Emotional Intelligence in Middle Schools: Dr Barbara Kerr talks about how we can raise successful kids. Middle school kids find themselves facing new and difficult challenges when they are experimenting with independence from parents and teachers. In recent years, these challenges have increased with the growth of technology and social media. Kids often do not know where to turn when they “get in over their heads” “You can choose your own life” allows students to practice decision making in an interactive and safe environment. By placing themselves in the shoes of other kids their age, riders make a series of decisions (each one with consequences and another decision point), eventually leading to short-term and long-term predictions based on their pattern of decisions.