Funding Cuts, Split Classes and Their Impact on My Daughter
Reader’s Question
Due to lack of funding our school was forced to take all the 6th and 7th grade students and put them in split classes. The students were told that they would have four teachers who would be teaching four 6/7 grade splits. At the beginning of the school year all the kids were rotated between the four teachers and got to spend time with each of them.
Then the 6th and 7th graders were put into the gym and the teachers came in to let them know who was going to which class. Another teacher came in as well and said that twelve 6th graders, including my daughter and one friend of hers, would be with her in the grade 5/6 split. My daughter was so upset she called me to come get her from school.
When I went to the principal to complain, I was basically told “too bad”. My daughter is very social and gets along with almost everyone, so my issue is that I believe it will not be in her best interests to be separated from the majority of the other 6th grade students. Plus, the students in the 6/7 classes will have a huge benefit when going into 7th grade because they will have been somewhat involved in the 7th grade curriculum all year. My daughter also will not know as many of the 7th graders as the students in the 6/7 classes. I think this will be important when she goes to high school because they will be able to communicate with those students at the high school level.
Please let me know if I am just being overly sensitive and if I should stop pressing to get her into a 6/7 class. It may not be possible but I will give it my best effort.
Psychologist’s Reply
The cuts in school funding are negatively affecting a lot of students. Your daughter may be getting the short end of the stick in this situation but, then again, she may not. Your statement about the benefits of being exposed to the 7th grade curriculum is reasonable but there are things you can do about it. I wouldn’t worry too much about the social aspect. If your daughter gets along with everyone, then she will find friends wherever she is and things will equal themselves out once she reaches high school. Besides, you never know what kids will do. It could be that the other students will get tired of the same kids they’ve been in classes with all year and her absence from that group may then give her a special status.
You are correct that it may not be possible to get your daughter moved. If that is the case, then the larger issue becomes how she will get through this year without being miserable. This gives you a great opportunity to teach your daughter how to make the best of things, which is an incredibly valuable skill for everyone to learn. Help her switch her focus to the positives of this situation; it sounds like there are many. First, she gets to spend the whole year being ‘top dog’ as one of the older students. She may be looked at as a role model or as someone who knows a lot. That’s very useful in developing self-confidence, something that is quite difficult for many people that age. Second, her familiarity with the material will give her a solid grounding in her studies. While her classmates in the 6/7 splits may struggle to keep up, she will be ready to move forward with confidence. Third, she will have a wider range of friends. Her classmates in the 6/7 splits may know only the older students while your daughter will know those behind and in front of her.
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If keeping up with the 7th grade curriculum is a concern, encourage her to stretch herself academically. If she finds out that the students in the 6/7 split are reading a certain book, she can read it too. If they are doing a different kind of math, she can try out problems in that area as well. In other words, she can match their curriculum while going at her own pace. This too can help her develop self-confidence as she learns to be an independent worker and the ‘self starter’ so beloved by employers.
If you and she both look at an unfortunate situation from the perspective of how good it can be, you may be surprised. What was horrible may turn out to be one of the best things that could happen. Even if that isn’t the case, everyone eventually learns from the School of Hard Knocks. She just may be attending it earlier than most.
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