One of the things that has changed a lot since I was in
junior high (middle school) in the 1950’s, is the role that each individual is
allowed to play in the cultural life of a school’s community.
The barriers between what was acceptable for boys and girls have
been torn down in fairly dramatic fashion. And while this has made life a
little easier on those boys who might prefer gymnastics to football, and for girls
who want other sports more than cheerleading, the world of middle school and
emerging adolescence is still difficult and confusing.
For children right on the edge of puberty, emotions and
sensitivities are very close to the surface. And every action seems to have
huge ramifications, at least in the minds of the students involved.
I had noticed in the response among grade schoolers to “A
Boy’s First Diary”, that the situations I described still resonated strongly
today with kids of that age group. The world may have changed dramatically in
the last sixty years but the emotional journey they take seems timeless. It
does seem that the time frame for that trip has become more compressed because
of the many trigger points addressed in the media, and also because children
seem to physically mature earlier. Some things, however, remain the same..
When I wrote “Surviving Seventh Grade”, I was intentionally
trying to deal with some of these universal issues. I focused on the physical
and emotional impacts of adolescence, learning to deal with the social issues
such as bullying and discrimination, and the relationships between parents and
children (from the kid’s point of view).
One seemingly small item in the life of many kids is the
need for braces. This can cause all sorts of physical and emotional trauma,
especially during those adolescent years.
“Billy’s Accident” (Surviving Seventh Grade, 2013) deals
with one small but embarrassing incident that I saw happen one day while “Billy”
and I were hurrying from one class to the next.
Some times it is hard to keep your sense of humor.
Glenn K. Currie
Billy’s Accident
Billy was in hall traffic yesterday.
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