Explain why junior high and middle schools were established in our country

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Junior high and middle schools evolved in response to educators questioning the effectiveness of the then prevalent organizational pattern of 8 years of elementary and 4 years of high school. Critics argued that too much emphasis was being placed on basic skills in the upper elementary grades, time that should have been spent learning content in depth. Developmental psychologists also noted that early adolescence is a time of intellectual, emotional, and physical transition, and students undergoing these transitions require a different kind of school. In response to these arguments, educators created junior high schools, which were intended to provide a unique academic curriculum for early adolescents.
Most "junior" highs were imitations of high schools, with emphasis on academic disciplines and little attention to adolescent development, and, in response to criticism of this organizational pattern, middle schools were created to meet the unique social, emotional, and intellectual needs of early adolescents.