Reply to Private schools and allowing kids to "stay younger longer" or "stay kids longer"

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Reply to "Private schools and allowing kids to "stay younger longer" or "stay kids longer" - what does that mean?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think this is best applied to middle school years. When you've known your classmates since you were 4-5 and have been a small group for years, there's not much interest in dating. Plus, there's recess in grades 6-8. And being in the same building with k-5 keeps you a little innocent. I loved when the big kids got to read with their buddies and when they sat with them at mass.

Then there's the lack of vaping, swearing and talking back. Not saying that's rampant elsewhere, but it's nonexistent at most small catholic k-8s.

This is also said with some smugness from some parents because they hold off on phones way longer and control social media/screen time. But I don't know how true that is anymore. Seems our catholic k-8 younger families aren't keeping the same line on that. [/quote]

On the other hand, sometimes K-8s infantilize their 7th and 8th graders, don't allow them to develop independence and executive functioning skills that a school might emphasize if they were keeping the kids for 9th. Socially, at the smaller schools, they can get sick of each other and feel like there isn't much privacy. And because this kind of K-8 is attractive to kids with special needs, anxiety, mild ASD, etc., and few people join a K-8 in the last few grades, the percentage of the class that needs extra support and/or is below grade level can grow and grow, while the more academically capable kids peel off looking for more of a challenge or they get into a desirable 6-12. So while the 6-8 experience *can* be better in some very real and important ways, it can also have some very significant drawbacks.[/quote]

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