TLDR: I became a social outcast when I had to do sixth grade in a middle school filled with teenagers and preteens. Can anyone provide their experience about the social problems very young kids can have in middle school?
The trouble for me began when my city turned the junior high into a middle school. This meant that sixth grade was now together with 7th and 8th, and there was one less year of elementary. When grade 6 is in elementary the kids do not imitate older preteens and teenagers and it's basically a repeat of grade 5. I really needed that last year of elementary to mature socially and physically before being with older kids.
The reason why is that I was only 10 when I got to grade 6, having started kindergarten a year early. For reference, this was back in the 90's when it was allowed to start kids early and elementary schools were still k-6. I wasn't ready for the adult social dynamics of middle school. I liked dinosaurs, lasers, and military stuff, I didn't understand why everyone was interested in sex, dating, sports, popularity, and adult stuff. Whereas things had been fine at school before, I got ostracized on my first day of middle school and I didn't know how to adapt and recover.
Many other skipped kids had trouble like I did, while others were fine. It's on a case by case basis and each kid needs to be watched. But blindly skipping gifted kids is a terrible idea because kids are not ready for middle school at 10 years old (or even younger) and they may not be able to cope.
This social trouble didn't ruin my whole life on its own. A lot of kids have problems in middle school for whatever reasons. However, in my case it set me up for abuse by a sociopathic parent who took advantage of my destroyed self-esteem. It may sound improbable, but this wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't been forced to do my last year of elementary in middle school instead.
Submitted May 18, 2021 at 04:54AM by traumabind https://ift.tt/2SUTxeR
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