I think 6th grade belongs in elementary school, Change my mind.

I think 6th grade belongs in elementary school instead of middle school. There are several reasons I think this should be the case. I'm from Hawaii, And the state DOE officially classifies 6th grade as elementary school. But some elementary schools are starting to cut off at 5th grade now and put 6th grade in middle school, Which is a terrible idea. On Oahu, About 90% of elementary schools are K-6 (however in the city of Honolulu about 75% are K-5), On the Big Island, It's about half/half between K-5 & K-6, On Kauai, Only 2 elementary schools are K-6, And on Maui, None of the elementary schools are K-6 anymore. On Molokai, Where I have lived for 10 years now, Starting 1st grade here in 2008, And now a HS junior (I lived on Kauai before this). There are four elementary schools that are K-6 and one middle & high school which share a campus but are considered separate schools (MS is 7-8, HS is 9-12). I went to 1st-2nd grade at one school then transferred to another one for 3rd-6th grade. Let me tell you 6th grade was one of the best school years of my life. The reason I say that is because it was our last year of elementary we got to do all kinds of fun activities to end our ES career with a bang, And because we had top dog status over SIX different classes below you. But the main reason is because 6th grade was really the last year of my childhood. The way I see it, Once you leave elementary school your childhood is over. This is what genuinely scares me about moving 6th grade into middle school. When I started 7th grade; my whole class quadrupled in size, I had to go to 6 classes every day, My parents started breathing down my neck when it came to grades, All these jerks were trying (and failing) to get me to do stupid stuff, Guys who were only one year older looked 6 years older, And it was very intimidating going into it. I did pull through eventually, But that unfortunately wasn't the case for everyone, And I think that has something to do with having an immature mind. The reason 6th graders do better in elementary is because well, They're only 11-12 years old, Not even teenagers yet, And pediatricians say that between ages 5-12 your body is growing kinda slow, And after that your growth speeds up again because of puberty and all that. As a result the sizes between students in different elementary school levels are pretty consistent, Each year you get a little bigger. Once you get to middle school however, All that stuff goes out the window. As Greg Heffley once said "if you ask me middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented, You have guys like me who haven't had their growth spurt yet, Mixed in with these gorillas who have to shave twice a day". The middle school years are the two years where students are growing and changing at their fastest rates, And putting elementary school rugrats into that kind of setting can only do more harm than good. Not only would 6th graders physically be way smaller in middle school, But their minds aren't ready for it either. Juggling 6 classes of assignments and homework is a difficult thing to do, And I don't think you're ready for it until you're a teenager or at least about to become one (hence 7th graders being ages 12-13). Not to mention your class gets about four times bigger, Which can be intimidating meeting all these new people and no longer being surrounded by kids you've known since kindergarten. Your parents will also lose all their chill when it comes to your grades, Which can also make you hate your life, If you didn't already. The biggest thing is that in middle school you start seeing kids who vape, Drink beer, Smoke pakalolo, Have sex at way too young, Etc. , And many people who do these things will try to get the younger kids to follow them. The younger the kids, The more likely they'll be to try these things to look cool. Because 6th graders aren't teenagers yet, They still kinda have that rugrat mindset, And I think they'd be a lot more likely to try these things if pressured to do so due to simple naivety. That's the worst of it, Putting 6th graders in middle school only makes them more likely to do dumb stuff, And that's the biggest reason 6th grade should stay in elementary school. Also some of these 6th graders can be really disrespectful and immature. One time in 8th grade some 6th graders came from an elementary school to tour the place and they were jumping around screaming in the hallways which was very annoying to those of us who were in class. One of my friends got up and went by the door to shout at those kids to knock it off and they stopped. But they were acting like elementary school kids, Because that's how their minds are naturally programmed. To me, Elementary school should include all the little rugrats (grades K-6), And secondary (middle/high) school should only include teenagers and those just about to become teenagers (grades 7-12). This way the two sides are half/half with each other because you have grades 1-6 on one side, And grades 7-12 on the other, With kindergarten just being extra. This is why i think 6th grade belongs in elementary school instead of middle school.