Currently, high school and middle school students are located on the same campus at Preuss. They are not isolated by grade and often share the same buildings. The problem is that mixing the grades has caused too many conflicts.. In the next 5 years, the school should renovate and prepare to separate high school students from middle school students because middle schoolers are constantly yelling, trashing the bathrooms, throwing food, and disturbing the high school students’ ability to learn.
Preuss has two different lunches for middle and high schoolers. Middle school lunch starts at 11:37 am and ends at 12:06pm. High schoolers start at 12:15-12:44. When it comes to middle school lunch, high school classes are still in session. When high schoolers are taking tests, middle schoolers are a disruption because they are out noisily playing. Since some middle school students are friends with high school students, another distraction is created as the high school students will leave class to see their friends. Missing class will cause them to miss important topics, leading to a poor learning environment.
Another reason why they should be in separate areas is that middle schoolers are messy. In the bathrooms, they throw food on the walls and the mirrors, they also put food in the toilets and clog them. They also leave food all over the table, not cleaning up after themselves where high school students will then eat for lunch. These behaviors force high schoolers to pick up another’s mess, which is unfair to them.
Finally, it would be best to separate middle school students because they are fresh from elementary school. Therefore, middle schoolers should have their own space to experience the period of growth when it comes to becoming teenagers. They should only be around students their own age to develop their identities.
However, I do propose one exception: eighth graders can be allowed to mix with high schoolers. Since they are starting to act more mature they are not going to want to be around 7th and 6th graders. This would also make eighth graders take school more seriously and it can also make the Preuss school way different from other schools.
I think in general the Preuss School would be better off if it was separated by grades.
