I'm seeing the same drop in conscientiousness in my son. He used to be super keen, managed meeting deadlines and very eager to do things completely and correctly. At the moment he has two big projects in the works; a science project and a social studies info report. He has missed numerous milestones in the science project and is just now pulling it together. He is also behind in all the milestones for the social studies paper. He seems to not care and uses weak excuses for not completing.
He has had other issues this year but I wonder if it's a common stage? The beginning of the testing phase of early teenage years. "What if I don't do it?" "What will happen then?" Well, not much is what he'll find.
It seems that schools don't have a definite cut off for projects and kids don't fail anymore (grades that is). I'm not saying that the new way is 100% bad. I'm not in the world of education. It does make it difficult to make a case that it is very important to meet deadlines.
It seems that in middle school everything gets more complex - social things, academic challenges (or the lack of), fitting in etc.
I've heard that grades 8 and 9 are really the lost years for both boys and girls. I have no wisdom to share. I hear that as the hormonal storm quietens that they come back to earth.
As gifted kids at least we know they will have what it takes academically once things calm down.
