Should Middle Schoolers be Dating?
Here’s an article written by my eighth grade coworker Evary during our journalism unit. Check out Middle to High School Transition by Suri Isom, and COVID, Quarantine and Kids written by myself!
By Evary Almonte Ortiz
Why are middle schoolers dating? In my opinion I think middle schoolers shouldn’t date. I think this because most middle schoolers are not mature enough to deal with their own emotions let alone someone elses. If you’re in a relationship during middle school you won’t be able to take your partner on dates or be unsupervised because you're too young. The most that you and your partner will be able to do is go to the movies or to the arcade. So I think that middle schoolers shouldn’t be dating.
I went around and interviewed other middle school students to see what their opinions were on ‘should middle schoolers be dating?’ The outcome of the interviews were 50% of people saying no, middle schoolers shouldn’t be dating, 35% of people saying it depends, and 15% of people saying yes.
All of the people that were interviewed will remain anonymous due to privacy reasons and be referred to as student 1,2,3 etc and teacher 1,2,3 etc.
Teacher #1 said “7-8th graders could date but dating at that level is different because you don’t drive. You should be supervised for things like movies and arcades instead of being left alone for hours because kids at that age are curious and curiosity could cause something bad to happen”. Student#1 said “It depends on the maturity level. If you're not as mature as the other person in the relationship they won’t think straight”.
Teacher #2 said “Absolutely not way too young and immature. When you break up or get broken up with everything will crash down and you will stop wanting to care about your school work”.
Student #2 said “yea it’s cool because you gotta find yourself, find who you like and don’t like”.
Student #3 said “no you go to school to learn not to date, from a girls perspective a crush but not serious. Fries before guys. Save that for highschool because it causes drama”.
Student #4 said “it depends on the relationshipthey have, some people date to look cool instead of actually liking them”.
Teacher #3 said “ it’s natural at this age however it changes depending on who likes you back. Spending time together, no. People are very easily influenced at this age so it’s easy to cross inappropriate boundaries. No physical contact whatsoever. Unless there are some strict boundaries. NO.”
With all of the information and interviews that I have collected I truly think middle school students shouldn’t be dating, but what about you? While reading this, what's your opinion on the question ‘should middle school students be dating?’.