When I was about six years old, an image of a noisy place with lots of silly little kids screaming and whooping around really stuck to my memory, and was there for a long time accompanied with a feeling of fear, worry and hatred! Unfortunately, I had to go to this place every single day, and leaving mum and home to go back there was just awful!

It is the first unpleasant experience in everyone’s life, whether you like it or not, you should spend the most beautiful years of your life there! It is a place where you are compelled to be and where your freedom is far restricted. No, it’s not prison, it’s “School”!

When I sit down and think back of my schooldays, I remember every single detail of it; every teacher’s name, which subject they taught, how I hated or loved him, every friend I knew, some were silly and some were sincere. I may have forgot many details of any other experience through the journey of my life, but the school part is non-erasable, school isn’t only a place we learn in, it’s the birthplace of your own characteristics.

Why do we hate school?

Teachers:
A silly and a mean teacher was the reason why I hated math so much, and I spent the rest of my life trying to making it up with math but in vain! Yes, a bad teacher has a great influence on his students, he can intentionally or unintentionally make them hate the subject he teaches. Teachers also may think, in some way or another that they are in control of everything; the class, the grades and the students. Some teachers may use humiliation, sarcasm and harsh words. Teachers’ attitudes can help or hurt student motivation, achievement and wellbeing. Recent studies found that negative teacher attitudes can impair academic achievement and increase students’ psychological disorders and physical symptoms of stress.

Bullying:
All of us have met this stupid, annoying boy or girl. The bully’s only pleasure is to see others suffering, whether by hurting them psychologically or physically. Students who engage in bullying behaviors seem to have a need to feel powerful and in control. Studies indicate that bullies often come from homes where physical punishment is used, where the children are taught to strike back physically as a way to handle problems, and where parental
involvement and warmth are frequently lacking. Try to avoid those bullies because no matter what you do they’ll find a way out to tease you, believe me; they are professional at their job.

Homework:
School is boring enough, why do we have to bring the hell of the school to your home? One of my funny friends once told me while trying to solve a very difficult math problem:” If the teacher can’t solve how could we?”! Home should be for resting, it’s our free time. The work should all be done at school, just like a job, you shouldn’t bring the work to your home. To make things much easier, try to seek one of your friends’ help, but make sure he’s serious and knows how to help, otherwise you’ll be wasting your valuable time.

Getting Up in the Morning:
Worst thing ever! As soon as that alarm sounds at 6 am you know that another day of your journey in school has just begun. It sucks even more when you’re in winter and you’re warm and sound asleep then you hear your mom come and rip the blankets off of your body, then the cold comes in!! You only have two choices now; either to blame the government for making school so damn early, or just go back to sleep!!! You decide!

Grades or Exams:
This is why I refer to school as “The Stress Factory”. Who didn’t feel nervous and anxious before or during exams? I knew a friend who had almost a “nerves breakdown” every time we had an exam! No matter how hard she studied and how good she was, thinking of the word “exam” was enough to make her body react with symptoms of anxiety; rapid heartbeats, outbursts of perspiration and stomach ache. Some also have sleep problems before grades and exams, thinking how to deal with bad results and of course parents’ reactions!

P.E:
I don’t remember a single day at my school that I or my friends enjoyed the P.E class. I don’t know whether it’s the boring exercises or the silly teacher, but the only thing that I’m sure of, is that we were never taught how important the physical education really is. A study showed that just 20 minutes of P.E helped curb obesity and improve fitness in teens. Other studies show that kids’ PE doesn’t take away from time spent learning. In a later review of this research, the CDC found that physical education has a positive impact on academic performance.

Children and teens need at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily, according to health experts. PE class can go a long way toward helping them meet that goal. We need to inspire children to see PE lessons differently and prove that being active is fun and rewarding. Now, and after… some many years, I left school then college and I’m a mother now who tries hard to make my children’s journey at school much more fun. But it seems like this generation has new problems! The Problems they are facing we never heard of back at our days; so things are becoming even worse and unfortunately make the process of learning a lot harder. Starting with private classes and greedy tutors, overstuffed curriculum, large numbers of students in one class and unqualified teachers. Students nowadays even don’t respect their teacher. The teacher who used to be the role model, unfortunately has changed! He lacked knowledge, dedication and time. If we speak about “nowadays” we clearly mean the “age of internet” and “free information” which is readily accessible to us at any given point of time. Due to the increase of technological and literary resources available to today’s students, we generally expect that the load on teachers has reduced. We are under the false notion that our teachers have lesser importance in our lives than they did earlier. But the point is, with this kind of exposure to the world, we actually require more experienced and qualified teachers not to give us bookish knowledge but to show them the right direction, to teach them values and to create better human beings.

“School is such a drag”… but it’s the only way to achieve your dreams. A responsible person, respectable career and good salary are all worth working for. The secret is: work hard now, get good grades, be creative, believe in yourself, be confident, think positively and always tell yourself “You can do it” and you will. Although while at school, we count the days, the hours and the minutes to leave it, when we are actually out we can’t help but think and miss those lovely days. School is not only about classes, teachers, loads of homework and exams. It’s also the place where we had so much fun with the most sincere friends. Those friends were partners in detentions and in recess, and they will stick up with you till the end of your journey. No matter how much you think you hate school, you’ll always miss it when you leave…

By: Amal Hejazi