It's a ceramics class, so while the kiddos are working with their hands, they talk. About all sorts of things.
I don't know how they got on the topic of middle schoolers. (The classes are populated with 11th and 12th graders.) But, I also don't know how they got on the topic of God, of tweezing eyebrows, of Bob Ross, or of when their parents had the sex that produced them. They talk about all sorts of weird things.
I generally don't butt into the conversations unless they are factually incorrect or they're talking about something that isn't appropriate for a classroom. But this one...
"They're so small. The middle schoolers are shrinking."
Me: "No, you're just bigger. You were that size once."
"No. I wasn't..." She thought about this. "Are you sure they're not smaller than they used to be?"
Me: "The middle schoolers are the same size as they have been. You've just grown."
She took my word for it. But it kind of blew her mind. She didn't think she'd grown that much, but today's middle schoolers were much smaller than her.
The difference between 11th grade and 7th grade is four years. To them it feels like longer. (Oh, don't even get them started on "little kids". They really have no concept of age.)
Maybe they are shrinking...
ReplyDeleteKids know about Bob Ross?
Now I'm curious who Bob Ross is. I can see their point about kids "shrinking" and them not realizing how much they've grown over those 4 years. I've watched the girl across the street since she was finishing 6th grade 2-1/2 years ago, and now she's in 9th grade this year. She's really much taller than she was when we first moved in. I can see how 11th/12th graders would forget they really were that much shorter back in their middle school years.
ReplyDeletebetty
Hi Liz - I was tall once ... then I was a reasonable height, now I'm small - kids have definitely got taller ... some people tower above me! Fun to listen in to their conversations ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteYou never notice that you're growing, do you? Although now I'm remembering that I totally was the same size in Middle School as I was in twelfth grade.
ReplyDeleteIt sure seemed long to me. Once I graduated high school, time started going faster.
ReplyDeleteIt been so long since I been to middle school or in my day it was known as Jr High.
ReplyDeleteEven as a child, I had a fairly good concept of age for whatever reason. I don't recall thinking of my parents as old, for example. My nephew was different. At age seven he heard from my then-boyfriend that I was twenty-five, a quarter of a century (!) old. I can still picture his face and those bugged out eyes. Heh... Be well!
ReplyDeleteYeah, not every kiddo has trouble with the concept of ages. It's the ones that talk about it that don't, I find. (Those that do tend to not speak up.)
DeleteWhat grades are middle school where you are? Things keep changing, here it's now 6-7-8th grade, then high school is 9-10-11-12. When I was in school we had junior high which was 7-8-9, and high school was 3 years. I am the same height now that I was in the 6th grade. My nickname back in the day was king size. Now, I'm considered small, lol.
ReplyDeleteMiddle school is 7th & 8th. But yeah, it depends on the district.
DeleteWhen I was little (like, 6ish) my favorite taunt to yell at my sister was "someday I'll be older than you!" and she (2-years older) would laugh and say, "You can't be older, you can only be bigger."
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I am bigger. She cursed me.
My little brother is bigger than me, too.
DeleteI can imagine being a fly on the wall. You must get a few laughs.
ReplyDeleteOh man, do I ever. Some of the stuff they talk about... It's funny how at the same time they can be so deep and so navel gazing.
DeleteI remember having this conversation as a teen, too. It was that the 9th graders when I was just a 10th or 11th grader were so much shorter than we were. And looking at my nephew who is in 7th grade this year, I do feel as though they are shrinking. lol
ReplyDeleteIt helps that I see them year after year. I can assure you that they're no smaller than they used to be.
DeleteSometimes I see first graders and they look positively tiny! Like they should still be home with their blanky!
ReplyDeleteI remember being in the 6th grade and returning to the elementary school. The toilets were even small! How did everything get so small. Now, I ask that question about my wardrobe. How did these pants get so small? And that shirt! Did I wash it in hot water? It seems to have shrunk!
ReplyDeleteEven over a summer some students grow a lot. It's hard to remember how small we all once were.
DeleteThey definitely come up with some weird topics for conversation. Why would anyone want to contemplate their parents' sex life?!? That's so funny that they don't think they were ever that small. Do they not realize they're wearing larger sized clothes and shoes?
ReplyDeleteThen know it intellectually, but they don't know know it, I think. And I was shocked by that topic myself. A couple of them did know what event, but the others were doing a bit of math and guessing. Why that came up...? I never can tell.
DeleteHa! Ha! That is how I feel about age sometimes. They are all much younger than I EVER was!
ReplyDeleteBut of course they are ;)
DeleteOne of my Barbarians refers to the students two years below him as "little kids"! He doesn't understand why I laugh.
ReplyDeleteI remember feeling like that! I think as you get older and quit getting taller the difference in age seems to shrink. Height imho is what makes that difference feels so significant.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd love to be a fly in that classroom listening to their conversations. I bet it's great. A friend of mine is a HS English teacher and she has quotes of the day from her classes. They are great. :)
They are great. They have moments of such great brilliance. And then other times they're totally clueless.
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