Yours were the most sensible comments I've read on this thread tonight. I'd like to take all these people and condemn them to spend a month with my seventh-graders. I'm not sure describing these kids as stupid is accurate, as some of them are really, really articulate, but they have their heads in a whole different world from the rest of us. Good dose of reality needed here.
Ahh, middle schoolers aren't stupid, they are just creatures of the moment. Tomorrow is a long way off, next week an eternity. The goal of parents and teachers is to try to get them to stop to think before acting, and then to start thinking again. I think some posters here never moved past that stage. But that's okay, I don't have to live in anyone else's skin but mine.
I have this Down's syndrome man come help once a month in my class. He has been an absolute joy to have and a big help as well. The kids love him and he loves them. He'll often sit and say, "I LOVE my life." He's a good teacher to all of us.
I bet your students parents would LOVE to hear that comment. If teaching 7th graders is so horrible, why do you do it? Not that your attitude is any different than what I experienced when mine were in middle school. You see, kids at that age ARE NOT ADULTS. It's a brain chemistry/function thing.