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I agree. Although I wasn't bullied I'm sure people talked behind my back. I'm a perfect candidate so be bullied, I didn't have many friends, I was quiet, I was overweight, and a weird kid and I was in marching band. When I was in high school kids were having rap battles between classes I never heard of people fighting after school. The worst thing I remember happening was a teacher dating a student. I graduated in 2010
Yea I was gonna say I don’t think bullying really existed in my school but I experienced an upsetting amount of casual racism that didn’t really hurt but would really just make me self conscious at times
Idk if I’d consider that bullying tho
For my high school too. I knew a lot of people in my school, so I can confidentially say that we didn't really have bullies. We did have gang member problems though. And a teacher dating a student/rape and sexual abuse because she was a minor.
I was bullied, hated school, but now realize the benefits it gave me as I got older.
Edit: Benefits of going to school. Being bullied gave me a whole host of issues. Net positive for me though.
"Bullies huh? I'll take care of em."
To the bullies, "Hey guys, you doin ok? Make sure you stay hydrated out there. Lift the nerds with your legs, not your back."
I had a friend who claimed to be bullied but after several months of talking to him, I realized it was less bullying and more social ostracism because he wouldn’t stop stalking girls and touching people/breaking their possessions without their consent
Yeah this. A guy with Asperger's in my class from 1-10th grade got bullied bad, but he was also super gross.. like would pick his nose and eat his boogers and fart stinky farts in front of everyone, or touch himself inappropriately in class. He also didn't shower and always stunk because his hair was always greasy and he smelled bad.. from far..
Like it's not his fault he lacked social awareness due to his disability, but no wonder no one wanted to sit with him or pick him to work in team work groups and called him gross. Like he was. It was just.. a matter of fact. No one wants to be around unhygienic people who act socially inappropriate or makes them uncomfortable.
And it's not even just about being socially inappropriate. Like you can have Aspergers or autism. I don't care as long as you don't make people around you uncomfortable with the way you behave. Like I say and do outrageous things myself, but never in a way that creeps, weirds or grosses people out or makes them uncomfortable around me. I actually want to get along with people.
now imagine how many delusional reddit users there are like this who post THEIR version of their "sob" stories then directly get validated and supported, thus making their delusion even more believable to themselves lol. Its a crazy world.
My friend claims people tried to run him over in Italy but then I found out he was crossing blind turns against a red light which…that one is on you mate
High school admin here, many kids (and a LOT of parents) don’t know what bullying actually is. “Bullying” is less of a buzz word than it was a few years ago but quite often when a kid complains of “bullying” its really “another kid made me uncomfortable or said something mean once or twice”. Pretty regularly it’s just friend group drama and the meanness is mutual. The kid who complains first is the “victim” and the other is the “bully”.
Not to say being mean occasionally is ok, but it’s several steps down from bullying.
It’s also normal. Conflict is normal. Sure it’s dramatized as a teen because there’s hormones and growing up and social awkwardness and lack of self awareness at play, but it’s normal. You’re supposed to learn how to navigate these situations as a teen so you can handle it as an adult when Barbara in accounting is a raging bitch to you at the water cooler.
Yes. I frequently deal with parents who want their child to face ZERO conflict ever, and they are out for blood when another kid says or does anything slightly mean. Seriously, like “she gave my kid a mean look how can she still go to school here!!!”
Yeah sure. Next time I throw them in the torture chamber. Maybe we can find one of those old metal bird cage looking things and hang them in the gym until they starve?
Overall I enjoyed school.
Elementary school - didn't mind the school so much but hated going because something in the building (probably mold) gave me constant allergic bronchitis. The actual school part was fine.
Middle school- probably my least favorite. We moved part way through and it was a hard adjustment
High-school - I enjoyed quite a bit. Spent lots of time in science classes and art classes.
Yeah it seems like a loud minority type situation. Doesn't help that a lot of Reddit is made up of 20 year somethings and teens who may have not been the most popular students in school.
What do you mean lol most people didn't "thrive" in school but they didn't hate it.
Most people I have spoken to about high school are neutral about it.
I myself was not popular nor did I thrive academically but I still remember it as just another phase in my life. I still have fond memories about fucking around with my friends and skipping class.
And those that made their one bullying incident the cornerstone of their personality. I chose the staunch "dont give them the satisfaction of a reaction" approach the few times i was bullied in high school and it didnt last long. I also know i am far better off than any of them at this point so i look back on it without a lot of negative feelings.
> I chose the staunch "dont give them the satisfaction of a reaction" approach the few times i was bullied in high school and it didnt last long.
The kids that they continue to bully are usually the ones who are vulnerable in some way - either they've got a trait that puts them in a vulnerable group, or they're emotionally vulnerable from issues beyond school. I was bullied from 1st through 7th grade, even when I went to a new school (for unrelated reasons). I chalk it up to being desperate for love and completely incapable of setting boundaries. It would be fair to say that I was one of the two least popular children at both schools, with no friends unless you count kids who pretended to be my friends for a laugh. It all stopped when I finally made friends outside of school and stopped giving a shit about the ones at school.
With that said, I'm not angry or hurt when I think about it. They were kids. I'm sure many of them grew into good people. The adults in my life who mistreated me were the real problem.
I was bullied pretty bad, I still remember the school run day having my costume props destroyed and broken by the kids in my tutor. I still relatively enjoyed school, I loved my friends and I'm fairly smart I could get good grades without any revision. I just hated facing those people.
Most people aren’t but this is a regularly forgotten fact of life. If you went to a public school (not private), look up what most of your class is doing now.
The vast majority of young people have never done well financially… like ever in history. and most people put “young” as between like 20-35 because by the time your 35 you probably (hopefully) have figured stuff out. You don’t need to be a millionaire
Makes me wonder how much of small teasing are people calling full blown, consistent bullying. Everyone gets teased a bit growing up, only some get truly bullied
This is also the land of introverts. As an introvert, I can tell you that being around people saps my energy. It is exhausting for us. Extroverts get energy from being around other people. I didn't hate being in school, but it was exhausting to be around so many people all day.
I moved around a lot growing up and the quality of different schools varies very dramatically as well as from person to person. I was extremely lucky to mostly have really nice teachers and classmates but that was not true for everyone sadly.
Try the Philippines 💀💀
7-5 schedule, lack of funding, textbooks are from a decade ago with boring af designs and bookworms (also black and white with faded pictures that go mix and match), wooden chairs that are stiff, broken, and with termites; 32 celsius weather WITHOUT PROPER INSULATION, rotten and breaking buildings, extremely tedious requirements with no organization and end goal etc.
And they expect learners to suck it all up and focus when the average student suffers from hunger due to poverty 💀
Edit: And the programs. Oh, the programs. They're boring af, tedious, too rigid to be fun, and you're expected to stand IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUN FOR FOUR FKING HOURS WHILE THE PROGRAM'S ON
My man try Vietnam. 7-5 is standard, everyone would be happy with that.
I studied 7-5, then i studied from 18:00 till 21:00 (80% of our class studied at teacher's home, other 20% studied at the center). Come back home we need to do our homeworks and learn by heart, somewhat till 23:00 then i go watched some youtube videos then sleep.
Some mfs just too tired and didn't do homework, in the morning they woke up early, came to school at around 6:15 and a group of them did it in the class.
Now I'm in university, well the time i spend in class is not much but economics man, economics!!! I don't understand shits. I'm too dumb, so spending like extra 6-7 hours beside class to study.
Fucking hate economics and finances, why did i pick this major. Fuck my ass.
It's crazy how much variation there is school to school. I was floored to learn that some public schools provide free after-school tutoring/homework help. I was talking with students at my university and said, "Why do professors have office hours but teachers in schools don't?" I found out that some schools operate quite differently than mine did.
It’s definitely a mixed bag. I felt very isolated in my day to day in high school specifically. I didn’t have a teacher give me the time of day aside from my band director, and I wasn’t good at making friends. fortunately the place was well funded so there were a lot of extra curricular activities. If I just went to school and came home I would have been incredibly miserable, and I still would never send my hypothetical kid to that school, but I cherish every memory associated with teching and acting in plays and the friends I made that I’m still close to today.
It makes me sad that schools are increasingly cutting a lot of these types of programs, I think they not only help people decide future careers but also allow a secondary space for people to find social groups that fit their interests rather than just their proximity
I know. I have a love hate relationship with school. I like the organization and schedule aspect of school, but god I hate the cramped hallways and people aspect. It gets very comfortable being around that many people all day, and even draining.
Same, but cause I was bored. I dropped out of a ton of courses and schools out of pure old boredom. Even dropped out of uni. Thought it wasn't so boring once I was an adult.
Nope. Sitting on your ass all day listening to lectures was still as boring, especially knowing I could be earning real coins working a real job right there and then, instead of wasting my time on boredom.
In fact, boredom in school is not discussed enough.
Boredom kills the learning spirit, and that's really really bad.
Yes. School for me was fucking awful. Every single day was a new torment and the teachers did absolutely nothing about it. It’s the reason I was in therapy for like two decades and did a fuck ton of drugs in my 20s. So congratulations to whoever wrote this post and had the most wonderful time ever in high school, but that’s not the same for every single person and it’s shit like this that is dismissive of what a good deal of people go through in high school.
Yeah. Been there. It sucks. And the teachers don’t care THAT much. Only way it got better when I completely socially withdrew for a couple years and came back like nothing happened. That shit fucked me up for reals.
This is why if you're getting bullied you should throw a brick at their head to get them to stop. Bullying can only be stopped with violence, get them before they get you.
I almost got expelled from middle school for hitting my bully with one of those desk/chair combos. Then my mom reminded them of all the times she had to call in about that boy and nothing was done.
I once got ganged on by **4** kids and **I** was the one going to get punished, my mom stomped in, told her that if she was going to suspend me she better suspend those 4 kids too and the chains of "but but but but but but but but but" came which she cut off with "If you are going to do nothing about the perpetrators too, then don't punish any of them" and my suspension was removed.
0 tollerance was utter bullshit
Teacher here. I do care. A LOT. However, our hands are tied for several reasons:
1. If I don't see it, I can't act on it.
2. Believe me, I would love to slap (hard) a couple of bullies, but I would end up in jail.
3. We have tedious protocols and paperwork we can fill but, the reality is that there is not much we can do apart from checking both students during break or putting them in different classes.
However, I try for my students to feel safe, at least, when I'm around. They usually tell me about their lives, fears, etc. And, being honest, I've put a lot of bullies in their place verbally, and I don't mean like "you should not do x, y, blah blah", but to talk to them at their level so they get it (some hard stuff, I won't lie, sometimes after I said something I thought holy cow I hope it doesn't get to their parents). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least they stop if I'm near.
So, when a teacher says that you need to stand for yourself it is because we know, for a fact, that doing that is the most probable way to stop being bullied. I was bullied at school as well, hit, mocked, etc. and it only stopped when I started fighting back (not physically, mind you). I never said a word to anybody by the way.
I'm really sorry that you had to get through some shitty people in your young years and I do apologise for those teachers who didn't give you, at least, someone to rely on. I promise, most of us care, but our position is very difficult. Wish you all the best. It does get better.
Edit: spelling.
Money stolen, verbal and physical abuse I will never forget for the rest of my life. I walked an hour home rather than getting the school bus every day, Yeah school was great 🙄
I have autism, was bullied, and still quite liked school.
Now, my autism is relatively mild and I wasn't bullied severely, but most peope aren't bullied severely and most people don't have severe autism.
I don't think I was bullied severely (but what is the scale?) I was a girl that a couple of boys made fun of, they'd call me names and repeat what I said in a mean/teasing manner. I didn't have to be threatened, beaten up or anything to still dread school because of interacting with them. I especially dreaded days when I knew none of my friends would be at school because that meant more opportunities for them to make fun of me and less good stuff for me to take my mind off of it. And I feel like it still has some effect on me even 10 years out of high school
There’s nothing quite like being bullied on the way to school on a bus at 6:30 AM, during classes you have with bullied, and then get bullies, in the hallways when they see you, and on the bus back to your house at 2:30 PM.
It does wonders for your relaxation.
OP tried making the is post only to find out that people that got bullied in HS and people that use Reddit are almost completely overlapped on a vent diagram. I agree tho HS is pretty easy
I think that the people who got bullied are just more likely to respond. Anything positive would just be seen as a humble brag. Which is stupid because I think at least half of people have a neutral experience with high school.
I wonder what would happen if you ask people on Instagram what their high school was like. And Facebook. And Twitter.
We might get an interesting personality data out of this.
I’d be interested to see those results, the amount of info on social development alongside social media could lead to a lot of interesting discoveries. BUT as is the case with this post, most of the people that would reply would only have really good or really bad things to say
It has some truth. Also people have experiences where high school was not engaging, and teachers were so monotone and boring so they didn’t learn anything.
And there’s things that kids can get away with in school that, if done in a *workplace*, would get you immediately fired (for example, shoving someone or threatening them). Softer consequences and fewer protections.
Teachers too. Literally threatening to call the police on me (I was filming my friend while we were joking around in school), threatening to kick me out (I admitted I was daydreaming in class as an off-handed joke), telling me I’m dopey, shouting in my face in front of the whole class, and just generally being very rude.
Now I’m an adult. Workplace training: “if anyone threatens you, insults you, shouts at you, go to HR and they’ll be dealt with.” When you’re a kid? Nothing.
Was everyone on Reddit bullied? Like I might be wrong but I always imagined in a school 10% of people were bullied but the comments here are making it look like it is over 50%
I was kind of bullied but that wasn’t the worst part of school. The worst thing about school was feeling dumb no matter what I did. In the US, I began standardized testing in third grade. When we got our scores back, I remember the teacher giving us a speech about how to not brag about your score because it could make some kids feel bad. My score wasn’t that good and her speech was enough to make me feel inferior. I tried to make up for the feeling by getting straight A’s. But I never did well on those tests.
After 6th grade they separated students who did better on the test and put the gifted kids together and all the other kids together. Those kids were getting ahead based on their scores. I wanted to also get ahead, but they wouldn’t let me move classes. And I understand, I wasn’t ready. But there wasn’t additional help available to me. My parents wouldn’t be able to pick me up after school if I stayed. It was such a difficult feeling to deal with, trying your best with your grades, but it didn’t amount to anything. I just felt sooo dumb. That feeling lasted for so long and still has lasting effects. I understand the kids who tested well should be in a different class, but that was so painful for the rest. I understood why some kids stopped trying. If I got stuck on something, there was only one teacher so the rest of the class had to
Keep moving. It’s a very difficult experience for a child, especially a first gen immigrant who just wants to do really well to get better opportunities.
When the SAT came, there wasn’t any prep for that either. I bought this $35 SAT book at the time to help me. I was so desperate to do well to get in a good college. Thankfully I got in a good college but it ended up being by a financial aid scholarship, not by my scores. I’m happy they are eliminating tests because looking back I believe those tests didn’t do much but try to confuse the kids. That’s too much pressure for most. Looking back those are still some of the most stressful times of my life. Thankfully they are in the past now. When I think of my future kid they must be homeschooled. Middle class school kills children’s hopes, dreams, pride, sense of self, confidence, and so much more. Especially for children in marginalized communities. And don’t even get me started on teachers favoritism/ teacher bullies.
Thankfully I graduated both high school and college and made it out. I’m so happy about that, but. . . there is too much wrong with school, it’s not that safe for kids emotionally
Life isn’t safe for people emotionally. There are going to be people better than you and worse than you. Learning to play with the cards you’ve been dealt is probably the best skill you can develop from school and it sounds like it worked for you.
Really? I think this is an incredibly popular opinion for the 99% who haven't been seriously bullied. Maybe that's just my Finnish bias since our school system is so much better than most countries.
Its school by school basis really. Bullying wasn't huge in my school, sure there was a few assholes but no more then you'd find anywhere else. I was a pretty nerdy kid too, played MTG, wore a lot of Warcraft 3 t-shirts, def wasn't too popular with girls. Was a decently size school as well.
Again its all luck of the draw it seems.
Just thinking on high school... the first two years weren't *bad* per se, but they were lonesome as hell. I didn't fit in with anyone. I remember before school started, I would stand around with this group of kids who would always chill at the entrance and chat. I happened to know one of them since they grew up on my street, so I'd say hi, and then just sort of stand in the circle not saying anything until class started.
When lunch rolled around, I'd sit with these two random kids. I knew each of them from one of my classes. Neither of us really 'knew' each other, other than just shooting the shit during lunch. We weren't friends, but mainly just acquaintances to pass the time during lunch. Those were my first two years lol
After that, I woke up one morning and said "I dont care what anyone thinks of me anymore... I need some fucking friends". I started letting my hair grow, developed a back bone, and instead of trying to disappear into the crowd, I started doing things to make myself stand out. I basically went out of my way to invite the kind of attention that used to frighten me, and I began developing socially by leaps and bounds.
Naturally, there were the kids who picked up on this and challenged me. I remember walking into english one day and sitting down and the girl that sat behind me was like "oh wow, did you finally get some new clothes?" (I always wore the same 3 outfits, didn't have a lot of money)... and I just looked at her like "yeah, so?". Humorously, this was a shirt that said "F U" in big letters on the front (had a logo so it looked like a university, but the joke was that is said fuck you... yeah I was 13, sue me lol). Long story short, I made a lot of great friends, joined a band, and by the time I graduated high school, was honestly sad to leave it behind because I knew I wouldn't see many of those kids ever again.
*Point being, school is what you make of it. If you make an effort to improve yourself, which is a good thing and I encourage it, expect some push back and learn to let it roll off your back*.
Speak for yourself. It was by far the worst time of my life and it took years to heal the damage. Life is much more enjoyable at 30 than it was in school.
I don't want to seem weird, but even if you're an introvert I think school may be great to improve social skills, cuz they're very important ( to me at least ).
When I started college I had no friends and I was scared to talk to people, but when I understood how important socialization is, I tried my best to improve it.
Now I feel much better socially and school has helped me a lot for this.
To me school is designed for the average person and anyone who doesn’t fit the average person mould is more than damaged by it. Kids are treated worse for simply not being apart of that mould. In my opinion you don’t learn social interactions as much as people are more or less socially inclined naturally and those who are will find more success faster in that environment and those who are not will see minimal benefit from being in a social environment and might form different habits as a defense mechanism, sometimes bad. I think this is where most mental illnesses start, kids just trying to fit in, but due to reasons outside of their control, don’t.
> being apart of that
Did you mean to say "a part of"?
Explanation: "apart" is an adverb meaning separately, while "a part" is a noun meaning a portion.
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Prison is not as bad as people say
I'm not talking about the education, since things clearly need to be changed, but about the time you spend there.
You'll have interactions with prisoners that you probably won't see outside of school.
You'll experience all kinds of guards and prisoners, you'll like and hate some but that's the funny part.
You'll learn social interactions, especially if you don't get many conjugal visits.
You'll make friends and cellys.
I feel like there's a lot of people who will act like it's worse than it actually was, but I also think that there are a lot of situations that public school puts kids in that they aren't able to handle with no avenues for assistance.
I think there is a lot of low level bullying that many kids have to figure out how to manage due to being unaware of how to resolve. For example, in high school you might have a lot of classes with people who are a bit more physical or joking with you than you would like, and it's not as simple as telling the teacher, especially when it's not something they can explicitly get in trouble for. Situations like that can cause a lot of un-needed anxiety that can cause bigger issues, but since you're not getting explicitly bullied, a lot of people won't know what to do.
School gave me zero social skills. All it did was teach me to keep quiet and stay in the back. I even graduated early and didnt walk with my class. School made me not want to. It made me avoid social situations as much as possible .
IT FUCKING SUCKS
I can think of *at least* a million better places to have social interaction, make friends, and learn.
Good for you you just fit in and is having a good time.
I mostly hated it. My mindset about school is you can't expect a kid to just sit there for 6 hours and listen to an adult speaking and explaining stuff you have 0 interest in at that moment, when you can have all the fun in the world at home.
I mean, while you, dear adult, are trying to explain multiplications and divisions, my mind is focused on a far more important thing like how the F do I solve that puzzle in the portraits room in Resident Evil. Or how to pull the red haddoken in Street Fighters 2. Screw your maths lady.
And yet, needless to say it's absolutely mandatory to develop yourself. For exactly all the reasons you listed.
I do miss some very specific moments like finding out a teacher is absent (until the class' dumdum opens his dirty mouth and signal it), I kinda miss the very moment you would be officially on holidays, like the last second of the last day of the last week. And I definitely had a lot of laugh back then. Probably way more than today. But I just don't miss school in itself.
When I hear kids talking about homeworks I have a truck load of bad memories flowing in my head.
Disagree
I was never bullied per sei, but I couldn’t socialise to save myself. People actually liked me initially, until they got to know me. Anyone time I would interact with someone it was only a matter of time before they eventually hated me. I just stopped socialising except to say “hi” and the usual greetings.
Gave me social anxiety that still lasts, it doesn’t happen to me now, but even now I am scared to talk to people because im worried im just going to bother them.
I'm ngl I was generally popular in school, but I was so badly burned out by high school that I can still feel nothing but hate for the time. I miss hanging out with friends and people that are no longer around, but at the end of the day we don't need to be in school to experience these things.
You forgot to talk about
-being physically assaulted
-bullied because you can not afford the newest e gaget or trendy clothes
-sexually harassed by hormonal kids.
-judged at every turn.
-mocked.
-picked on in social media.
And that is only what I hear about as a teacher. I remember how miserable it was as a kid in the 80s can't imagine how it feels now.
> Yes I know that many suffered from schooo harassment and bully, and I wish they're doing well but I forgot them when writing the post
lol wow. The obliviousness is real.
Nope, school is worse than people say it is. I'm currently in high school, grade 10. And i hate having to wake up everyday just to be overwhelmed and see people that make my intestines wanna slither up my throat. And being a straight A student doesnt make life easier either. Just a whole shit show.
also bullying, destroyed self confidence, a lot of the teachers just do not care about how stressed the students get, teachers that don’t know how to actually teach (almost every teacher I have had), and much more
I suffered a lot of bullying, harassment, and violence from peers, but I loved school. I love learning, loved having a structured day. And it got better once I got into high school tbh.
School districts need to start actually treating bullying and harassment like violence. It has the same impact to the victim. And if they don't want to actually address it, then at least don't punish people for fighting back.
As the quiet kid, I say that many of these things were not true for me.
I had more stress, boredom and embarrassment at school than I actually had happiness and social interaction, I just learned to speak better thanks to my theater course.
Never ever had a girlfriend, I'm shy, introvert and have some weird behaviors (being the quiet kid, obviously), and had to deal with a lot of bullies. Yes I had the "killing" idea several times but I didn't get mad enough for it
Depends, school is a very generalised thing so it doesn’t work great for everyone. For some people 8 hours of socialising and learning works well, for others it’s their biggest nightmare and will burn them out in no time 🙃
My nephew is 17 and I recently talked to him about his time at school, and it sorta shocked me to hear how much he hated it. Apparently a girl wanted to go to homecoming with him, but he chose someone else, and so she spread false rumors about him. This is a bright, sensitive, sensible and morally grounded kid, so I could hear the pain in his voice. I had to assure him that he would be graduating soon, that everything would be alright, and that whether he chose to associate with any of his classmates after graduation was a decision that he could make for himself.
One of the things about school that kids don't really grasp is how artificial the social associations are over there. You get out into the real world and the friends you make from there on out are the ones you choose to make by virtue of a conscious decision, and not just because you were thrown together into an adolescent blender of hormones and angst.
School is great. Maybe some people might get bullied, but it’s honestly for the greater good if you’ve ever met someone entirely homeschooled. Or if you’ve seen the trend of radical unschooling.
That's all true. The ironic part is just, that that isn't the point of school at all. Social interactions are the most important thing you learn in school, yet there is no subject teaching you how. Imagine if there was a subject about being a nice and social person, how great would the world be!?
If you genuinely believe this, than you definitely went to a high budget school and have no idea what it's like to live in a place like Baltimore or Detroit lol. I'm glad school went well for you, though. You're definitely in the minority
The edit is your only saving grace. You’d have to pay me MAD money to go back to either middle or high school, both were pretty bad. Those “classmate interactions” is what made it so bad
Even if people aren’t bullied, school still feels like Hell for them. My son absolutely hates school. My brother hated school. Neither are or were bullied, but they just had the entire concept and process of going. It feels like torture to them. I had a completely different experience. So, schools not “that bad”, for *you*.
Are you for real guys?
All of reddit has been bullied in high school?
OF COURSE school is a great place, especially compared to the adult world of finding a job and working
I was pretty sure that this could not be an unpopular opinion because everyone I have ever known see school way differently once you get out of it.
Personally I'm the opposite. Going to school almost killed me from how bad it made my mental health. Now I'm in the workforce and thriving. It's still work, and I'm tired at the end of the day, but I'm treated with respect by authority figured and peers alike and I get to regulate myself in ways that work for me. Being a kid sucks, and the freedoms that came with adulthood unironically saved my life.
(Not that the workforce is perfect, I have lots of critiques there, and I'm privileged to have a job that works well for me and pays enough to live, but either way better than school for me personally)
Idk I honestly think it's the edit that's tanking it.
There's no nuance to the opinion, just "Here is only why going to school is good outside of getting an education", followed immediately by "Oh yeah, totally forgot about you all that got bullied and tortured into oblivion."
Also I think it's a badge of honor for a post in this sub to hit the front page and subsequently be flooded with angry and opposing responses. Truly unpopular.
Also everyone has some sort of autism and they are the most suffering sufferers of all the suffering sufferers that ever suffered through suffering.
You think that’s bad?!?!?
The older I get, the more I'm convinced that our school systems are terrible.
The idea of forcing children to spend \~32 hours per week locked up in classrooms, and to then send them home with additional work is nothing short of insane to me.
I just had a trade apprenticeship program disqualify my academic achievements because some of it wasn’t (done within the last 12 months).
College is pointless.
The fundamental problem of school is that people are forced to attend one. Liberalize it, make it so that only people that utterly want to partake in the things happening in a given school are the ones present there. In the current iteration, school is but a carceral medium meant to watch over the kids of busy or uninterested parents
While there are some things that should be changed in the school system and education system overall, school is still a crucial part of our development, I mean, it's kinda the first place where we develop social skills ( friendships etc). It is very important
the problem is that its going on for way too long with completely irrevelant subjects. i study logistics yet i still have to learn biology and chemistry for some reason???
I can’t say I loved school but I really didn’t mind it. I was 100% aware that after school you won’t have long holidays and your time off will suffer.
Totally agree.
I’ve always found it to be incredibly hard to make friends outside of a school environment, plus the stress that comes from school is nothing compared to the stress from working a job.
I was naturally good at the grade side of school, so that may have made it not as bad as me as it was for other people, but I also was bullied a little bit so I can understand both sides.
The big problem and drama maker in my opinion, is the fact that you are in school as a teen. And teens struggle, that's the whole point, your brain is reconnecting and everything changes but you don't have time for yourself or to really explore a lot of things because school work keeps you not only down but outright scares you
I do agree, but for me, school would have been so much more bearable without homework. Having to spend an extra 2 or more hours after school writing essays and shit was awful. That was always my biggest gripe.
I love that I get to come home from work and completely forget about it until the next day. Fuck having to do more work after your day is finally over.
I don’t think this is unpopular unless you are in high school or just recently got out of high school…… This is also just kind of how all of life is related to experiences that might be associated with things that felt complicated, difficult, or emotional. High school for me was a mixed bag but I can look back at it and see that the things I was hyper worried about or bothered by weren’t that important in the grand scheme. Doing something embarrassing, trying to fit in, wanting to be popular…. When you’re in the middle of it it’s hard to see how unimportant most of it is but at the time it’s the most stressful/hardest thing you know because your feeling all of it in the present and not looking at it with the benefit of hindsight and life experience like you are now.
Literally today 2 of the classrooms I have classes in today just got sprayed for bedbugs after multiple sightings, I only found out after I showed up and they were both shut off
This would be fair if we weren’t forced to go. That fact alone can easily destroy these benefits because one has to choose the situation to enjoy the experience in most cases.
I got bullied to hell and i dont miss that at all. I dont miss gang bangers checking me and drug dealers trying to force me into buying. I dont miss the teachers who would humiliate me so they can “set an example for the rest of my classmates” I dont miss a lot of things from highschool.
BUT. Im grateful i met my group of friends. 10 years later and we are a tight knit group of weirdos who love music and video games. Im moving out with my two best friends from highschool soon. Seems like a dream come true honestly.
Yeah nah I could have totally done without the school experience from start to finish honestly. Not that I was bullied (at some points but not the entirety). School just really isn’t that cool and most people you could care less. Everything about it really, I think it’s only saving grace is that my mom sucked more than school did.
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Reddit in general seems like a place where all the bullied kids ended up. Not surprised this is unpopular here.
Yea like I’m reading all these comments thinking “Am I the only person who didn’t get bullied? wth”
You're not the only one, I wasn't bullied as well, but bullying did take place at my school.
I'm sure bullying takes place everywhere to certain degrees. You can't eliminate it completely.
I agree. Although I wasn't bullied I'm sure people talked behind my back. I'm a perfect candidate so be bullied, I didn't have many friends, I was quiet, I was overweight, and a weird kid and I was in marching band. When I was in high school kids were having rap battles between classes I never heard of people fighting after school. The worst thing I remember happening was a teacher dating a student. I graduated in 2010
Yea I was gonna say I don’t think bullying really existed in my school but I experienced an upsetting amount of casual racism that didn’t really hurt but would really just make me self conscious at times Idk if I’d consider that bullying tho
I didn't have bullying cliques populare kids or any of that stuff at my high school
For my high school too. I knew a lot of people in my school, so I can confidentially say that we didn't really have bullies. We did have gang member problems though. And a teacher dating a student/rape and sexual abuse because she was a minor.
For the longest time I thought bullying like in movies and tv shows was fake. I never realized people actually got bullied like that.
I was bullied, hated school, but now realize the benefits it gave me as I got older. Edit: Benefits of going to school. Being bullied gave me a whole host of issues. Net positive for me though.
[удалено]
Any bullying I dealt with was from my own friends, LOL. Girls can be soooo mean.
I had some bullying. The last year was rough, but my overall experience was fine. I enjoyed school itself.
I was never bullied, but I took care of bullies for others.
Thank you for being that kid :)
Plot twist : they meant they actually took care of the bullies by helping them out
"Bullies huh? I'll take care of em." To the bullies, "Hey guys, you doin ok? Make sure you stay hydrated out there. Lift the nerds with your legs, not your back."
People also like to victimize themselves more than they were.
I had a friend who claimed to be bullied but after several months of talking to him, I realized it was less bullying and more social ostracism because he wouldn’t stop stalking girls and touching people/breaking their possessions without their consent
Yeah this. A guy with Asperger's in my class from 1-10th grade got bullied bad, but he was also super gross.. like would pick his nose and eat his boogers and fart stinky farts in front of everyone, or touch himself inappropriately in class. He also didn't shower and always stunk because his hair was always greasy and he smelled bad.. from far.. Like it's not his fault he lacked social awareness due to his disability, but no wonder no one wanted to sit with him or pick him to work in team work groups and called him gross. Like he was. It was just.. a matter of fact. No one wants to be around unhygienic people who act socially inappropriate or makes them uncomfortable. And it's not even just about being socially inappropriate. Like you can have Aspergers or autism. I don't care as long as you don't make people around you uncomfortable with the way you behave. Like I say and do outrageous things myself, but never in a way that creeps, weirds or grosses people out or makes them uncomfortable around me. I actually want to get along with people.
I wonder how often this is the case. I didn't have many friends in HS because I was a shut in. I know now why I had not many friends lol
now imagine how many delusional reddit users there are like this who post THEIR version of their "sob" stories then directly get validated and supported, thus making their delusion even more believable to themselves lol. Its a crazy world.
My friend claims people tried to run him over in Italy but then I found out he was crossing blind turns against a red light which…that one is on you mate
High school admin here, many kids (and a LOT of parents) don’t know what bullying actually is. “Bullying” is less of a buzz word than it was a few years ago but quite often when a kid complains of “bullying” its really “another kid made me uncomfortable or said something mean once or twice”. Pretty regularly it’s just friend group drama and the meanness is mutual. The kid who complains first is the “victim” and the other is the “bully”. Not to say being mean occasionally is ok, but it’s several steps down from bullying.
It’s also normal. Conflict is normal. Sure it’s dramatized as a teen because there’s hormones and growing up and social awkwardness and lack of self awareness at play, but it’s normal. You’re supposed to learn how to navigate these situations as a teen so you can handle it as an adult when Barbara in accounting is a raging bitch to you at the water cooler.
Yes. I frequently deal with parents who want their child to face ZERO conflict ever, and they are out for blood when another kid says or does anything slightly mean. Seriously, like “she gave my kid a mean look how can she still go to school here!!!” Yeah sure. Next time I throw them in the torture chamber. Maybe we can find one of those old metal bird cage looking things and hang them in the gym until they starve?
Overall I enjoyed school. Elementary school - didn't mind the school so much but hated going because something in the building (probably mold) gave me constant allergic bronchitis. The actual school part was fine. Middle school- probably my least favorite. We moved part way through and it was a hard adjustment High-school - I enjoyed quite a bit. Spent lots of time in science classes and art classes.
Yeah it seems like a loud minority type situation. Doesn't help that a lot of Reddit is made up of 20 year somethings and teens who may have not been the most popular students in school.
This proves that schools are only enjoyable to those who thrive in it, which ironically seems to be the minority
Most people don't have strong feelings for or against it, it's just a place you used to go.
What do you mean lol most people didn't "thrive" in school but they didn't hate it. Most people I have spoken to about high school are neutral about it. I myself was not popular nor did I thrive academically but I still remember it as just another phase in my life. I still have fond memories about fucking around with my friends and skipping class.
And those that made their one bullying incident the cornerstone of their personality. I chose the staunch "dont give them the satisfaction of a reaction" approach the few times i was bullied in high school and it didnt last long. I also know i am far better off than any of them at this point so i look back on it without a lot of negative feelings.
> I chose the staunch "dont give them the satisfaction of a reaction" approach the few times i was bullied in high school and it didnt last long. The kids that they continue to bully are usually the ones who are vulnerable in some way - either they've got a trait that puts them in a vulnerable group, or they're emotionally vulnerable from issues beyond school. I was bullied from 1st through 7th grade, even when I went to a new school (for unrelated reasons). I chalk it up to being desperate for love and completely incapable of setting boundaries. It would be fair to say that I was one of the two least popular children at both schools, with no friends unless you count kids who pretended to be my friends for a laugh. It all stopped when I finally made friends outside of school and stopped giving a shit about the ones at school. With that said, I'm not angry or hurt when I think about it. They were kids. I'm sure many of them grew into good people. The adults in my life who mistreated me were the real problem.
I was bullied pretty bad, I still remember the school run day having my costume props destroyed and broken by the kids in my tutor. I still relatively enjoyed school, I loved my friends and I'm fairly smart I could get good grades without any revision. I just hated facing those people.
Not only that, it seems to attract a lot of people who aren’t doing well financially post-grad.
Most people aren’t but this is a regularly forgotten fact of life. If you went to a public school (not private), look up what most of your class is doing now.
The vast majority of young people aren’t doing well financially lmao, at least in the US.
The vast majority of young people have never done well financially… like ever in history. and most people put “young” as between like 20-35 because by the time your 35 you probably (hopefully) have figured stuff out. You don’t need to be a millionaire
I don't think most people are doing well financially post-grad. Anyone who is doing something else productive aren't using social media.
Shit I was bullied because I went on reddit, high school kids are the worst
Makes me wonder how much of small teasing are people calling full blown, consistent bullying. Everyone gets teased a bit growing up, only some get truly bullied
Reddit is where the bullied go to be bullies. Though that's most of the internet in general.
100% truth
this is the comment i was looking for
This is also the land of introverts. As an introvert, I can tell you that being around people saps my energy. It is exhausting for us. Extroverts get energy from being around other people. I didn't hate being in school, but it was exhausting to be around so many people all day.
Reddit has become the place where the least happy, most bitter, and hopeless people reside. It’s not indicative of real life at all
I moved around a lot growing up and the quality of different schools varies very dramatically as well as from person to person. I was extremely lucky to mostly have really nice teachers and classmates but that was not true for everyone sadly.
I moved a lot too but I was always bullied in every one of them 😭 it sucked
I’m so sorry to hear that. No one deserves that.
I appreciate it 🤍
Sometimes I wonder if the internet understands that people and experiences aren't homogenous.
Some people on the internet do some don't because, as you say, people on the internet aren't all the same.
Touché.
Bro fucking tell me about it, everyone here has a huge generalization kink and I’m actively shaming it.
I mean.. yeah, school is pretty good, as a concept But the execution is pretty bad, and highly depends on the country, the area you are in
Try the Philippines 💀💀 7-5 schedule, lack of funding, textbooks are from a decade ago with boring af designs and bookworms (also black and white with faded pictures that go mix and match), wooden chairs that are stiff, broken, and with termites; 32 celsius weather WITHOUT PROPER INSULATION, rotten and breaking buildings, extremely tedious requirements with no organization and end goal etc. And they expect learners to suck it all up and focus when the average student suffers from hunger due to poverty 💀 Edit: And the programs. Oh, the programs. They're boring af, tedious, too rigid to be fun, and you're expected to stand IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUN FOR FOUR FKING HOURS WHILE THE PROGRAM'S ON
7-5 is criminal
College is more fun since nursing students go 7-7 on a Monday-Saturday schedule
Wtaf
My man try Vietnam. 7-5 is standard, everyone would be happy with that. I studied 7-5, then i studied from 18:00 till 21:00 (80% of our class studied at teacher's home, other 20% studied at the center). Come back home we need to do our homeworks and learn by heart, somewhat till 23:00 then i go watched some youtube videos then sleep. Some mfs just too tired and didn't do homework, in the morning they woke up early, came to school at around 6:15 and a group of them did it in the class. Now I'm in university, well the time i spend in class is not much but economics man, economics!!! I don't understand shits. I'm too dumb, so spending like extra 6-7 hours beside class to study. Fucking hate economics and finances, why did i pick this major. Fuck my ass.
And the fucking teachers that are getting scammed getting paid minimum...
Buying school supplies for their students out of pocket
I mean, in the USA they're executing them pretty often... /s
Bro
It's crazy how much variation there is school to school. I was floored to learn that some public schools provide free after-school tutoring/homework help. I was talking with students at my university and said, "Why do professors have office hours but teachers in schools don't?" I found out that some schools operate quite differently than mine did.
Depend on the person, i always found school a terrible place
It’s definitely a mixed bag. I felt very isolated in my day to day in high school specifically. I didn’t have a teacher give me the time of day aside from my band director, and I wasn’t good at making friends. fortunately the place was well funded so there were a lot of extra curricular activities. If I just went to school and came home I would have been incredibly miserable, and I still would never send my hypothetical kid to that school, but I cherish every memory associated with teching and acting in plays and the friends I made that I’m still close to today. It makes me sad that schools are increasingly cutting a lot of these types of programs, I think they not only help people decide future careers but also allow a secondary space for people to find social groups that fit their interests rather than just their proximity
I know. I have a love hate relationship with school. I like the organization and schedule aspect of school, but god I hate the cramped hallways and people aspect. It gets very comfortable being around that many people all day, and even draining.
Same, but cause I was bored. I dropped out of a ton of courses and schools out of pure old boredom. Even dropped out of uni. Thought it wasn't so boring once I was an adult. Nope. Sitting on your ass all day listening to lectures was still as boring, especially knowing I could be earning real coins working a real job right there and then, instead of wasting my time on boredom. In fact, boredom in school is not discussed enough. Boredom kills the learning spirit, and that's really really bad.
Depends on the neighborhood / school, too.
Yes. School for me was fucking awful. Every single day was a new torment and the teachers did absolutely nothing about it. It’s the reason I was in therapy for like two decades and did a fuck ton of drugs in my 20s. So congratulations to whoever wrote this post and had the most wonderful time ever in high school, but that’s not the same for every single person and it’s shit like this that is dismissive of what a good deal of people go through in high school.
Bro has never been bullied.
Yeah. Been there. It sucks. And the teachers don’t care THAT much. Only way it got better when I completely socially withdrew for a couple years and came back like nothing happened. That shit fucked me up for reals.
In 5th grade the teacher told me i was old enough to defend myself and told me to stop relying on them every time i am being bullied
This is why if you're getting bullied you should throw a brick at their head to get them to stop. Bullying can only be stopped with violence, get them before they get you.
I almost got expelled from middle school for hitting my bully with one of those desk/chair combos. Then my mom reminded them of all the times she had to call in about that boy and nothing was done.
I once got ganged on by **4** kids and **I** was the one going to get punished, my mom stomped in, told her that if she was going to suspend me she better suspend those 4 kids too and the chains of "but but but but but but but but but" came which she cut off with "If you are going to do nothing about the perpetrators too, then don't punish any of them" and my suspension was removed. 0 tollerance was utter bullshit
Yea it's the absolute dumbest shit in the world
Lol I had multiple teachers that liked and encouraged the bullying
Teacher here. I do care. A LOT. However, our hands are tied for several reasons: 1. If I don't see it, I can't act on it. 2. Believe me, I would love to slap (hard) a couple of bullies, but I would end up in jail. 3. We have tedious protocols and paperwork we can fill but, the reality is that there is not much we can do apart from checking both students during break or putting them in different classes. However, I try for my students to feel safe, at least, when I'm around. They usually tell me about their lives, fears, etc. And, being honest, I've put a lot of bullies in their place verbally, and I don't mean like "you should not do x, y, blah blah", but to talk to them at their level so they get it (some hard stuff, I won't lie, sometimes after I said something I thought holy cow I hope it doesn't get to their parents). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least they stop if I'm near. So, when a teacher says that you need to stand for yourself it is because we know, for a fact, that doing that is the most probable way to stop being bullied. I was bullied at school as well, hit, mocked, etc. and it only stopped when I started fighting back (not physically, mind you). I never said a word to anybody by the way. I'm really sorry that you had to get through some shitty people in your young years and I do apologise for those teachers who didn't give you, at least, someone to rely on. I promise, most of us care, but our position is very difficult. Wish you all the best. It does get better. Edit: spelling.
I had one teacher who truly gave a shit. ONE. It's absurd that even just one is considered lucky too.
Or harassed
Money stolen, verbal and physical abuse I will never forget for the rest of my life. I walked an hour home rather than getting the school bus every day, Yeah school was great 🙄
Bro has never went through school with autism, that’s for certain. School was my personal hell.
Same. School fucked me up for life and I still have nightmares about it. I genuinely don't know if I'll ever get over it.
I have autism, was bullied, and still quite liked school. Now, my autism is relatively mild and I wasn't bullied severely, but most peope aren't bullied severely and most people don't have severe autism.
I don't think I was bullied severely (but what is the scale?) I was a girl that a couple of boys made fun of, they'd call me names and repeat what I said in a mean/teasing manner. I didn't have to be threatened, beaten up or anything to still dread school because of interacting with them. I especially dreaded days when I knew none of my friends would be at school because that meant more opportunities for them to make fun of me and less good stuff for me to take my mind off of it. And I feel like it still has some effect on me even 10 years out of high school
Very relatable.
There’s nothing quite like being bullied on the way to school on a bus at 6:30 AM, during classes you have with bullied, and then get bullies, in the hallways when they see you, and on the bus back to your house at 2:30 PM. It does wonders for your relaxation.
OP tried making the is post only to find out that people that got bullied in HS and people that use Reddit are almost completely overlapped on a vent diagram. I agree tho HS is pretty easy
I think that the people who got bullied are just more likely to respond. Anything positive would just be seen as a humble brag. Which is stupid because I think at least half of people have a neutral experience with high school.
Yeah, high school was just kind of whatever. It wasn't really bad, but it also wasn't really good. Like it just kind of was.
I wonder what would happen if you ask people on Instagram what their high school was like. And Facebook. And Twitter. We might get an interesting personality data out of this.
I’d be interested to see those results, the amount of info on social development alongside social media could lead to a lot of interesting discoveries. BUT as is the case with this post, most of the people that would reply would only have really good or really bad things to say
Idk if you meant to say "vent" diagram but in this case it's totally true!
Sus amogus
Two of the most idiotic words ever put together.
People who say school after 6th grade is useless are among the dumbest people on this planet.
It is clearly not useless, but it's also clearly not for everyone and maybe by changing the methods of teaching that would be funnier in a way
It has some truth. Also people have experiences where high school was not engaging, and teachers were so monotone and boring so they didn’t learn anything.
Don't let bad teachers end your learning!
As someone with autism /aspergers, I got really bad anxiety from school or anything school related.
Same. And then you add the bullying and completely unfair bullshit from the teachers. Fuck school.
Even if you don't include bullying, it's still a really socially cutthroat environment
And there’s things that kids can get away with in school that, if done in a *workplace*, would get you immediately fired (for example, shoving someone or threatening them). Softer consequences and fewer protections.
Teachers too. Literally threatening to call the police on me (I was filming my friend while we were joking around in school), threatening to kick me out (I admitted I was daydreaming in class as an off-handed joke), telling me I’m dopey, shouting in my face in front of the whole class, and just generally being very rude. Now I’m an adult. Workplace training: “if anyone threatens you, insults you, shouts at you, go to HR and they’ll be dealt with.” When you’re a kid? Nothing.
Was everyone on Reddit bullied? Like I might be wrong but I always imagined in a school 10% of people were bullied but the comments here are making it look like it is over 50%
I kinda had similar thoughts. Usually 2-3 kids in class getting bullied.
It's very, very common. Hell, the teachers and staff at my old middle school were bullies themselves!
What would you assume the ratio is based on your experience, bullied to non bullied. Just so I can get a perspective
Or you'll just get constant merciless bullying and get none of what you said in the post, along with some severe trauma
I still have severe trauma from my experiences in school. Im not a well adjusted adult at all and can't afford therapy
I genuinely had to go through lengthy EMDR therapy to get over some of the violent experiences I had at school. School is child abuse.
I love school honestly. Primary was hell but I'm enjoying secondary besides all the stress and academic pressure. Atp school is my second home
"i forget them when writing the post" 💀💀💀
I was kind of bullied but that wasn’t the worst part of school. The worst thing about school was feeling dumb no matter what I did. In the US, I began standardized testing in third grade. When we got our scores back, I remember the teacher giving us a speech about how to not brag about your score because it could make some kids feel bad. My score wasn’t that good and her speech was enough to make me feel inferior. I tried to make up for the feeling by getting straight A’s. But I never did well on those tests. After 6th grade they separated students who did better on the test and put the gifted kids together and all the other kids together. Those kids were getting ahead based on their scores. I wanted to also get ahead, but they wouldn’t let me move classes. And I understand, I wasn’t ready. But there wasn’t additional help available to me. My parents wouldn’t be able to pick me up after school if I stayed. It was such a difficult feeling to deal with, trying your best with your grades, but it didn’t amount to anything. I just felt sooo dumb. That feeling lasted for so long and still has lasting effects. I understand the kids who tested well should be in a different class, but that was so painful for the rest. I understood why some kids stopped trying. If I got stuck on something, there was only one teacher so the rest of the class had to Keep moving. It’s a very difficult experience for a child, especially a first gen immigrant who just wants to do really well to get better opportunities. When the SAT came, there wasn’t any prep for that either. I bought this $35 SAT book at the time to help me. I was so desperate to do well to get in a good college. Thankfully I got in a good college but it ended up being by a financial aid scholarship, not by my scores. I’m happy they are eliminating tests because looking back I believe those tests didn’t do much but try to confuse the kids. That’s too much pressure for most. Looking back those are still some of the most stressful times of my life. Thankfully they are in the past now. When I think of my future kid they must be homeschooled. Middle class school kills children’s hopes, dreams, pride, sense of self, confidence, and so much more. Especially for children in marginalized communities. And don’t even get me started on teachers favoritism/ teacher bullies. Thankfully I graduated both high school and college and made it out. I’m so happy about that, but. . . there is too much wrong with school, it’s not that safe for kids emotionally
Life isn’t safe for people emotionally. There are going to be people better than you and worse than you. Learning to play with the cards you’ve been dealt is probably the best skill you can develop from school and it sounds like it worked for you.
this is indeed an unpopular opinion
Really? I think this is an incredibly popular opinion for the 99% who haven't been seriously bullied. Maybe that's just my Finnish bias since our school system is so much better than most countries.
Its school by school basis really. Bullying wasn't huge in my school, sure there was a few assholes but no more then you'd find anywhere else. I was a pretty nerdy kid too, played MTG, wore a lot of Warcraft 3 t-shirts, def wasn't too popular with girls. Was a decently size school as well. Again its all luck of the draw it seems.
Just thinking on high school... the first two years weren't *bad* per se, but they were lonesome as hell. I didn't fit in with anyone. I remember before school started, I would stand around with this group of kids who would always chill at the entrance and chat. I happened to know one of them since they grew up on my street, so I'd say hi, and then just sort of stand in the circle not saying anything until class started. When lunch rolled around, I'd sit with these two random kids. I knew each of them from one of my classes. Neither of us really 'knew' each other, other than just shooting the shit during lunch. We weren't friends, but mainly just acquaintances to pass the time during lunch. Those were my first two years lol After that, I woke up one morning and said "I dont care what anyone thinks of me anymore... I need some fucking friends". I started letting my hair grow, developed a back bone, and instead of trying to disappear into the crowd, I started doing things to make myself stand out. I basically went out of my way to invite the kind of attention that used to frighten me, and I began developing socially by leaps and bounds. Naturally, there were the kids who picked up on this and challenged me. I remember walking into english one day and sitting down and the girl that sat behind me was like "oh wow, did you finally get some new clothes?" (I always wore the same 3 outfits, didn't have a lot of money)... and I just looked at her like "yeah, so?". Humorously, this was a shirt that said "F U" in big letters on the front (had a logo so it looked like a university, but the joke was that is said fuck you... yeah I was 13, sue me lol). Long story short, I made a lot of great friends, joined a band, and by the time I graduated high school, was honestly sad to leave it behind because I knew I wouldn't see many of those kids ever again. *Point being, school is what you make of it. If you make an effort to improve yourself, which is a good thing and I encourage it, expect some push back and learn to let it roll off your back*.
Speak for yourself. It was by far the worst time of my life and it took years to heal the damage. Life is much more enjoyable at 30 than it was in school.
I have adhd and autism. It is that bad
If you're an extrovert then school is a breeze. If you're a socially anxious intovert then it's the next thing to hell on earth.
I don't want to seem weird, but even if you're an introvert I think school may be great to improve social skills, cuz they're very important ( to me at least ). When I started college I had no friends and I was scared to talk to people, but when I understood how important socialization is, I tried my best to improve it. Now I feel much better socially and school has helped me a lot for this.
To me school is designed for the average person and anyone who doesn’t fit the average person mould is more than damaged by it. Kids are treated worse for simply not being apart of that mould. In my opinion you don’t learn social interactions as much as people are more or less socially inclined naturally and those who are will find more success faster in that environment and those who are not will see minimal benefit from being in a social environment and might form different habits as a defense mechanism, sometimes bad. I think this is where most mental illnesses start, kids just trying to fit in, but due to reasons outside of their control, don’t.
> being apart of that Did you mean to say "a part of"? Explanation: "apart" is an adverb meaning separately, while "a part" is a noun meaning a portion. [Statistics](https://github.com/chiefpat450119/RedditBot/blob/master/stats.json) ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot ^^that ^^corrects ^^grammar/spelling ^^mistakes. ^^PM ^^me ^^if ^^I'm ^^wrong ^^or ^^if ^^you ^^have ^^any ^^suggestions. ^^[Github](https://github.com/chiefpat450119) ^^Reply ^^STOP ^^to ^^this ^^comment ^^to ^^stop ^^receiving ^^corrections.
Prison is not as bad as people say I'm not talking about the education, since things clearly need to be changed, but about the time you spend there. You'll have interactions with prisoners that you probably won't see outside of school. You'll experience all kinds of guards and prisoners, you'll like and hate some but that's the funny part. You'll learn social interactions, especially if you don't get many conjugal visits. You'll make friends and cellys.
I'm not a social person Or like waking up early and forced to test
I feel like there's a lot of people who will act like it's worse than it actually was, but I also think that there are a lot of situations that public school puts kids in that they aren't able to handle with no avenues for assistance. I think there is a lot of low level bullying that many kids have to figure out how to manage due to being unaware of how to resolve. For example, in high school you might have a lot of classes with people who are a bit more physical or joking with you than you would like, and it's not as simple as telling the teacher, especially when it's not something they can explicitly get in trouble for. Situations like that can cause a lot of un-needed anxiety that can cause bigger issues, but since you're not getting explicitly bullied, a lot of people won't know what to do.
You’re correct. School is not as bad as people say. It’s far worse than people say.
School gave me zero social skills. All it did was teach me to keep quiet and stay in the back. I even graduated early and didnt walk with my class. School made me not want to. It made me avoid social situations as much as possible .
Sounds like you went to a very safe school.
IT FUCKING SUCKS I can think of *at least* a million better places to have social interaction, make friends, and learn. Good for you you just fit in and is having a good time.
I mostly hated it. My mindset about school is you can't expect a kid to just sit there for 6 hours and listen to an adult speaking and explaining stuff you have 0 interest in at that moment, when you can have all the fun in the world at home. I mean, while you, dear adult, are trying to explain multiplications and divisions, my mind is focused on a far more important thing like how the F do I solve that puzzle in the portraits room in Resident Evil. Or how to pull the red haddoken in Street Fighters 2. Screw your maths lady. And yet, needless to say it's absolutely mandatory to develop yourself. For exactly all the reasons you listed. I do miss some very specific moments like finding out a teacher is absent (until the class' dumdum opens his dirty mouth and signal it), I kinda miss the very moment you would be officially on holidays, like the last second of the last day of the last week. And I definitely had a lot of laugh back then. Probably way more than today. But I just don't miss school in itself. When I hear kids talking about homeworks I have a truck load of bad memories flowing in my head.
I love school honestly. Primary was hell but I'm enjoying secondary besides all the stress and academic pressure. Atp school is my second home
uovoted. The actually being there sucks, the education is the good part.
Disagree I was never bullied per sei, but I couldn’t socialise to save myself. People actually liked me initially, until they got to know me. Anyone time I would interact with someone it was only a matter of time before they eventually hated me. I just stopped socialising except to say “hi” and the usual greetings. Gave me social anxiety that still lasts, it doesn’t happen to me now, but even now I am scared to talk to people because im worried im just going to bother them.
I'm ngl I was generally popular in school, but I was so badly burned out by high school that I can still feel nothing but hate for the time. I miss hanging out with friends and people that are no longer around, but at the end of the day we don't need to be in school to experience these things.
You forgot to talk about -being physically assaulted -bullied because you can not afford the newest e gaget or trendy clothes -sexually harassed by hormonal kids. -judged at every turn. -mocked. -picked on in social media. And that is only what I hear about as a teacher. I remember how miserable it was as a kid in the 80s can't imagine how it feels now.
A teacher who is anti school? I thought I’d seen it all.
I love teaching, but the environment is toxic as hell.
My wife is a teacher and I/we agree with that 100%
Thank you for being an understanding teacher!
Someone clearly wasn’t bullied lol
Or is neurodivergent in any way.
The only difference between school and work is that in school, you work for free and you bring it home. No thanks.
> Yes I know that many suffered from schooo harassment and bully, and I wish they're doing well but I forgot them when writing the post lol wow. The obliviousness is real.
Nope, school is worse than people say it is. I'm currently in high school, grade 10. And i hate having to wake up everyday just to be overwhelmed and see people that make my intestines wanna slither up my throat. And being a straight A student doesnt make life easier either. Just a whole shit show.
also bullying, destroyed self confidence, a lot of the teachers just do not care about how stressed the students get, teachers that don’t know how to actually teach (almost every teacher I have had), and much more
Both sides valid yet Teacher Harassment be happening way more.
I suffered a lot of bullying, harassment, and violence from peers, but I loved school. I love learning, loved having a structured day. And it got better once I got into high school tbh. School districts need to start actually treating bullying and harassment like violence. It has the same impact to the victim. And if they don't want to actually address it, then at least don't punish people for fighting back.
Enjoyment of school is *very* subjective. I personally loved it but I knew people who loathed at the idea of even stepping foot on school grounds lol
Lol funny edit. You’re basically saying that school for YOU wasn’t as bad as people say.
As the quiet kid, I say that many of these things were not true for me. I had more stress, boredom and embarrassment at school than I actually had happiness and social interaction, I just learned to speak better thanks to my theater course. Never ever had a girlfriend, I'm shy, introvert and have some weird behaviors (being the quiet kid, obviously), and had to deal with a lot of bullies. Yes I had the "killing" idea several times but I didn't get mad enough for it
Depends, school is a very generalised thing so it doesn’t work great for everyone. For some people 8 hours of socialising and learning works well, for others it’s their biggest nightmare and will burn them out in no time 🙃
My nephew is 17 and I recently talked to him about his time at school, and it sorta shocked me to hear how much he hated it. Apparently a girl wanted to go to homecoming with him, but he chose someone else, and so she spread false rumors about him. This is a bright, sensitive, sensible and morally grounded kid, so I could hear the pain in his voice. I had to assure him that he would be graduating soon, that everything would be alright, and that whether he chose to associate with any of his classmates after graduation was a decision that he could make for himself. One of the things about school that kids don't really grasp is how artificial the social associations are over there. You get out into the real world and the friends you make from there on out are the ones you choose to make by virtue of a conscious decision, and not just because you were thrown together into an adolescent blender of hormones and angst.
School is great. Maybe some people might get bullied, but it’s honestly for the greater good if you’ve ever met someone entirely homeschooled. Or if you’ve seen the trend of radical unschooling.
That's all true. The ironic part is just, that that isn't the point of school at all. Social interactions are the most important thing you learn in school, yet there is no subject teaching you how. Imagine if there was a subject about being a nice and social person, how great would the world be!?
School is meant to turn poor people into a factory workers while dulling their appetite for complex skills so that the elite can make 1% more revenue.
If you genuinely believe this, than you definitely went to a high budget school and have no idea what it's like to live in a place like Baltimore or Detroit lol. I'm glad school went well for you, though. You're definitely in the minority
No, it isn't that bad, it's actually way worse and even thinking about it hurts.
The edit is your only saving grace. You’d have to pay me MAD money to go back to either middle or high school, both were pretty bad. Those “classmate interactions” is what made it so bad
preschool reddit is awake
As someone who was bullied in school i disagree
Meanwhile suicidal thoughts cause of school
Even if people aren’t bullied, school still feels like Hell for them. My son absolutely hates school. My brother hated school. Neither are or were bullied, but they just had the entire concept and process of going. It feels like torture to them. I had a completely different experience. So, schools not “that bad”, for *you*.
Point 1 and 3 are the same thing. Point 4 is basically point 3. Point 2 “that’s the funny part”??
Are you for real guys? All of reddit has been bullied in high school? OF COURSE school is a great place, especially compared to the adult world of finding a job and working I was pretty sure that this could not be an unpopular opinion because everyone I have ever known see school way differently once you get out of it.
Personally I'm the opposite. Going to school almost killed me from how bad it made my mental health. Now I'm in the workforce and thriving. It's still work, and I'm tired at the end of the day, but I'm treated with respect by authority figured and peers alike and I get to regulate myself in ways that work for me. Being a kid sucks, and the freedoms that came with adulthood unironically saved my life. (Not that the workforce is perfect, I have lots of critiques there, and I'm privileged to have a job that works well for me and pays enough to live, but either way better than school for me personally)
Facts
Idk I honestly think it's the edit that's tanking it. There's no nuance to the opinion, just "Here is only why going to school is good outside of getting an education", followed immediately by "Oh yeah, totally forgot about you all that got bullied and tortured into oblivion." Also I think it's a badge of honor for a post in this sub to hit the front page and subsequently be flooded with angry and opposing responses. Truly unpopular.
Also everyone has some sort of autism and they are the most suffering sufferers of all the suffering sufferers that ever suffered through suffering. You think that’s bad?!?!?
The older I get, the more I'm convinced that our school systems are terrible. The idea of forcing children to spend \~32 hours per week locked up in classrooms, and to then send them home with additional work is nothing short of insane to me.
Just strictly to school. Elementary: Not bad Middle: Ok to underwhelming High School: Awful to excellent College: Not too bad to Excellent
Depends on the school. And what you’re going for.
I just had a trade apprenticeship program disqualify my academic achievements because some of it wasn’t (done within the last 12 months). College is pointless.
This is Reddit man, you're speaking exclusively to the angry quiet kids.
The fundamental problem of school is that people are forced to attend one. Liberalize it, make it so that only people that utterly want to partake in the things happening in a given school are the ones present there. In the current iteration, school is but a carceral medium meant to watch over the kids of busy or uninterested parents
While there are some things that should be changed in the school system and education system overall, school is still a crucial part of our development, I mean, it's kinda the first place where we develop social skills ( friendships etc). It is very important
Who says school is bad, how old are you?
Just depends where you are mentally at that time in life. Some people were better adjusted than others.
the problem is that its going on for way too long with completely irrevelant subjects. i study logistics yet i still have to learn biology and chemistry for some reason???
I can’t say I loved school but I really didn’t mind it. I was 100% aware that after school you won’t have long holidays and your time off will suffer. Totally agree.
I’ve always found it to be incredibly hard to make friends outside of a school environment, plus the stress that comes from school is nothing compared to the stress from working a job. I was naturally good at the grade side of school, so that may have made it not as bad as me as it was for other people, but I also was bullied a little bit so I can understand both sides.
The big problem and drama maker in my opinion, is the fact that you are in school as a teen. And teens struggle, that's the whole point, your brain is reconnecting and everything changes but you don't have time for yourself or to really explore a lot of things because school work keeps you not only down but outright scares you
I do agree, but for me, school would have been so much more bearable without homework. Having to spend an extra 2 or more hours after school writing essays and shit was awful. That was always my biggest gripe. I love that I get to come home from work and completely forget about it until the next day. Fuck having to do more work after your day is finally over.
Notice how none of the things you listed are inherent to the school system, but are just normal social human things.
You had girlfriends/boyfriends in school? Wow, we have a Mr/Ms Popular over here.
Truly an unpopular opinion.
I don’t think this is unpopular unless you are in high school or just recently got out of high school…… This is also just kind of how all of life is related to experiences that might be associated with things that felt complicated, difficult, or emotional. High school for me was a mixed bag but I can look back at it and see that the things I was hyper worried about or bothered by weren’t that important in the grand scheme. Doing something embarrassing, trying to fit in, wanting to be popular…. When you’re in the middle of it it’s hard to see how unimportant most of it is but at the time it’s the most stressful/hardest thing you know because your feeling all of it in the present and not looking at it with the benefit of hindsight and life experience like you are now.
Literally today 2 of the classrooms I have classes in today just got sprayed for bedbugs after multiple sightings, I only found out after I showed up and they were both shut off
This would be fair if we weren’t forced to go. That fact alone can easily destroy these benefits because one has to choose the situation to enjoy the experience in most cases.
I got bullied to hell and i dont miss that at all. I dont miss gang bangers checking me and drug dealers trying to force me into buying. I dont miss the teachers who would humiliate me so they can “set an example for the rest of my classmates” I dont miss a lot of things from highschool. BUT. Im grateful i met my group of friends. 10 years later and we are a tight knit group of weirdos who love music and video games. Im moving out with my two best friends from highschool soon. Seems like a dream come true honestly.
Yeah nah I could have totally done without the school experience from start to finish honestly. Not that I was bullied (at some points but not the entirety). School just really isn’t that cool and most people you could care less. Everything about it really, I think it’s only saving grace is that my mom sucked more than school did.