WHY YOUR SCHOOL SETTING
SHOULD INFLUENCE HOW YOU
READ THIS BOOK
STUFF YOU MAY NOT HAVE LEARNED IN MIDDLE SCHOOL: DURING WORLD WAR II, IBM BUILT THE COMPUTERS THE NAZIS USED TO MANAGE THEIR DEATH/CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
There are different kinds of schools, right? You know that. Take seventh grade as an example. Here are some of the variations we’ve seen:
• Public junior high where seventh grade is the youngest grade
• Public middle school where seventh grade is the middle grade
• Public middle school where seventh grade is the oldest grade
• Public school where seventh grade is the only grade (Really! A whole school of only seventh graders!)
• Public school that has kindergarten through eighth grade, so seventh grade is just about the oldest
• Public school that has junior high (or middle school) and high school combined
• Private Christian school versions of each of these
• Private school (not a Christian school) versions of all of these
• Home school where the student is never with other students
• Home school where the student is with other students either for part of every day, or for a few days each week
• And so many more, like military schools, missionary kid boarding schools, international English-speaking schools, foreign-language immersion schools, and others.
There are so many different ways to attend school. And since you probably haven’t experienced more than one of them (maybe two at the most), you might not think about the fact that what kind of school you attend will have a big impact on how you read this book.
For example, a chapter on picking your classes would be very different for a public school student than for a homeschooler. Or chapter 13 about the cafeteria lady—well, for the home school student, that’s probably Mom.
As we write this book, we’re trying to be aware of all these kinds of students, just like we’re aware of them when we work in our middle school ministries. And we’ve written three specific chapters (following this one) for the three most common readers: public school students, Christian school students, and home school students. But we need you to help us out.
Here’s our part: We’ll try to remember that your school might be different than someone else’s school. And we’ll try to write in such a way as to include you in all the chapters.
Here’s your part: We won’t succeed at this all the time. So in some of the chapters, you might need to think about how what we’re saying could be “translated” for your school situation.
Deal?