If you don't have a kid there, or recently had one there, you probably don't have a clue about what goes on there. Neither did I. My idea of middle school was a semi-destroyed building barely containing a bunch of middle-sized maniacs with raging hormones and bad tempers. Boy, was I wrong.

First of all, the Middle School is clean: a whole lot cleaner than, say, my desk. The floors are swept and polished. The walls are whole and the only graffiti ("markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted or sketched on walls") are neatly printed exhortations to be good people as well as good students. What the maintenance people do with a little money, a lot of work and a mountain of good attitude is impressive.

The kids are polite and well-behaved. (Their idea of fashion can be a little disconcerting, but that's what their parents allow them to wear, so it must be okay.) The grownups in the building obviously love and respect the students, and I suspect the feeling is mutual.

In the art class I visited, briefly, the students were busy developing designs inspired by songs. Yeah, one kid wearing some sort of death's head T-shirt forgot to bring a pencil (to art class?), but otherwise the class was hard at work. When I dropped in at the Library, a tableful of kids didn't have to be shushed, and the books were neatly lined up on the shelves.

I'm not saying everything is perfect. I'm sure kids get into trouble. I'm sure homework doesn't get done. One of the granite benches outside the front door was broken (I don't think I'd like to have the kid who did that mad at me).

But if I did have a child of middle-school age, I'd be proud to send her (or him) there.

And I can think of worse things than to have a G-NGMS student grow up to be President of the United States - a future I think the faculty and administration of the School is preparing each of their charges for.

If you're one of those people who think education in America, or in Gray and New Gloucester in particular, is going to pot, you might want to think about visiting the Middle School.

Until you do, don't be too sure the doom sayers have it right.