ever really figured out how to make middle school better serve the needs of this age group. I think a lot of it has to do with our discomfort as a society with kids sexually maturing. But it's made worse by increased pressure on kids academically. So basically middle school kids are given too little support with puberty and hormonal changes but are simultaneously told that if they aren't smart and accomplished enough it will ruin their entire lives. It's a recipe for disaster.

I feel like we should approach middle school like early childhood education. With a different focus of course but the same idea -- major focus on life skills and socio-emotional learning and then wrap the academics up in that package. But basically no focus on grades -- just meeting academic and developmental benchmarks and acclimating to the increased expectations of high school.[/quote]

There are very few districts around me that ES is still k-5 and only lime two that are k-6. I was in MS in the mid 90s that was 6-8. I didn't like it or understand it then. I think if there is going to be middle school/junior high then it should be 7th and 8th. Although my sibling went to a k-8 and she and her friends loved it. It helped them stay kids a little longer
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We have a K-8 as our IB school and it sucks because the middle school kids are unruly and all over the place and while they are physically separated from the little kids it impacts the culture of the school -- they have very strict rules and it's not always a very nurturing environment because the admin and teaching staff seem to have a distrust of the kids due to seeing what some of the 7th and 8th grade kids are capable of. It also means that if those kids bring alcohol or cigarettes to school they are in a building with 5 year olds with that crap.

We ran far far from that school before our kid was enrolled. I think K-8s are a really bad idea.[/quote]

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