#TheChapelSeperation
Many say that those who are older should be good examples for those younger than them. This statement goes well with many things in life. An older brother should set a good example for a younger brother such as a parent should set a fine example for their children. In many ways, the older person is seen as "superior" but in a good way. They should help lead and encourage those who are younger.
In this year's chapel, the middle schoolers and high schoolers were split into two chapels. The high schoolers were all for the idea of removing the middle schoolers from their services, and it wasn't hard to see why. The middle schoolers, though, had some different opinions about the matter that never got heard. When Ms. Young announced the separation, it was only normal for the high schoolers to cheer and clap while the middle schoolers sat with an air of defeat and rejection. At that moment while people were clapping over the announcement, I looked around at the middle schoolers sitting around me. Why were the high schoolers so anxious and happy to get rid of them? What was wrong with them being in our chapels? Was it just because they were younger and so we saw them as "inferior" or less intelligent? It wasn't until a few months later that I got the answers to my questions.
As a part of Junior Leadership, we are required to attend middle school chapel to help with games and help serve the middle school community. I was expecting them to all integrate and mix together but I walked in and got the shock of my life. You could tell there was a bit of tension -- or separation -- between the grades. The sixth graders sat up front in a big huddle almost as if they were afraid of the upperclassmen. The seventh graders sat close to the front of the room but were a bit more spread out. And then there were the eighth graders. They sat as far away from the front of the room or other grades as they could. Almost squished against the wall, they seemed to be almost bored with the chapel and everyone involved in it. During middle school chapels the Leadership Team plays games and of course, we need volunteers. The minute we ask for volunteers the sixth graders' hands shoot up: all of them want to play the game. The seventh graders are the same: they want a chance to play! And then there are the eighth graders, who shrink back into the wall, hoping that nobody will notice them and they won't be forced to play. The first time this happened I was in utter disbelief; why wouldn't the eighth graders want to participate? And then it hit me.
Being an eighth grader means that you're essentially "the big man on campus". You call the shots - at least, for the lower half of secondary. You're the leader of the grades below you. You get to show them how things are done. We all remember feeling that way, right? Like you were the coolest thing to exist since sliced bread? The eighth graders, for the most part, didn't want to participate because they felt as if it was beneath them (more in the sense that it was childish). That made sense to me, they just wanted to be in a setting where the people were just as mature or even more mature than them. That's why the eighth graders--as far as I could tell -- wanted to stay in the high school chapel. One eighth grader explained to me, "The separation of the grades for chapel was okay later but at the beginning, it was really hard. The middle school chapel team wasn't sure how to work and we could have been helped by the high schoolers." This makes perfect sense! Next year they'll be in high school and that means that they have to grow up and mature a bit. So why not surround them with that example of maturity now when they're still transitioning from being a middle schooler to a high schooler? Why not help them learn a bit earlier so that when they do go into high school they'll know how to act? These were the questions that made me contemplate over the separation of the chapels.
The best route to go, or the best one that I can think of, is to bring the eighth graders into the high school chapel so that they can learn. The sixth and seventh graders can have their own middle school chapel where they can still have fun and learn about the Lord. It benefits everyone all around I believe. The eighth graders would learn and be surrounded by people of their own level of maturity so they wouldn't feel as awkward, the high schoolers would be able to teach them how to be mature, and the two other middle school grades could have as much fun as they wanted.