Classic Aang

8 Reasons Why I Hate School

This will probably not be a complete list. Every day that I attend school, I will probably think of a new reason to dislike it. However, I’m still going to write this list with what comes to mind now.

Also, please note that when I say I hate school, I do not mean the idea/concept of school in general. I’m referring to the school system, specifically in America but generally of today’s world.

One of my biggest issues with the school system is that our work is graded. This might be the part where you start to roll your eyes, but that doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care if any of the reasons I list don’t mean anything to you, or you attribute them to me being a “lazy, selfish” kid. I’m not the only one who feels these things, and if all of the people who the school system was supposedly created for disagree with a certain thing, it should be of some importance.

          I want to go to school to learn, not to impress. Every time I learn something in school, I’m given a test. Now, the tests themselves are not a problem - it’s an effective way for teachers to determine where we are as far as the lesson is concerned and to determine if we need some extra help (and this need for extra help is usually ignored or met with useless tutoring sessions that take place in a similar crowded environment to regular classrooms). I’m sure no one in school would have a problem with tests or experience severe anxiety from tests if they were not graded. It’s that number, the digits, that drive everyone crazy. Teachers can pay attention to our progress from tests without grading them. Or, they can use numerical grades for tests but not show those grades to us. Instead, they can be helpful specifically according to our weak spots on tests. For example, if I get questions wrong on the test about a specific topic, the teacher ‘grades’ me by giving me a note to study more on this topic, or telling me when to see him/her for tutoring on this topic. Grading us says: ‘I want to validate you, not teach you.’ Grades reduce knowledge to a number. Grades cultivate unhealthy competition between students (you might say that the competition is healthy, but some students truly believe that the ones who score higher than them are just ‘better’, and I’ve experienced it firsthand). Grades cause students to hate themselves, to cry themselves to sleep at night. Grades cause parents to wrongly judge their children.

           Grades need to be abolished.

           States have their different standardized tests, but in New York they’re Regents Exams. These Regents test us on our progress at the end of the year to see if we’re ready to move on to the next level of a given subject. A lot of the time, taking a Regents is a reality check for me, because I’m reminded of what my weak points are and what I failed to study about the subject during the year. However, students’ reactions to their grades on Regents is sometimes terrifying. The effect that these numbers have on us is deeper than even we realize. Our knowledge is defined by a number. Imagine how less harmful it would be if after a Regents, the results we got back were a note as to whether we are well-versed in the subject enough to move on to higher levels, and a note on tips for what we each need to work on in the subject as individuals. To me, this is much more helpful than a numerical value, and it gives the knowledge itself more weight than a grade.

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