The Importance of Middle School

Many parents view middle school as the time just before a student enters the serious part of his or her education.  This is poor vision of what should actually be taking place at that time.

It may seem that your middle school student is not academically ready for some of the courses of study before the ninth grade, but the truth is, the harder ones are what prepare the student to be able to perform better on their high school transcript.

Think of it this way; everything in life that a person goes through from birth to advancing years prepares them for the next step.  Just as high school prepares students for college, middle school prepares them for high school.  Taking class study lightly is never conducive for a student to become an achiever.

Everything Counts After 8th Grade

When those grades begin to hit the transcript record in the ninth grade, they should be challenging courses in which the student has high scores.  The better the scholastic standards, the more financial aid possibilities will be available and more of the better colleges will be interested in the student’s attendance.

College acceptance is a competition because the best colleges limit the enrollment to keep the educational process working to its best efficiency.  Because the colleges are high in demand, they only accept students with the highest grades in challenging subjects.  Committees that choose students for grants or scholarships look for these same achievements before making offers.

A Parent’s Responsibility

In light of this factual data, you as the parent should strongly encourage your future college student to prepare very well during the seventh and eighth grades.  Even if some harder classes don’t present the grades you and your student hope for, they do prepare them for harder courses in the next arena, which will shed a brighter light on the college bound youth.

What Middle School Should Do for a Student

Two very important formative parts of middle school can make the difference in the ninth grade.

* First, if courses are hard enough that grades need improving, it teaches better study habits as well as how and where to get assistance for problematic studies.  It also teaches tenacity to achieve desired results.

* Secondly, it teaches organizational skills that will make the student better at anything he or she does in high school, college, and in life.

If your child is taking off the two years before the ninth grade by electing easier classes, it is a mistake that will cause less achievement at the next level, and possibly limit college opportunities.

Author: Rhonda Manns, A2Z College Planning