Change—and the Junior High (1965)
In the 1960s, when educators sought to revamp the junior high school concept by replacing it with a middle school model that was designed for children in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, they closely analyzed several important issues related to adolescent education and development. In an editorial in the December 1965 issue of Educational Leadership, Gordon F. Vars, then director of the Junior High School Project at Cornell University, offers a glimpse into the debate.
- Read the article: Change—and the Junior High (PDF)
Vars also discusses the various arguments around expanding junior high to as early as 5th grade and as late as 9th—and the fears such change engendered in educators and society.
While establishing grades 7 and 8 as junior high has led, in the view of many, to "more challenging subject matter" and
