Why Is 6th Grade So Important?

TLDR:
6th grade is the transition between childhood and adolescence — a uniquely fertile window where a student’s deeper potentials first surface, and early cultivation compounds across a lifetime.

Because 6th grade is the key transitional stage between childhood and adolescence. Many students begin hitting puberty over the course of the year, and they slowly cease being little kids and gradually come into the age of adolescence. This is where students write the last pages of their childhood and begin writing the first of their adolescence, and beginnings and endings are key points in a beautiful story. There’s also a broad spread of developmental stages and rates in 6th grade that must be gently accounted for – particularly in a social setting like a classroom. Some boys still wear Pokemon t-shirts, and rightfully so, totally age appropriate, but other boys begin to notice the girls and grow more self-aware, while most of the girls are a step or two ahead of the farthest boys. The female brain finishes myelinating (developing) between the ages of 16-18, and the male brain between 24-26. The girls naturally get there faster, but by the end of spring, most of the children have begun changing, then summer takes the rest. And when they return to us again in the fall for 7th grade, we’re presented with adolescents in full bloom. The magic of early childhood has all but faded as they enter their teen years, growing ever more aware of the world, of those around them, and of themselves.

This 6th grade year, in conjunction with the onset of puberty and adolescence, is when the student’s childhood begins to crystalize within them and forms the foundation upon which they build in their teens and beyond. As such, this is also when some of a young person’s deeper potentials first begin to reveal themselves. By this point, students have had a significant chunk of time to explore the world and find things they like and some they don’t. Consequently, they begin gravitating toward the things that resonate most strongly with them, that most sharply pique their curiosity and leave them craving more. Such feelings often lead to students doubling down on the things they like best, specializing in a select few niches while the rest fall naturally to the wayside. Imagine the electricity in the air the first time Picasso touched a paintbrush, even if he were all alone in a room, or Michael Jordan a basketball. There’s no way either of them could have foreseen the journey they’d just begun, but in that fateful moment there was greatness in the making.

In this period of newfound self-awareness and self-discovery in 6th grade, a good coach can be gasoline to a student’s fire and help propel them to great heights. In contrast, however, a bad coach can smother a spark that could have become a blaze. Teachers and parents too. 6th grade is the end of a journey, the culmination and end of childhood. This set of earliest experiences helps students distinguish between right and wrong, what they like and don’t like, and how they may wish to spend their life. There is a balance, of course: We obviously can’t expect 6th graders to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives, they haven’t been exposed to enough of life to make an informed decision. But they’ve probably seen enough to start speaking up for themselves and make some decisions about what they want to pursue, and to what extent. And we grown-ups would be wise to listen and help guide them.

Teachers, coaches, program directors, parents, and all the other grown-ups have to remember that all the things we do essentially revolve around the children. Teacher? No kids, no students, no teacher. Coach? No kids, no athletes, no coach. Parent? Not without kids. And what’s the purpose of a teacher or a coach anyway (or a parent)? To cultivate the potentials within the child. If you coach softball, then your objective is to make your athletes as highly skilled and effective as you can at softball. Same for chess, math, dance, studio art, and everything else. If the purpose of education is to cultivate a person’s potential, help them discover who they are, and empower them to create something beautiful in the world, then this 6th grade year offers some of the most fertile soil available to us. We can plant the good seeds early before any bad habits or weeds take root, to pleasantly accelerate the child’s development, and ultimately help them go farther in their life.

Imagine asking a 6th grader the right questions to help them discover their own deepest potential for themselves. Think of the implications of helping someone see in themselves that one thing that only they can be the very best at – and at such an impressionable age! It’s a harsh truth to tell, but the fact is that some people, a lot of people, never really find their ‘thing’. That one thing they’re the ‘Michael Jordan’ of – and everyone has it. Everyone’s got something. On the other hand, some people do figure it out, and their lives are infused with a kind of vibrance, a richness only achieved through the pursuit and manifestation of one’s dreams. Now, of that group of people who finds and manifests the gift within them, when did they find it? How old were they? And how old were they once they’d cultivated that talent to the point that it actually began bearing fruit? The earlier in life we find our gift, the sooner it can be brought to bear, and the more fruit it can produce across the person’s life. It works like compound interest or geometric growth: the earlier you begin, the bigger the advantage you have.

6th grade is a special time. The last wisps of early childhood keep the kids silly and playful, but they also have enough of a knowledge base to begin wielding serious ideas like the hard sciences of chemistry, biology, and physics. Furthermore, when that same knowledge base is combined with those new ideas, the child’s mind becomes a womb of profound questions. “If we cut a starfish in half, and it produces two starfish, what happened to the original starfish’s consciousness?” This is a real question asked by a real 6th grader during a real science class. Such an exotic question exemplifies the potent blend of childish innocence and legitimate intellectual capacity, and serves as a testament to the power of the young mind. Just imagine all the beautiful things that can be achieved when such natural potency is channeled toward noble ends. As such, it’s upon us grown-ups then to see the kids as clearly as we can for the substance within them, and in that clarity, to help the child see it for themselves. 6th grade and the transition into adolescence are so important because it’s when the student starts to come into their own, when they first start to solidify into the person they will become, and in this transition, their minds are exceptionally fertile. It’s an opportunity to instill the very best things in them and establish a compounding advantage early in their lives.