Mustang Rambles

I see in the paper today that several places across the United States have decided that ninth grade students should have their own school.  It seems that it’s such a critical year for starting high school that it should not be left to the four-year schools were upperclassman tease or harass or otherwise distract young ninth graders.  When I was young, elementary school went to the sixth grade and junior high school was seventh eighth and ninth grade.  This meant that these fragile ninth graders who are having a tough time in the four-year high school were top dogs in the three-year junior high system.  This was during a time when American education was very highly rated.

It seems some educational professors decided somewhere that a middle school of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders was the best, and that the system should be change.  Perhaps just because Change would be good, or at least they would get credit for it.  Then they did away with all the junior high schools.  Could it be that these liberal draft dodging, professors of the 60s and 70s were wrong as they had been in so many other educational pursuits?  Now it is coming back to the old system where ninth graders are either to be separated all by themselves so that they can learn how to study in a high school situation.  Or maybe we should just go back to the old junior high school where ninth graders were given a whole lot of positive reinforcement as the big kids in school.  This no doubt lead to a greater self-esteem (earned, not gratuitously awarded) and confidence in their abilities.

It turned out some pretty good kids.