8th Grade may be summed up as a year of polarities. Virtually everything studied is approached from at least two perspectives, which leads the students to see for themselves that there may be two answers for any one problem, two sides to any one issue and that shades of gray exist throughout history. In algebra students learn that even a math problem may have two completely different and perfectly correct answers. This emphasis on duality arises as the curriculum tries to meet, nourish, and balance the powerful polarizing forces in the 8th grader, such as sympathy and antipathy, joy and sorrow, love and hate, good and evil, contraction and relaxation, etc.

As a picture, 8th Graders are at the precipice of the unknown. Students of this age are often drawn together with the strength similar to powerful magnets and yet are also trying hard to be recognized as individuals, which include specific talent and challenges. This is often the year of reckoning as skills and understanding of all elementary concepts are solidified through the extensive curriculum and lessons of the 8th Grade.

If the 7th Grader is said to be a voyage of discovery, the 8th Grader can be thought of as a revolutionary. Revolutionary periods are studied in history, the world in geography, the short story in Language Arts, and the platonic solids in Geometry. Anatomy and Physiology add to the student’s knowledge of themselves, and Meteorology enhances their understanding of the greater world. Students continue to find artistic expression in chorus, playing an instrument, and working with their hands in sewing and woodwork. At the end of the year, each student presents a project they have been working on independently throughout the school year. Additionally, the class performs a major play, often a Shakespearean work. The students have traveled so far from their initial 1st Grade lesson when they were introduced to straight and curved lines; as 8th Grade comes to a close, students are ready to launch into High School with skill, poise, and intention.