[HPFGU-OTChatter] American Schools Re: June's OT Board Dictionary Launched

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

At 9:39 PM +0000 10/23/03, Jen Reese wrote:
>
>Me too! I went to San Jacinto Junior High but you never hear that
>anymore; 'Middle School' is definitely preferred.

In theory, at least, a Junior High and a Middle School are not the 
same thing.  A Junior High is run like a high school: lockers, big 
impersonal gyms, changing classes seven times a day, etc., only for 
slightly younger kids.  A Middle School is run as a transition from 
an elementary school to a high school; kids typically change classes 
less often, they're often in a "pod" of students who all see the same 
teachers, there's usually a counselor or administrator who oversees 
each pod, locker areas are supervised, and so on.

However, most "middle schools" are in fact Junior Highs with the sign 
painted over.  Often it still says "Junior High" in the stonework on 
the front of the building.  (I interviewed at one of these places.)

Then there are "Intermediate Schools," which are intended to be a 
transitional phase between elementary school and middle school, and 
more likely to actually be run on the pod concept than middle schools 
are.

>In an interesting twist, our 9th grade was held in an entirely
>separate school, only for 9th grade--did anyone else have that? The
>two 9th-grade schools were called Midland Freshman High School & Lee
>Freshman High Schools to distinguish them from the high schools of
>the same name.

An awful lot of Houston area schools have that now.  Our district's 
are called Ninth Grade Centers rather than "Freshman High Schools," 
but the students invariably refer to them as the "Fishbowls."

>My theory now is that football (not soccer) is *very* competitive in
>my hometown, and instead of building a third high school that would
>dilute the talent pool, they elected to convert two old schools into
>these Freshman schools. Don't know if it's true, but believe me it
>*could* be true, which is bad enough ;).

Actually, the usual justification is cost - a new high school is 
*very* expensive to build and staff, while a ninth grade center is 
smaller and cheaper, doesn't require the hiring of nearly as many new 
faculty members, and takes the pressure off the main campus almost as 
well.

-- 

  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles(at)earthlink.net
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the 
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. "
	- Gauss, in a Letter to Bolyai, 1808.