r/OldSchoolCool Aug 16 '24

1950s My Great Grandmother (center) with some of her friends, Middle School, Illinois, 1956

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25.7k Upvotes

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u/AxelShoes Aug 17 '24

I believe up until like the 1960s, most "middle schools" (junior high) went up to 9th grade, so they may actually have been what today would be high schoolers.

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u/PrincessPindy Aug 17 '24

I graduated High school in 76, and jr high was 7-9th. This was in Los Angeles.

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u/PhilxBefore Aug 17 '24

Your 50th high-school re-union is in 2 more years!

Hoping you invite Bob and Agnes for some Burgers, Drinks & Salsa Music!

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u/PrincessPindy Aug 17 '24

If someone had been named Agnes, she would have had a very rough time.

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u/neatlystackedboxes Aug 17 '24

Farrah and Lee introduced her to Bob so she'd have a friend.

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u/Mama_Skip Aug 17 '24

Jesus man you didn't have to twist the knife

3

u/2ichie Aug 17 '24

Which honestly makes a lot more sense when you see the size difference between 9th graders and 12th. Sometimes it’s literally 2ft.

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u/PrincessPindy Aug 17 '24

I have never understood why they did it.

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u/2ichie Aug 17 '24

I’m sure $ has something to do with it

2

u/PrincessPindy Aug 17 '24

Yeah, probably.

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u/MagicalMysticalMyth Aug 17 '24

I graduated in 1999 and our middle school was also 7-9. This was in Pennsylvania.

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u/chupacabrabandit Aug 18 '24

I graduated in 2008 in Oklahoma and it was the same for us. They changed it to 6-8 shortly after.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '24

[deleted]

1

u/PrincessPindy Aug 17 '24

It's bad enough that I was only 14 in 10th grade. I can't imagine being 13 in high school. The seniors can be 17-19.

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u/lantzn Aug 19 '24

I graduated in 77 in San Diego and our jr high was 7-8th and HS 9-12th. Strange how things were different when not so far away.

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u/microcandella Aug 17 '24

Depended on the area and schools. One room schools were still around at that time too and my Grandmother taught 1st through high school in it not far from there at that time (and the school is engraved on a US quarter) . But for larger schools they separated them in different ways in different areas. Mostly k-5/6/7 then 6/7-8 / 9 and then 6/7/8/9/10-12. Mine in the 80s switched between high school being 10-12 into 9-12. Really pissed off the 10th graders and gave the 11th & 12th graders 2 grades to mercilessly haze instead of just the 10th graders. the 10th graders felt they lost some hazing ability for us younger ones lol.

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u/VOZ1 Aug 17 '24

Where I live, elementary is K-4, middle school is 5-7, and high school is 8-12. Never seen it before, but I suspect it’s a result of population quirks and building capacity.

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u/Available-Extreme-68 Aug 17 '24

Depends on so much! Small Midwest school, first building was k-1 elementary was 2-6, jr and we high in same building but jr high is 7–8 and hs was 9-12

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u/ReadRightRed99 Aug 17 '24

Not too many one room schools in the 1950s.

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u/microcandella Aug 18 '24

Not many but not few back then. Funny thing.. one of my girlfriends from college was in one with k-10 in the 80s. Town population ~300 with many mennonite home schoolers in the district. Her graduating class was 5.

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u/MyHamburgerLovesMe Aug 17 '24

I graduated high school in the mid-west in 1980 and our school was only 10th, 11th and 12th grade.

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u/Most-Protection-2529 Aug 18 '24

I graduated in 1980 also. 9th grade (freshman) 10th grade (sophomore) 11th grade (junior) and 12th grade (senior)... It must depend on the state maybe? Middle school was 6 - 8 and grade school was K - 5th. I live in New York.

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u/Professional-End-718 Aug 17 '24

Yup. My grandmother told me that is how it was her for her in the 50s in Queens

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u/FlammableBrains Aug 17 '24

I'm in my 30s and I went to a junior high before high school

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u/No_Establishment8642 Aug 17 '24

My local ISD has 9th as junior high/middle school.

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u/alloy1028 Aug 17 '24

My junior high was 7th-9th and I graduated in 2001. The only freshman experience I had was running on the high school cross country team a year before I went to that school.

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u/liltinykitter Aug 17 '24

The jr high I worked at had 9th grade until 2017. :)

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u/fessertin Aug 18 '24

Huh, they're still doing that where I grew up. I graduated in 98 and as far as I know Jr. High is still 7,8,9 and High School is 10, 11, 12. I just figured it was a space constraint, not that it was purposeful. But it was definitely called Jr. High, not middle school.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '24

My school had “jr high” until 1999