‘Top dog’ 8th-grade days are done
September 12, 2019
The transition from middle school to high school can be an exciting time. The change impacts people in many different ways.
Some people enjoy the chance to have more freedom and explore different classes, while others don’t appreciate the amount of stress that comes with the rigorous courses in high school. But the common factor in both of these sides is that life in high school is definitely different from life in middle school.
In Kinkaid’s middle school usually eighth graders are the larger, more dominant grade level. In school assemblies the eighth graders are allowed to sit in front of the auditorium because of their age. During recess, they usually control the larger sections of the football field while younger students use the field hockey field. These privileges that are insignificant to high schoolers are valued by eighth graders.
Incoming freshmen are seen more as “fresh meat,” instead of the dominant big dogs they were in middle school. While individually they enjoy many more freedoms than in middle school, as a class they are younger and less experienced than the other grades in the high school.
“I feel smaller and less significant in the larger picture in high school because we’re no longer the top dog,” freshman Miles Franklin said.
While the social and academic aspects of school change, moving around the high school is also different.
Almost all academic classes were on the first or second floor in middle school but high school classes could be anywhere on campus. The lockers are even much bigger, making the hallways seem significantly smaller in high school. These subtle but important differences in the structure of the high school make a difference that is noticed by freshmen.
