Weird. When I look back to junior high school (technically, my school was an "intermediate school" with 7th and 8th grades; a real junior high adds 9th grade), I see some of the most "challenging" times of my life. So it was really odd to see the widespread change from junior high and intermediate schools to middle schools in the ten to twelve years between when #sonOne went through and when #sonTwo and #Daddy_A went thorough.

(The younger two wound up going from public middle schools to a charter school because of the less violent and more learning centered environment. 2nd son got to take college classes as part of his curriculum and the youngest was no longer terrified by race-related fights that were happening at the public school.)