Ask anyone about their middle school years, and, unless they happened to be the popular kid, you’re likely to get an eye roll. Or worse. More than a few still carry the scars, including one 80-year-old woman I recently spoke to about her middle school experience.
But the influencer made such a big fuss about this other girl getting cooties from my son’s headphones — seriously, cooties in eighth grade! — that the student decided she’d rather skip the assignment instead of cultivating the influencer’s wrath. Several teachers also complained to some of the students, including my son, because they felt that as long as they were being forced to compete with a popular Instagrammer for attention, it was hard, if not impossible, to teach effectively.