seventh grade

After World War Two, the seventh grade was the first of two grades in what for many public school students in the United States was known as "junior high." Later, as the population growth rate slowed, the children of baby boomers found themselves entering a seventh grade that was the middle grade of what became known as "middle school." Regardless of the generation or the school designation, seventh graders are roughly between the ages of twelve and fourteen, an age that spans the gap between childish innocence and nascent pubescence. Often associated with burgeoning self-awareness and a resultant social and cultural awkwardness, seventh graders can at times be wise beyond their years, yet are effectively children.