Posted by: Lois Lindemann on: January 7th, 2012 
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As an educator, when I saw that #ReasonsWhyIHateSchool was trending on Twitter, I clicked through to see what was being said.
It was a depressing experience. I was faced with an overwhelming number of Tweets, most of them filled with frustration and unhappiness. I haven’t made any attempt at a formal analysis, but I have picked out some that seem typical.
There were quite a few who wanted school to be like the movies:
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool: It’s not Hogwarts.
— The Dark Lord (@Lord_Voldemort7) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool Because Its Not Like Zoey 101, High School Musical, Napoleon Dynamite, Fame, Bring It On, Or Ferris Bueller.
— Princєtons Swαg Tho. (@Princeton_Diggy) January 7, 2012
Actually, I’d like school to be like the movies, where the hard-working teacher wins over the hearts and minds of all their students, so that by the final scene even the most disaffected have achieved amazing things. Who wouldn’t want that?
I wasn’t surprised to see criticism about the behaviour and attitudes of teachers, but I was taken aback but some of the comments:
#reasonswhyihateschool : teachers who clearly chose favorites ;
— ☑VERIFIED SiiRPaul (@SiiRPaul) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool The teachers loose our work and blame it on us ,
— ♥01/01/2012 M.W (@2jayDoriginal) January 7, 2012
#reasonswhyihateschool Teachers that hold grudges and try to make you fail
— Jerome Banks (@CaughtHerEye) January 7, 2012
It wasn’t just teachers though:
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool because everyone judges you no matter what you do. you’re not good enough for anyone there.
— Selena Gomez▲ (@heckyesjaybee) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool it’s a non stop status competition. Long live the nerds!!!!
— kye sones (@KyeDIAGRAM) January 7, 2012
#reasonswhyihateschool the 45min bus journey with screaming idiotsthat announce their life story every single day
— Aylin Akineden (@Its_Ayleen) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool…I’m surrounded by immaturity, stupidity, & people who are going no where in life…& I can’t do anything about it.
— Jessica Kolcheff (@JessicaKolcheff) January 7, 2012
Getting up too early in the morning was a frequent complaint – which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has worked with teenagers. I’m convinced that a later start to the day would benefit many of my students, especially in Y9, 10 and 11:
#reasonswhyihateschool I have to get up before the sun does -_-
— Peter Francis Geraci (@FollowDeez__) January 7, 2012
#reasonswhyihateschool who want’s to wake up that early and do something they don’t like
— LIFE PROBLEMS (@weEKendproblms) January 7, 2012
Boredom was mentioned so often I’m surprised that wasn’t trending too:
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool I get so bored so I begin to laugh at everything, and eventually cry from laughter or for no reason at all.
— Savannah Wolfgram (@SWolfgram) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool Some classes are long and boring.
— Jasmine (الياسمين) (@Poohbear1030) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool nothing interesting ever happens
— Khalie R. (@Khalieeaaaye) January 7, 2012
One word said it all on this topic:
#reasonswhyihateschool Homework.
— King James Or Die. (@xox_Asfiya786) January 7, 2012
No surprises there!
The thing that left me feeling the most frustrated of all was the number of Tweets expressing the pointlessness of it all – especially in my subject:
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool because 90% of the things we learn we won’t use in the real world #pointless
— Cami ∞ (@AuthenticCami) January 7, 2012
Most of the higher staff are only concerned with grades, not actually teaching valuable skills and information. #ReasonsWhyIHateSchool
— Matt Ashmore (@FallenNocturne) January 7, 2012
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool i will never use -0.2x^2 + 12x + 11 in real life
— kj.(@0beyK) January 7, 2012
I don’t think many teachers would be surprised by any of these complaints, but the sheer number and vehement negativity of the comments staggered me. It’s inevitable that a hashtag called #ReasonsWhyIHateSchool will expose negative attitudes, but there were almost no dissenting voices. I find that very sad.
I’m just going to share one final Tweet, the one that stopped me in my tracks:
#ReasonsWhyIHateSchool it kills the relationship between my parents and I…
— Eric Nguyen (@OhLetDoItNguyen) January 7, 2012
Wow.
I’m left thinking about my own classes. I wonder to what extent this stream of Tweets reflects the feelings of my own students? Obviously I’d like them to be happy at school, but I wonder if they really are.
After you Tweeted that you were having difficulty reading the number of Tweets because they were updating so quickly, I went to look. And, like you, I was stunned to see how fast it was moving. Stunned and depressed. Just watching them stream through, faster than I could read, was so upsetting. Upsetting because in some way, I felt a failure – or at least a member of a failing team.
But, you know, from a distance, it isn’t all as bad as it appeared last night (or maybe still is appearing today – I’m not going back). Everything, *everything* could have a trending hashtag on Twitter on #ReasonsWhyIHateFillInAnyRandomWord. Heck, I can find stuff to moan about Christmas/DisneyWorld/ChocolateCake. So yes, it looks terrible, but in the long run – we know why we teach “stuff they will never use”, because if they didn’t learn how to use *new* stuff, learn to progress from one point to another, they would stagnate. They wouldn’t have the ability to learn how to use a mobile phone, to Tweet, to use hashtags, to express rage/annoyance/boredom.
In the long run, we do as much as we can to make school as fun/exciting/interesting as possible. And we do as much as possible to prepare them for the world outside of school – because, let’s be honest, if you exchange the word “school” for “job” in all those Tweets, they still all make sense.
You’re absolutely right Will, that feeling of being a member of a failing team is exactly the right description.
I’m very tempted to ask some of my students what they think. We’re in the midst of exam season, so it’s not the right moment, but maybe in a week or two I’ll give it a go.