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Posted: 12/4/2007 7:43:54 AM EDT
My son is in 5th grade and today his school had a meeting for the parents of 5th graders to get them familiar with the transition that the kids would be making from elementary school to middle school. One of the differences is going to be that, starting in sixth grade, they are going to have several elective classes each semester. I know it's been almost 30 years since I was in sixth grade, but since when do you have electives in MIDDLE school? When I was a kid, you didn't have anything like that until high school.
Have things changed that much, or was my school just very small and behind the times back in 78? |
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I was in 6th grade a little more than a decade ago, and it wasn't like that then either.
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I didn't get any electives in my middle schooling in the late 90s.
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Most larger schools offer electives in gradeschool. I went to a smaller private grade school and high school so we didn't get any till high school and even then it was slim pickin's.
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Im pretty sure I got electives in 6th grade. Basically it meant that the boys took woodshop and the girls took home ec, but you had a choice.
Thats probably changed. |
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Half the kids in my middle school were too dumb to tie their own shoes, much less select their own schedule.
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I was in middle school 11-12 years ago and I had electives. I took computers and art one year. The next year I took shop and home economics. Each one was a 1 semester class. That was the only control I had over my class schedule. There weren't but a few other choices I could have chosen besides those and I don't remember what they were.
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we had what some would call electives, but you didn't get to elect which ones you took. they would change every six weeks or so.
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These kids have a page full of them: PE (starting in 7th grade, it's a requirement in 6th), Digital Photography, Web Design, Creative Writing, Fantasy Math, Stock Market, and a shitload of others I can't remember. |
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I had electives starting in 5th grade. Two classes per year for 5th and 6th.
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Public skool edukation? |
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When I went to middle school, we had electives. Shop, home ec, foreign languages for the 8th graders, keyboarding, music, things like that. |
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I'm 24, when I was in middle school; grades 6,7,8; we could choose from electives such as art, computer, band, choir, ag, home economics, etc. But you only were allowed 1 per semester.
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WTF is that? |
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My district had junior high schools that ran from 7th grade to 9th grade where we had electives. I think that we had around 3 elective classes that we could pick.
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I don't know for certain, but I believe he said it was like fantasy football and baseball...something to do with statistical analysis. |
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Score keeping for fantasy football. |
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When I was in Mid-school back in the late 70's/early 80's there were 2 electives: Shop or Home Ec. Needless to say, I chose shop. I still remember our band saw project, we got to cut out a plastic pacman. My oldest son is in 8th and they are just fininshing up stick and mig welding Now thats some useful knowledge.
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I want to say our electives started in "junior high" - 7th or 8th grade, w/ industrial arts, home ec, chorus, band, maybe another couple I can't think of offhand. In high school it opened up a lot more with journalism, choice of chem, physics, or advanced biology, We didn't have the option of study hall until Junior year, I think. But yeah, aside from the whole 6th grade being in middle school/junior high part, sounds pretty normal.
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I graduated in 1991. We did not get electives till 9th grade. High School.
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that's pretty neat. sounds like your son is going to a good school.
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I had a couple of elective options in middle school in the late 80's. They revolved around foreign languages and trade type classes.
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That's kinda neat. |
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How the hell do they spend more than 30 minutes a week on that? I used to score an entire league manually, and it was about an hour or two tops. That's a fun unit for a week or two, not an entire class. *off to grumble about the state of education* |
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I did not have any about a decade ago. I went to a small private school though.
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Thats the way it was for me in Middle School I graduated High School in 2002 |
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Back in the day...
My only "elective" in 6th grade was do well in school or get the belt. I sometimes chose the wrong one GM |
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I had electives starting in 7th grade in 1992. 6th was still considered elementary at my school, but 7th was pre-high school.
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In middle school (7th grade) we had electives, primarily foreign languages, and art/home ec/shop classes. IIRC there was only one per semester.
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This was pretty much the same for me. You had a choice of a few different classes, but had to take a home economics class and one of the trade classes (this included computers). |
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I was in junior high in 1986-ish and I had electives... it was really just one elective. Choice between Art, Band, Woodshop, and one other for the smart kids... I forget what. Probably yearbook or student politics or computers/typing or some other BS like that.
I was in the band. Should have taken art since I didn't do band in HS and I really wasn't very good with an instrument. I couldn't read sheet music worth a damn. I took art all through HS so... So it's not that unusual... |
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When I was in 5-6th grade we had a few electives to choose from. I think we had like three core classes (math, science/social studies, and English) and then one elective. I took band, you could also take choir or theatre, or whatever else they had. Starting in 7th grade we had more of a choice for electives. 7-8th you could pick from Spanish, football, basketball, woodshop, band, choir, theatre, and I'm sure there were a couple others. This is when we started having like 8 classes per day. Math, science, history, english, computers (or some other 'technical' class), two electives. (one of the classes was lunch) |
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That's a new one.
I didn't have electives until my senior year in HS, and not again until my junior year at college. |
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I never went to middle school, in Georgia it was called junior high and was grades 7-8. I had electives in grades 7-8 but not in grade 6, which was still considered elementary school.
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I got electives starting in 5th grade, this would have been in the 80's.
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My middle school let you pick your foreign language (Spanish 1 & 2, French 1 & 2or (after you paid for a tutor for German 1) German 2), so you could say we had electives.
Kharn |
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You're not complaining about it are you? Practical applications of concepts, like the 'fantasy math' course, is a great way to keep a kids interest in a subject. Statistical analysis, thinking in terms of probabilities, calculating odds - that's all good stuff. Classes like this are a big improvement over forcing everyone to learn about every subject the same way.
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I didn't even get electives in High School. Damn my public school edjamacation.
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I started middle school in.... 93 or so and we had electives... Just band or orchestra, stuff like that.
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No electives for me in the 6th grade. But 7th was in the Jr. High and we had some electives. More so for 8th and 9th grades.
Maybe that's the difference? Jr. High vs. Middle School? |
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I went to J.R High School as well and we did not have electives |
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I was in 7th grade in 1964 in North Carolina and we had electives...took a Spanish class. Not that big a deal in middle school. |
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