King Arthur pondered ways "to handle a woman," and the nuns searched for ways to "solve a problem like Maria." In a similar manner, both educators and parents continue to grapple with how to most effectively deal with the "bewitched, bothered, and bewildered" population of 10-to-14-year-olds.

The old school of thought put seventh and eighth graders into junior high, a safe environment that allowed them to unleash their raging hormones without tainting vulnerable elementary students. Middle school, usually consisting of grades 6-8, eventually replaced the junior high concept.

These middle schools have now come under close scrutiny. Charles Gibson ("ABC News Tonight") recently reported that Kansas City is embracing a K-8 building in which all students would have self-contained classrooms. The Detroit suburban district in which I taught still favors a 6-8 building where students travel from room to room, teacher to teacher.

While I do not pretend to be an expert, I do have 20 years of experience as a middle school English teacher. About seven of those occurred in a K-8 parochial school, while the majority took place in a 6-8 middle school.

All my students, no matter their environment, challenged me, tested me, stimulated me and found a permanent place in my heart. However, now that I have retired from middle school and have some distance from those years of teaching, I find myself believing more and more in a K-8 system.

Young adolescents undergo many social, physical and psychological changes. Today's best friend becomes tomorrow's enemy, male soprano voices deepen and female bodies add curves, and both boys and girls reassess who they are and what their place is in their microcosm. As a result, those aged 10 to 14 especially need a secure environment in which to learn. Staying in the same building where they spent the first years of their education gives them that sense of safety.

Yet, the question of middle school or K-8 is not so easily resolved by simply focusing on the grade makeup of the school. Changes need to be implemented within the K-8 structure to create a "unity in the school community" feeling. For example, English teachers could encourage seventh and eighth graders to write stories. After those students read their stories to the elementary students during story hour, the younger students could illustrate them. The stories with illustrations could be printed in a school literary journal.

A K-8 building would also be the ideal setting for breaking stereotypes. The older females who love science and math could mentor the younger girls who have problems with those subjects, while the older boys could show the younger males how word games and writing can be fun ways to exercise their brains.

Nothing is better than a school play that has roles for all ages, or a concert that allows everyone from kindergarten to eighth grade to perform. Let the older students bake cookies in home economics, the younger kids make punch and then have both groups host a tea party. They could even invite the principal, the superintendent and school board members to join them! Maybe all the students can be role models for each other by sharing healthy lunches and by teaching each other ways to create an environment-friendly school.

Within this K-8 facility, seventh and eighth graders should move from classroom to classroom, teacher to teacher. This provides two benefits: It allows these older students to get a real sense of the world of high school, and it better prepares them for the academic challenges of high school by connecting them with teachers who are specialists in their fields.

In contemplating this middle school vs. K-8 dilemma, I am reminded of a riddle I once read: Imagine that Thomas Jefferson visited today's United States. Where would he feel most comfortable? I guessed either Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., but I was wrong. When I heard the real answer and the reason for it, I felt sad. Jefferson, the riddle explained, would be most at home in America's schools because they have changed so little.

We can no longer allow this to be true. We cannot allow education to be a stagnant, finished product. Only by embracing education as an ongoing process of growth can our schools meet the needs of their students.

For now, I believe that progress lies in a K-8 system where, as King Arthur might have said, our 10-to-14-year-olds may find their "congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering."