What happens in Middle School?

What happens in Middle School that kids stop being readers? What happens in High School that makes them want to turn their backs on poetry forever? I am trying to win readers back. They are silent in class, but when I read what they write they do know what they refuse to say in front of their peers. Every once in awhile, I see a twinkle in an eye, and know that at least someone has felt a poem speaking.

Make much of time.

Amy