Entering Adulthood

The difference in character between seventh grade and eight grade students is startling. Seventh grade is the last vestige of childhood. They are noisy, restless and uncontrollable. They are eager to talk to me and to each other. They roam about the room constantly as if they all have ants in their pants. But the eighth grade students have lost all that itchiness and sit quietly, barely acknowledging my presence.

Since the seventh and eighth grade classes came to the same teacher, I was able to observe this dichotomy of behavior. One of the teachers came and talked to me at lunch. We discussed the feelings of eighth graders. They are afraid because they are entering adulthood and heading off to high school. They have to make choices about what classes to take and what they plan to do with their lives. They are preoccupied with this.

What’s that quote? “When I was a child, I played with childish things. When I was an adult, I put away childish…” whatever.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe (or on a shoestring).
She had so many children; she didn’t know what to do.
They came at her day after day.
They had different faces and she didn’t know their names.