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There's a switch from being taught by one generalist teacher to 4-7 specialist teachers around grades six and seven. The generalist has ~30 students while the specialists have ~150. Both student and teacher know each other less.
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I'm not arguing against specialists (since they have plenty of benefits) nor am I claiming this is the only reason (your other guesses sound reasonable too) but I think this is a very "tactile" change from elementary school.
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I distinctly remember in middle school becoming a lot more interested in learning because the topics were so much more interesting (algebra! chemistry!) but also becoming much more disenchanted with "school". I remember hating "school" but really loving select classes/teachers.
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From memory, it was the decreasing perceived relevance to real life. Life was increasingly relationships & understanding my role as a maturing adult; school more (eg) geography, maths, and being told. Feels like travel, community ed, autonomy ed would have been more engaging.
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