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I currently have two kids in Lansing Middle School.  In both cases I thought they were too young to start Middle School in 5th Grade.  So I think that moving 5th grade to the Elementary School is a great idea.  Kids that age, in my opinion, are not old enough to deal effectively with the hustle and bustle of Middle School life, moving from classroom to classroom every 40 minutes, or mature enough to take responsibility for their agendas.

I felt that those distractions took far too much attention away from academic pursuits.  Process became more important than substantive learning.  There was more emphasis on getting work done exactly on time than there was on doing good work and mastering the material.

I'm not saying that being organized and getting your work done is bad.  They are certainly necessary skills that only become more important as kids progress to High School and College, and are good life skills.  But 5th grade is too young.  Because of that more emphasis must be put on skills that less mature kids have more trouble mastering.

Not to mention the emotional and physical changes the older kids in the Middle School go through.  Surely parents remember that awkward stage and the changes and challenges it brings.  Again, fifth graders are too young to be put in the same "bucket" with those kids who are "blossoming" into young adults.

This change is going to cause all kinds of turmoil as it is implemented, and then it will be over.  Once the dust settles, the move will be better educationally and probably emotionally for the kids.  When I moved to Lansing one of the first things I thought was how odd it was that Middle School started at grade 5.  As my kids experienced it that feeling was reinforced in many ways.  In my opinion this is a correction that is long overdue.

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v2i10
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