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Until late high school, grades were pretty isolated from each other. There were some really awkward structured mentorship programs, and some extracurriculars li
by closeparen 7y ago
Until late high school, grades were pretty isolated from each other. There were some really awkward structured mentorship programs, and some extracurriculars like theater that had less of a Varsity / JV bifurcation, but your social circle was still pretty much grade level peers. Sometimes their siblings. I can’t imagine the set of grade levels sharing an institution being a major part of the story.
- jacobolus 7y agoIn primary school, most American students have one main teacher and one class. In middle school, most American students walk from class to class, each less than 1 hour long and with a different teacher, and are with different students in each class. Often many primary schools feed into one middle school, so the school can be bigger and has less familiar students. The students and teachers don’t know each-other and have a harder time getting to know each-other. The school is often more formal and the schoolwork is often less enjoyable. There is significantly more homework. Students (often strangers to each-other) end up very quickly establishing a new social hierarchy in a context with less oversight and less adult support. It can get pretty brutal.