If you hate school, you’re not alone. Millions of students across the country (and globe) find it to be the bane of their existence. For reasons either real or imagined, they want no part of the educational system as it currently stands.
But here’s the thing that simple basic statement doesn’t tell you. It’s not that they hate learning. And schools that can tap into that love of learning tend to avoid the hate altogether.
In the following article, we’ll be discussing the specific reasons that make most students school-resistant. If yours is guilty of any of these, perhaps it’s time to bring it to light. Now, dig in. Class is in session!
1. People Telling You What to Do
Everyone in life will have to follow instruction at some point. The sooner you make peace with that, the better off you’ll be. But schools that fail to make the instruction clear end up leaving a sour taste in the mouths of their students.
These schools are too quick to adopt a “because I said so” approach rather than relating why the instructions matter. Students always want to know why. And if their educators can’t tell them in a way that explains it while respecting their character, it puts everything else on a shaky foundation.
2. Moral Superiority
Many educators run the risk of coming across as morally superior in how they approach students. They utilize that previously mentioned “because I said so” mentality. It’s their way or the highway, so to speak.
Students that don’t take the same steps toward working a problem or fail to make studious decisions are castigated and embarrassed. This can put a stumbling block into the learning process faster than anything else.
3. Unsafe Conditions
More students feel unsafe at school than ever before. And it’s easy to see why. With report after report of school shootings, public disputes over not having enough of a police presence, technology shortfalls, and cyber-bullying from their fellow students, it can seem like going into a physical or emotional war zone.
Just as with the job force, one has to feel safe to do their best work. If one hates school, it may have something to do with the actual environment and the outside stressors.
4. Starts Too Early
Students have been forced out of bed too early for a number of years when it comes to the school day. Psychology tells us we’re functioning better at 9 a.m. than 8 a.m. So why not move the times so that students can enjoy a little more sleep and be ready to give the day their all?
5. Failure to Challenge
Many students are just downright bored with what they see and hear on a daily basis. They realize that teachers are under pressure to get everyone up to a certain level, and that means teaching to the lowest common denominator.
As a result, students who are above average tend to feel stifled and unchallenged by the material they come across. This boredom can lead one to waste talents or even get into disciplinary issues.
6. Teacher Agendas
Some teachers spend a little too much time pushing an agenda and a little less teaching facts, knowledge, and concepts that will benefit the student. While the complaints come often from the right side of the aisle, it goes both ways.
Teachers can feel so passionately about their political views that that ends up influencing the way they present certain materials. This creates unnecessary stress in the lives of students, especially ones who must reconcile the moral aspects with what they’re being taught at home.
Teachers would be better off sticking to their materials and only using current events if they can maintain an air of neutrality. That often doesn’t happen and it really puts off the student from what and how they’re being taught.
7. Inability to Teach Applicability
How many times have you asked a teacher, “Great, but how am I going to use this in life?” Every student has probably asked it at some point, and every student has probably heard some response like, “It will be important later on,” without any clear specifics to back up that promise.
Teachers who cannot show how their material will be realistically applicable are doing their students and their schools a disservice. They’d do far more good if they just leveled with you and said, “You know what, this is an outdated technology. It probably won’t be relevant by the time you’re out of high school.”
Taking the time to explain the reality of the situation or just being honest about what’s not relevant will go a long way in repairing how students see and feel about school.
8. Too Much Homework
Students value their free time. And while a certain degree of homework is necessary to understand the concepts and information relevant to the unit, teachers who assign homework just for the sake of it are not doing themselves, their schools, or their students any favors.
Busy-work leads to burnout. It also causes a student to start hating the subject, and it gets in the way of the many obligations that students have in other classes.
9. Importance on Grades and Tests
So much emphasis has been placed on getting the grade or teaching to the test that it seems like the last thing anyone talks about anymore is actual learning. For there to be learning, students should have passion. Passion is hard to maintain when it is all boiled down to a number or percentage.
10. Competing Against the Wrong People
The fallout from teaching to the test or mandating certain grades is this. Students end up comparing themselves against other students to determine their level of learning adequacy or success. This isn’t as effective as competing against oneself.
When you compete against yourself, you’re guaranteed of improvements. This keeps momentum as well and ensures that a student will not get too discouraged if they’re behind others in the class.
11. Failing to Nurture Passions
Many schools fail to recognize a student’s individual talents and passions until it’s too late. By “too late,” we mean they have beaten that passion out of the student by forcing them into courses that are not relevant to where the student wants to go in their lives.
Schools need to start recognizing these passions earlier. They also need to tailor the class load to the subjects that best brings that out of the student and nurtures it into a higher level of proficiency.
That doesn’t mean shutting out other subjects. It just means teaching those subjects within a context that’s more relatable to what the student wants to do with his or her life following graduation.
What to Do If You Hate School
It’s never a good thing if you hate school. But it may not be your fault. Still, you can only control what you can control, and you have to make the most of the hand you’re dealt.
If you find that you do hate school, try to focus on the areas that are your strengths and get involved in things after school that help guide you down that career path. Unfortunately, you’ll also need to go through a certain amount of “the motions” to keep your educational career on course.
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
