There are a lot of factors that go into what's wrong with schools today. Students are faced with so many challenges, especially during the pandemic when schools were forced to teach remotely.
But many complaints that are made about school aren't ones that are new. Things like school start times, the use of technology, standardized testing, and so much more, all influence whether students enjoy their time in educational institutions.
To stay on the pulse of what youth think about school, we went to AskReddit to hear about what students dislike the most about schooling.
Redditor iSarabjitDhiman asked:
"What do you dislike about school?"
Mindless busywork.
"Busywork."
- dondeestaelbano884
"Boy if you hate busywork you're gonna hate working lol."
- wongrich
"For some reason busywork at the job I'm scheduled and paid to do is way more tolerable than assigned busywork I have to do at my home and not get paid to do."
- Furydwarf
School starts too early.
"Getting up."
- zeaks_urbs1
"Getting up early is a real struggle."
- iSarabjitDhiman
"It's always hard. In fact, having to get up too early (i.e. the alarm waking you up in the middle of your sleep) and lack of sleep thereof is what I think is the most stupidest sh*t we forced ourselves to do as a species... I am not productive before 3pm, that's just it. Can't do anything about it. I'm human, not a f*cking toaster!"
- Ntama-Koupa
"Studies have shown that with more sleep students do better, so why can we not have more time to sleep?"
- Perso0321
"Teenagers have a different circadian rhythm. Their bodies are telling them to go to sleep later and wake up later, but we force on them the adult schedule because it's convenient for us."
- JustDeleteSystem32
School is a loud environment.
"People that yell for no reason."
- JackooJet
"Last year people kept yelling sheesh so loudly and it was f*cking annoying."
- KittenTheSecond
"Holy sh*t am I glad I did last year online only."
- ZexonBestUtuber
"I'm glad I got out of high school before everyone had smartphones."
- klavin1
Scaring you about the future.
"They scare the crap out of you [when] they tell you that college or the next level is going to be difficult and harder."
- Random_Guy_9201
"My teachers loved to bring that out. 'The teachers in Middle School aren't going to hold your hand and you're not going to be able to coast through,' 'The teachers in High School aren't going to hold your hand and...' 'When you're in college they aren't going to hold your hand and..."
"I picked a big state university specifically so I could be a nameless student responsible for myself but there was still a lot of hand holding available."
- daxlreod
"I especially love when 5th grade teachers freak out about the single file line and being quiet in the hallway. Then you get to middle school and none of that exists whatsoever."
- Outlier25
"I do find the lower level the school the more arbitrary the sh*t they get hung up on… but then again, maybe that’s the point…"
- Scarletfapper
Unrelenting stress.
"Stress."
- Silent-Sector-4778
"This was my issue, although I’d describe it as 'unrelenting stress.'"
"I could never relax while in school. Not only would I procrastinate, but the stress was just always there for long term assignments so even when I was supposedly doing something fun, it was never fun; certainly not relaxing."
"Once I graduated and started working, my life got sooo much better. Even when I’ve gone through the most stressful times at work, I’ve known I could leave it behind - at least for a while."
- bakerzdosen
Having to ask to use the bathroom.
"Bathroom rules. Just let me pee!"
- DogsAreCool69420
"Teachers are teaching us to 'act like responsible adults,' yet we still have to ask them to use the bathroom."
- No_Junket_8139
"As a teacher, who typically doesn't care, having 5-6 students leave as soon as a lesson starts and having them come and go like a revolving door while I am teaching is incredibly frustrating. At the same time, I don't think I should be restricting washroom breaks, but I also completely understand why some teachers do it."
- Killbil
Homework.
"Homework."
- weatherpenguin
"My daughter is in preschool, she’s 3.5 and has homework. She hasn’t even mastered potty training and still needs to be in a pull up. They want her doing homework."
"Worksheets with shapes, letters, numbers."
- dollyprincessb
"Homework, in small doses, has been proven to help with math and science classes. Other than that, homework is basically useless other than teaching 'time management' and dramatically increasing stress levels and taking away from family bonding time."
- willv13
"But when they say time management, they mean taking up your time and replacing it with homework."
- DaVinci6894
There's no shortage of answers to this question.
Every youth is going to have something to say about the thing they spend the most time doing, going to class.
With the pandemic shifting how we look at schooling, maybe it's time we start taking up some of their suggestions so we can best prepare the future of our world.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.