Junior High

Did you have a good experience? Did you have a bad experience?

For me, it was... all right. Not horrible. The band was the best aspect for me; I had never been in a large ensemble before. The band had a good reputation and the director was fun, but he also had high expectations for us, which we usually met. I had my first major crush in junior high... that ended badly. Surprise!

But overall, it was fine.

not the best. I was homeschooled, having issues at home, and health problems. when I look back at that time there's just a lot of awkwardness, loneliness, and hurt. I'm glad those days are over.

I got bullied in middle school, though I had one friend that I wish I hadn't lost contact with. Kids can be really mean that age. Thank God it was before Facebook/Twitter/Youtube because I imagine bullying is so much worse now.

What ages are junior high?

I was home schooled. We didn't have elementary, middle, etc.

here its grade 7-9 so about 12-14(ish)

Worst years of my life, really. Especially in 8th grade, because we had just moved, and I had no friends, and it was one of the first time I encountered what cliques really were.

I had a blast. I attended a school for a few months that was really lame (mild teasing/bullying - also didn't care for the school's organization), but then was homeschooled but needed social badly so I worked on getting into another school (got in for 9th grade) and went to basically everything my church offered - youth group, sunday school (attending and helping with it), bible doctrine class; game nights, camps, other trips; then I was pretty independent when it came to getting my school work done and having weekdays free to do whatever I wanted. I'd hang out with lots of friends around my neighborhood, and go meet new kids at the local park when I'd often just go there in the middle of the day (the public school system was on tracks rather than regular school years with summer breaks, so there was always other kids around). Some weeks I would go visit my grandmother on thursday-friday since I could get my weeks worth of work done in the first 3 days of the week (also we did school through the summers). She died when I was 13, it was really hard but I felt blessed that I got to spend that extra time with her.

I liked junior high.

Oh gosh, junior high was awful. Mostly because the school I went to was where all the people from the ritzy part of town went. My family has always been FAR from that. I never had nice enough clothes, or expensive enough haircuts, or anything else I had - even school supplies. And the fact that I got free lunches...forget about it - I went many lunches just saying I'm not hungry rather than getting taunted in line.

High school was better. More balanced, which I think helped make the awfulness stop quite a bit.

My middle school experience was a mixed bag. It got off to a good start, but quickly went downhill. The first year was encouraging. I made a few new friends, liked my classes, was on the honor role etc. The following two years, however, were a train wreck. Perhaps due to a growth spurt in which I became gangly and awkward, acne outbreaks, and a healthy dose of nerd/dork/geekiness, was taunted incessantly and began failing my classes as a result. If homeschooling was an option, I would have gladly chosen it. Were it not for band, I might still be in the 7th grade. I loved music, and playing the trombone gave me an outlet for that interest. When I became good enough at it, I auditioned for and made the jazz band the first year I was eligible, which set the stage (pun intended) for good times for years to come.

It had its good and bad times. But I guess that is like everything else in life.

I was bullied and had things stolen from me.
My brother experienced the same thing but after a long while he used his hands to solve his problems. One kid harassed him so much that he nearly failed all his classes. He never wanted to go back. We were talking about this the other day, he told me something happened inside of him and he couldn't take it anymore so when the boys pushed him around one day after school he hit one of the boys so hard he fell on the floor. After that, they ignored him.

As for me when I couldn't take it after a year of being bullied. I stood up in the lunch room (when the girl kept throwing food at me) and said what a mean and ugly person she was and how she was always going to stay mean and ugly... I on the other hand would have a better life and future then her.
I was told by other kids that she cried the whole day.
Then when my notebook was stolen (I spent months saving money to buy it ) I was so upset. I went to the principles office. The girl who stole my notebook was called in and she cried so much the principle felt sorry for her and let her go.
She didn't talk to me after that but I remember telling her I better have it on my best the next day.


Point of the story: don't get on my bad side I can only take so much. Lol


Beside that I played a lot of sports! I enjoyed that a lot!

The kid who bullied me the most was my "friend". She did try to steal a keychain I made and was on the back of my backpack, but I retrieved it and didn't keep it on the back of my bag anymore. She would swing her book back at me; and even grabbed the back of my neck when I was on the swing she wanted to be on. But she was verbally bullied by everyone else far more than she physically bullied me. Several of my classmates would ask me why I didn't talk. So I never talked to them. (I think that was more teasing than bullying and I teased them right back by making funny faces at them when one was looking and the other wasn't).
I still did have fun at that school when I wasn't in classes. I liked to rollerblade around campus and go off jumps when no one was around. PE was fun when we played games but I hated that they wanted all the girls to play volleyball. I was the only girl in my grade who refused to be on the volleyball team (small school).
But I was only there for a few months (beginning of 7th grade). My last day of school I didn't tell anyone it was my last day I just enjoyed not doing homework or classwork.

I was a runt so my first part I was bullied.

Then I got fed up and fought back, I was never bullied again, even after I moved schools.

I got into plenty of fights afterward, but it was mostly when I was standing up for someone who wouldnt stand for themselves or I went looking for a fight.

The rest of my school years were enjoyable.

Most bullies will not bug you if you stand up to them. Its easy to bully people who don't stand up for themselves. But those who do stand up for themselves are a harder target.

Its like the biggest kid bullies the one weaker than him, the one weaker than him bullies the one smaller than him.

I remember first day of high school. I was standing in the lunch line and this huge kid came up and pushed me out of the line and took my spot. So I went to the back of the line. My friend saw this and after we ate, my friend went up to this gigantic dude and goes "You are not gonna mess with me friend again". I was seriously impressed with my friend at that point for standing up for me and standing up to this giant.

I certainly made myself a harder target after I stood up.

The final cord that snapped for me when I was bullied I had an "out of body experience" (where its as if you step out of your body and see yourself as the world does) I got knocked down by the football team as each one proceeded to literally walk on me, I saw how pathetic I was. When I "snapped back into my body" I smacked the next persons foot that walked on me, knocked them off me, bashed their head into the lockers.

Before then, I was a gentle, loving and passive kid. After I was highly aggressive and I swore to myself, never again will I allow myself to be walked on, figuratively or literally.

I had started in on drugs a year before entering jr high, so with that and the new found aggression, it wasn;t long til I found myself last year of Jr High in a military boarding school.Which made me worse as I fought those at the military school that were in charge (adults) along with a few of my buddies that were like me. Everyone from the principle of the school to the cook. (We were served left overs from week(s) before, they would scrape old food off plates and reuse it a week later, you could tell by the food)

They put on a show for parents as if it were a "wholesome good place to send your kids" I fought to remove that vale and showed it was hell. By the end of the year, those who abused their power over a bunch of kids were fired and my parents saw what I had really gone through and the stories I told them, were not just of a kid wanting to go home, I never went back.

The teachers even tried to say I bought drugs because I gave a homeless man some money. As if being kind to less fortunate is so unheard of. They got in my face about it saying "We know you bought drugs, where are they? Empty your backpack!"

After fighting everyone and everything, I was even worse than when I went into military school.

I was fat. It was horrible.
When I lost weight the summer between junior high and high school it was like going from hell to popularity in the blink of an eye.

OneHappyCookie wrote:

I was fat. It was horrible.
When I lost weight the summer between junior high and high school it was like going from hell to popularity in the blink of an eye.

 I don't believe people ever disliked you, EVERYONE loves cookies, especially a happy cookie.

I was bullied until 6th grade when I stood up for myself. After that the people who did bully me left me alone. The really weird thing was in 7th grade when I played football, people saw I wasn't this week nerd or whatever, I actually had athletic ability. I didn't really hang out with the "cool" kids ever though.

My school days were so weird. Of course, like every school, there were cliques that most people fit into a particular group and some people didn't fit into any. I fit into all of them. I was very popular, but not in a big-headed way. I was the funny big guy and no one messed with me to my face.

But I had friends who were the outcasts, the goths. I had one friend who got pregnant at 14 and people called her a whore and made fun of her until they found out I was her friend, then they left her alone. I played football, so I was friends with the jocks. I was captain of the debate team and was in drama club, so I was in with them. I had a few gay friends.

Despite that, I didn't have a real close, best-friend type friendship because I guess I poured myself into every area. There were some people who didn't like me because I hung out with or ate lunch with one group he or she didn't like. I was big enough not to get messed with, but too big to get a girlfriend or any interest from the girls (that I'm aware of. I was really shy in that department. never asked a girl out in all my days in school or went to any dance).

So I was known and generally accepted. but I wish I had like a best friend or someone I could be really close with. I've always wanted someone like that in my life but the people I want to be close with don't want to be close with me.

Wannabe, its hard right now with bullies you know.
You get either end (someone either kills themselves with the abuse, or administration/teachers do nothing at all or blame the child who stood up to someone).

For example, yesterday the reason the little boy hit me by accident with the ball was because another boy hit him on the head. He got so angry and took the ball and threw it at the boy but when I ran to stop it, it hit me instead. I was very upset with him because he hit me and did not care that it hurt me. But then when I cooled down I thought...1) this is a child who has every right to express his feelings 2) he does not know how to control his feelings 3) how do I make it better because there is something not right.

When I talked to dad about the situation he told me that his anger comes from the fact that his parents are not together. well, that made sense and I knew that. but I told dad, that his child is a leader and all the boys follow him. if the other children see him face the consequences of his actions the they don't do what he does. If they see that he goes to someone to help him when another child hits, they do the same thing. he is a model for the kids because he is bigger then they are and because he has that strong personality and they all want to play with him.

so first I had to show dad his childs strength. being a leader is a strength but how can we work on that to make this leader do positive things even though there is negativity around him at home.
unfortunately, I can do so much at school. If there is no consistency at home between the two families its going to be hard helping the child.

and sadly, people (children specifically) follow bad example early because its the first thing they can do by testing boundaries. and when they don't have stability at home, there is nothing you can do.

In some ways I am glad that I had stability at home. Though I did not tell my parents what would happen at school, I still saw how my parents treated me and their expectations of me.

There are so may layers of why people bully, I just wish parents and teachers would stop blaming each other and start solving the problem at hand. Both environments are important and if you want to save your kid, you should shut your pride and do so.

Yeah, in a sense teachers and administrators have become powerless to keep discipline and stop bullying. Like you said often the bully gets away with it, while the first kid who stands up to the bully gets caught.

There is a recent issue in a school district in the city next to mine. That high school has a really bad rep for having rough students and admin not doing anything about it. SO they recently got a new ROTC instructor at that school. Well this guy has been an ROTC instructor for 30 years and has an excellent record. He decided that he was gonna clean up the problems in the School ie, stop the bullying, stop the bad behavior and the gang activity.

But the admin at the school didn't like it. So after only 1 year they fired him as the ROTC instructor.

Sad part is anyone who tries to make a difference is pushed out of the district. While the bullies and the bad kids are allowed to run the schools.

I spent my middle school/junior high years being ignored, rather than bullied.  People just acted like I didn't exist.  The only exception I really recall to that was when a girl named Alicia Williams called me white trash and I punched her right in the face. I was being abused at home (verbally) and sexually abused by "friends" of the family so I actually preferred being ignored at school.

I was home schooled, so my experience was a lot different than most. But I was pretty much your average teenage nerd. I was big, chubby, and didn't know how to dress myself (porbably still don't know how lol)

I was so awkward in those times. I had no friends because I was SUPER shy and I spend most of my time playing video games and watching anime.