This weekend at a BBQ we were talking about school being out and what it meant to children right about now. It seems like Memorial Day marks the school year is out, and summer is here. It wasn’t always that way though. Back in the day Memorial Day meant there was a little over a week left to school. We did not get out of school in May when I was a kid, we got out in June. We all sat and talked about the changes that have happened with schooling since we were young ones and it got me thinking…

 What is with this middle school stuff? I am sorry but Jr. High is a rite of passage. It is some of the most awkward years of our lives. Children become young adults in Jr. High. Girls get their periods, and boys start sprouting hair follicles on their face and spend “quiet time” behind locked doors doing their own version of self discovery.

 To take away the name Jr. High School and call it Middle School is just senseless and quite frankly it serves no purpose and it really does take away a part of growing up.

 Back in the good old days where Jr. High was a respected institution it was all so very simple. Grade 1-6 was Elementary School where we learned basic education and social skills. Then we had that in-between phase that we called Jr. High where boys started liking girls, and girls liked boys. It was sort of a trial run for High School. Of course then there was High School, and honestly need I say more about that?

 Jr. High School is a cyclone of social changes. It is about peer pressure and the growth of a sense of freedom and independence. Jr. High is self-discovery. It is probably the most awkward period of our school life. So why would we want to shove 6^th graders into Jr. High School, take away the name and call it middle school? We deserve that awkward rite of passage.

 I am glad I had the opportunity to go to Jr. High and not middle school. I am glad for my Jr. High dances and awkward moments with hormonal, social, and peer changes. I am glad that my that when my face broke out with pimples or I started my period, I had other girls to talk about who were my age and not with 2^nd graders.

 I am so glad I lived in a time where Jr. High really was a rite of passage. Some of the stories we pass on from generation to generation is about our first love, our first shave, our first period and our experience in Jr. High, not Middle School!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 8:33 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.