WHAT? 7th Graders with Seniors? ? NO WAY

There's all this talk in my hometown about having to re-configure the school so that 7th graders can come over from the Middle School. It's all about class sizes of the future grades, and where best to teach them and save money at the same time. First of all let me say, KUDOS to the school board. This is a NO BRAINER to do and I'm overwhelmed at some people who are so against it! Back in the day, (that refers to any past time that I can zip to to draw an idea from) I and all my fellow students that would become the class of 69 all made that chasmic jump from 6th to 7th grade. We went from a 1 story building where we had the same classroom and the same teacher all day (and where we always won the KING OF THE HILL on the mountains of snow piled high as a result of cleaning the school bus cement) to a 3 story (no elevators thank you) giant scary building with lockers all in a row like dominoes that would never fall down. It wasn't the older students that we needed to be afraid of, most everyone had an older sibling or cousin or someone from their church group to look out for them. It was the larger peer group that you had to watch out for! Those kids from the other side of town who you had always ignored as you rode around on your bicycle or went to a civic event. I don't buy the argument that we shouldn't mix kids. I will never buy that argument. Look at the "many kids-all in one family" groups. The older kids learn about responsibility, the younger kids learn to work together, and EVERYONE gangs up on the parents. That's the way it should be. MIX THE KIDS TOGETHER, what a great learning/teaching lesson about the real world. Let's stop trying to raise "hot house" children!