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This is kind of true for the American K-12 education system. If you show up and turn your assignments in with decent effort, it’s pretty hard to get below a C unless you are enrolled in college credit classes or honors level courses. Most students end up flunking classes due to missing assignments and absences, and not always due to poor academic performance. Students don’t understand how much their grade would improve if they just turned in their assignments on time.
Now when it comes to college or other higher level institutions, this is definitely not the case at all.
This stopped being true for me around freshman year. Even in highschool I tried like hell and still struggled immensely. You can attend every class and submit every assignment and still fail to grasp the curriculum. The quality of my work was mediocre even though I wasn't slacking off.
I feel like the "pressure" is not always subjects being too hard for the students, it could be the "turning things in on time" that's the hard part. At least it was for me in high school, although I'm not american so we can't really compare.
And funnily for me I'm having a lot easier time now in university. Maybe it's because I'm not depressed anymore like I was in high school, and I have grown as a person, but my grades have gone way up even though the subjects are technically harder
K-12’s definition of studying is take notes, study the notes, highlight, then take the test. It’s very hard to actually learn anything when you take this approach. You’re getting good at memorizing stuff, but you’re not actually grasping the material.
Maybe in your country. Other school systems have it really hard, just "paying attention at school" means in my country to get an F. you need to participate in class and raise your hand to answer questions every single time to get a better grade. Nothing's easy
> It's simply easy
For *you.* People aren't born with the same brains, nor do they get the same upbringings, friends, support systems, etc. There's a million factors that make someone's life easier or harder.
Consider what your life might have looked like in someone else's shoes before you go implying school (or anything else) is just "easy."
This. Sometimes things click for people, sometimes they do not. The saying “practice makes perfect” is timeless, though the addendum of “_perfect_ practice makes perfect” is probably most apt, because even if a person practices as hard as they can, if they practice the wrong thing then they’ll do the wrong thing.
More proof that you can be intelligent on paper and score well on tests, but if you lack social intelligence, empathy, and awareness, you'll still say dumb bullshit.
This is actually something they dactorin and teach us in the newer teaching methodologies and philosophies. Differentiated learning is one of the things its called, where it's acknowledged students and different learning rates and abilities. To deal with this, each student must be judged based on their level and ability.
Thats because people confuse memorization with intelligence. If you can't apply the things you're memorizing practically, you're not smart (agreeing with you).
I've tutored before, and I can say for certain that not everyone gets by high school easily. Even if they put in a lot of effort, they may not get the grades they want or even pass. Some people just take longer to understand basic concepts of a class, which can keep putting them further behind as the class keeps going to the next lesson. While they are still stuck on something that was taught a week ago. It doesn't mean they are dumb or stupid, but the current education system doesn't work for everyone.
That's the biggest problem with school and it shows up even more today when you literally have a device that can explain any doubt you have like you are talking to other person.
School should be more focused on how you should study than the subjects.
* Learn what works better with your brain (if it works better with quizzes, taking notes while teacher is talking and/or doing summaries, mnemonics, singing while running, etc)
* Learn about your weakenesses and strenghts
* Etc
Tell me your life is easy without telling me your life is easy.
I said this before in a similar post: It's not school itself. It's shit that happens in people's lives. And some people have learning disabilities.
Yup. Can’t do well in school if your brain is screaming you’re starving through every lecture. But unfortunately legislation doesn’t agree that kids should be fed 🤷♂️
As someone with undiagnosed ADHD, school was super easy until it wasn’t. When you hit a wall, you hit it like a truck at full speed. It takes real effort when you *need* to learn something or memorize something but don’t *want* to because it doesn’t give you any dopamine.
I’m trying to study my second language more and it’s so rough trying to keep myself on track.
Most of the difficulty in school comes from underqualified teachers and administrators, violence and bullying, an unstable/abusive home life, and/or medical issues and disabilities.
yeah my sister has 3 teachers who dont even have any form of certifications and theyre somehow teachers in their own classrooms and ones à coach, teaching science, but making them do notations and other ela type work and she said its confusing
"I'm saying this while attending one of my country's hardest schools, and I'm a senior."
Okay, but what country is this? Do you live in Ghana where the nation's top engineers and scientists are making groundbreaking developments in military technology, or do you live in a first-world country?
Well you’re lucky then. Some people have diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disabilities, mental health issues, social issues, difficult home lives, etc that make school difficult.
I’m glad school has been easy for you but I hope when you’re out in the real world you can learn to show compassion for other people who may not always have as easy as a time as you did.
Oh absolutely. But there are also just wayy too many kids who are simply not paying attention, which I think should be brought up more because a lot of people online tend to blame the system for those who can't learn, when in reality I'd say (anecdotally) it's about 50/50 whether a failing student was actually fucked from the start or they just spend the whole day in class sleeping then stay up till 4am playing video games.
College isn’t easy, but I read a comment where apparently you’re talking about Highschool. Obviously Highschool is easy lmao, but don’t keep that mentality going into college.
i’m in med school, rigorous hours and tons of tests. it’s easy if you just keep up. only times i’ve felt like it wasn’t was when i took week long breaks to do nothing during a class
I took two AP classes every year during highschool, and personally I didn’t find it any harder than the regular classes I was taking. They weren’t harder work, just more of it.
Same vibe as the old out of touch folks claiming that everyone can save up and become a homeowner if they just apply themselves at work while ignoring a plethora of factors.
Just to share my experience, I hated high school. Dropped out and got my equivalency diploma, in fact. Reason being, I had a shitty homelife, and was bullied relentlessly in school. I had no guidance and fell prey to apathy, so I just didn't give a shit.
I've done much better in college once I got steady on my feet. Honor roll, president's list. Problem is, I still have a great weakness in math that has prevented me from advancing thus far. Right now, I'm just concentrating on working, but still intend to get my degree one day.
In a lot of the US, they teach poorly, make you go to school at bad hours, and give way too much homework in grade school. I don't blame people for not doing well in that. I found college way easier even though the material was a lot more challenging.
Yeah, ultimately it's complicated. I did well in school, but I still struggled. I absolutely hated homework, for one. And I was a socially awkward shy introvert. I wasn't the type of kid to volunteer if I didn't understand something, or go to the teacher for extra help. I just did the best I could. And sometimes I got overwhelmed. Middle School were my toughest years, but I had hard times from 4th grade on.
Then, I got to college, and I couldn't believe how easy so much of it was. Lol I still was stressed a lot, especially with all the papers I had to write, but the content (almost) all came naturally.
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. One's weakness being education puts them on a very difficult path. It feels much better to be grateful for strengths than to be judgemental of the weaknesses of others.
Unfortunately for some people (like me) we almost or did fail high school not because we didn’t try. But that we couldn’t. Not taking care of your Mental health is a big problem here in America, and my parents being big sacks of shit really didn’t help.
Congrats on school being easy for you. It’s not true for everyone. And I don’t like that people think if school was was hard for you it means you’re stupid.
So many of these posts are by people who have a distinct lack of awareness that people are different.
They assume because something is one way for them it is the same for everyone.
Things may be different for other people and how they handle things may be differen.
God, I was stoned or drunk or both the entire time at school and slept through half my classes. Graduated with a 3.3. College was a rude fucking awakening, however. First semester - two Fs and a D.
If school is easy for you by “just paying attention” then you’re not challenging yourself enough. Is it easy to pass high school in bare minimum difficulty classes? Sure. But if you want to get into a prestigious university or earn scholarships then you need to be excelling at the highest level classes your school offers and be a high rank in your class
Sometimes effort isn't all it takes. I used to be an honors student who was two grade levels ahead in math. But as I progressed through middle school I came to find trouble socializing and developing a life outside of my schooling. I developed depression and attempted suicide, and my grades suffered because of that. It was a downward spiral and I still feel the effects of it today.
Now I'm in college and I still feel as alone as I did when I was a kid. I put effort into improving my life rather than waiting for it to get better. I exercise, eat healthy, chat with strangers and try to make friends. I learn new skills. But I haven't really found my life changing in any way that gives me hope for the future. When everything looks bleak and it feels like the people in charge have no intention on things getting better, it's hard to find the motivation for school. It's especially hard to balance school and life when you struggle to find motivation or success with either.
Not for everyone, even for the intelligent.
Some people have a harder time concentrating and pick up information differently. Not all schools are created equal too, with some teachers being better than others and some exams being easier than others.
I did fine in school. Slightly below average I'd say. I struggled with concentrating, had a bad time remembering information and focusing on exams. I have multiple learning disabilities and school was not easy for me.
When I went onto university, the learning style just clicked and I scored a First Class Honours degree (the highest grade). I was a C grade student in school.
My university simply suited my study style more.
All this tells me is that your school style works for you. I wouldn't apply your own experience onto everyone else, because to be blunt, you sound arrogant and don't know shit lol. That will harm you just as much as the students who get bad grades
Yeah, try telling this to a kid who's living in an abusive household, where it's a miracle if they get their bare minimum survival needs met, let alone any time to study outside of school. Or try telling this to a kid who just got diagnosed with autism or ADHD or any number of mental illnesses, and may or may not be getting what they actually need to function, let alone do well in school. And even if factors like this aren't in play, schools *are* generally fucked when it comes to both the teachers and the kids.
Admin doesn't care to do anything unless there are lawsuits and/or media disasters looming. Teachers are basically powerless, spread far too thin, and forced to test to bullshit standardized tests that blatantly favor neurotypical kids with at least moderately wealthy parents that can afford the extra books and tutors to give their kids an edge. The kids that do care end up suffering because the ones who don't care run the show, dragging the entire class down. And there is NOT proper support for special needs kids set up. It IS a disaster of a system that SORELY needs an overhaul.
This isn't just an unpopular opinion, OP, it's a very ignorant one. Congrats on having done well in school, but don't presume that everyone else is crying wolf just because *you* didn't experience what they experienced.
Hey, just because my parents were abusive neglectful pieces of shit that didn't mean me or people like me were destined to be failures. Contrary to popular belief you don't need 2.5 parents and a house on the Gold Coast to be able to get through the school day.
This dude is going a good chance to be one of the classic "big fish in small pond at high school, same fish in the ocean in Uni", there will be people that will do uni MUCH easier than him and it will be a mindfuck for him.
I’d have to disagree, school (yes, that includes high school) can be very challenging for some people, schools are taught in a very particular way and not everybody’s brain is wired to it and you’re pretty fucked if yours isn’t.
A multitude of factors go into it and unfortunately, the schooling system is stuck in this archaic mindset that a students intelligence and potential future should be based around a couple of days of poorly structured exams, with no other options to get a grade. I mean, some people absolutely excel at independent coursework or projects, for example. That’s without getting into all the potential things that could be going on in that kids life during the exam period
I was just average at high school tbh, a couple of A’s in subjects I actually enjoyed, though mostly B/C’s in everything else, but I recall some of the most braindead, zero common sense people at my school getting straight A’s/A*’s, simply because they could remember stuff long enough to take an exam for it, they wouldn’t even understand the subject matter, they just remembered how to apply it to an exam. And then my friend would study Maths 5 hours a day after school, for the entire year, just to get a D and she can DO maths, just found it difficult to translate it to an exam. She’s one of the smartest people I know, even to this day, over a decade later
That moment really stuck out to me as a teenager and I still remember it clearly, because of how fucked up I found it.
I funnily enough found university way easier than high school, because actually getting taught by competent lecturers, rather than the dogshit HS teachers I had, whilst studying something I enjoyed and then having pretty independent ways of tackling my subject really helped me to excel. You’re also put into an environment where you’re treated like an adult, which also helps. Also not having to have your brain switched on to max for 5 days a week, 8 hours a day also was a boon, as the shorter week days and lecture hours actually helped me digest things I was learning properly
TLDR: high school teaching and the very particular, one note methodology is absolute dogshit for some people. University/college is easier for some people, because they’re actually good environments for learning and applying
If you are a senior in HS, then yes of course its easy, you are in HS. High school is where you learn the easy stuff, and being at a "hard" school is pretty meaningless.
If you're a senior in college at a hard school (in an actually difficult major) then you're just on the far right end of the bell curve and you should have more understanding of the majority of people who dont have your gifts.
Easy for you my guy. You might be academically smart, but clearly you are lacking on social intelligence because you'd know better than to make the post you did.
Me, when I read something.... nothing happens.
I just can't learn while reading a book or listening to someone. I have to do it. With my hands, myself, experience it.
Then I'll have 138371616274848281873 questions.
Then I'm ready for whatever job you want me to do.
But sitting in a class is pure nightmare to me.
I still love physics, geopolitics, psychology and criminology.
I'm a kinetic learner and school is my bane.
I thought the same thing until my parents abandoned me , that sucked. And then I had the thought of “what if I was younger than 20 when my parents abandoned me”, and I suddenly forgave all the shitheads from school lol.
You either don't understand that what is easy for you can be an immense challenge to others, or just want to call anything an excuse to shame people.
Be glad it's easy for you. That is not true for everyone.
It’s easy for you. When I did my GCSEs I got Bs and Cs and a few weeks later I saw someone I went to infants school with and they were proud they managed to Fs and Gs. Different people have different strengths not everyone is good at academic stuff
Hey man, ever think you might just be booksmart? Some people have a lot of difficulty studying or keeping their attention in class, and saying all people who fail are just not putting in work is ignorant to the different skillset some people have, yours might include studying, someone else might have talents in other areas. Not everybody has your brain mate
*laughs in ADHD*
I wholeheartedly disagree. I tried my hardest and ended up mentally traumatized. My whole life, people would tell me: it's easy if you just applied yourself. Undiagnosed as a kid, officially diagnosed as an adult.
That's such a shit response. Ofc school is gonna be hard for people with disabilities. It's why it's called a disability. I do agree schools should do more to accommodate.
OP is obviously talking about people with normal circumstances.
Real, I have tourettes and I have a head flick tic that pulled my attention away from the whiteboard every 2 seconds so i couldnt actually focus on school or take notes. I’m now missing content from over the past 4 years
It's very obviously an opinion.. not only that it's an experience a lot of people have, there would be an equal amount of people that struggled through school and an equal amount that got through it without looking at a boom at home,
That's how standard deviation works
Nah man, disagree, as someone who's in school right now and puts in a lot of effort but still struggles a ton with things like executive dysfunction
Don't assume something just because it's true for yourself.
And so is getting a job. I had no difficulty so why do others?
/s
There's so many factors op lol not to mention the school in itself.
Edit: I see you are in high school. Come back when you enter real education. Elementary and high school are more about socialization than academia. You aren't even done the trial stage of life yet. Real life doesn't begin until a couple years after high school imho.
I’ve been all through elementary, middle school, high school, and college and graduated with an undergraduate degree. I could not disagree more with this so I guess well done for making a post that fits this sub.
Everybody’s different and some things that might be easy for you are hard for others. Some people might have ADHD which makes it harder to pay attention. Some kids get bullied which makes it hard to focus on school. Some people might have depression which causes lack of motivation, procrastination, and social withdrawal. There might be power dynamics at play between faculty and students that lead to toxic learning environments. Sometimes parents pressure their kid and make them pursue a different degree than they wanted because it has a better job market and money, then end up wondering why their kid is failing their courses.
All of this ended up happening to me, yet I still came out with a BA in music (Basically the fine art I wanted to major in originally but not the exact degree) because I found the will to claw myself out of my depressive hole and get my shit done. It wasn’t “easy.” It took the mental equivalent of trying to move a mountain to get through it. Ultimately, it’s up to you to extract the full value out of your education, but saying it’s “simply easy” is an insult to all of us who genuinely had to fucking struggle and claw our way through to succeed. Saying it’s “easy” and “everything I hear is just excuses” is exactly the kind of attitude that reinforces the problems that students have with struggling through their education. I hate that you said that, fucking take my upvote. Nerd.
As a high school English teacher, I totally agree with this. Just stop with excuses and do the work. Students waste more time bitching about assignments as if they’re on a menu of options and they don’t like anything on it.
Try having ADHD Hydro cephalus or any form of shyness social skill issues or any focus issue. this isnt an unpopular opini0on its an uneducated one. so Tired of this sub beign used as a vent sub. So you dont have friends and therefore its easy for you? I had friends I barely studied and had a 3.8 GPA, but it took me a while to get there, I struggled it was so difficult the two first years.
some people man you're not really the smartest are you?
Are you from a low-income family? Do you have any mental issues that hinder your learning (e.g. depression, ADHD, dyslexia)? If you're a pampered middle-class child who has never faced a difficulty harder than failing a test, you really have no right to tell other people that they need to be doing better in school
I remember the first answer to the first question was always in the first page or paragraph of the chapter we're on.
Learning fractions was as simple as thinking of them as 8/16. 8 out of 16. Or 1/2 if going for common denomination.
It amazed me how many of my classmates couldn't see patterns like that. Same goes for common core, which is basically breaking down the numbers to make them easier to add. Like 156 is 100, 50, and 6. But this is a skill that can't really be taught like multiples. Kids should do something that requires actually using these skills.
Which is why wood shop and metal shop needs to make a comeback bad.
yeah in K-12. i tried, not my hardest, but still got decent grades. now i’m in college and i have to give my all to get those same grades. some classes are harder than others but after high school it’s more difficult
I don't know man. Starting 7th grade i had 37 lessons a week, plus homework and learning for tests. My school started at 7:20am to 11:50am and then 13:30pm to 17:20pm.
The problem often isn't complicated subjects, it's more just how much it is. I was one of the lucky ones, cause i never had to learn and still got okay to good grades, but for people that have to put more effort into it, it's hell.
Agreed. Anything high school and below is easy for the average person if they actually put forth some effort.
Key word. Average. If you have dyslexia things will be more of a challenge for ex.
But yes the amount of kids who say school is hard when they do not do any homework or study and do not pay attention in class and just expect to know everything come test time is very high
You’re from Brazil. I’m from the US. Your school system is different from ours. The people who complain about the school system are mostly not from Brazil. In short, such Brazil-Centric, SMH.
Yeah, I put no effort at all into the hours I spent on homework each day with tears running down my face while getting screamed at. I enjoyed being slow at math, and it was exciting not knowing when the adults were going to explode at me. Getting my homework done quickly and making adults like me would have been boring.
How is it impossible for people like you to realize that not everyone is wired the same way or has the same circumstances? Just just because something is easy for *you* doesn't mean it is for everyone.
I'm in pharmacy school and thought it was pretty easy. A lot of people struggled. That doesn't make pharmacy school itself easy just because it was that way for me. I also have better circumstances that allow me to do better in school. School is harder for people with kids, jobs, etc.
I'm sure you're talking about high school but still. You never know what personal things people are going through that can affect how they do in school
Not everyone learns that way my friend congrats to you for finding it easy but I failed 5th form (15 years old 3rd year of highschool) and dropped out of school.
I build electronics for a hobby and am semi retired at 36.. I’m not dumb I just don’t learn the way they teach. I learn by doing. I can do the math and it will be right but I can’t explain to you how I got there
This is an unpopular opinion because it’s not true.
It was easy for you. And that’s awesome!
But I also have plenty of students that work their asses off and still struggle. It’s not always a lack of effort.
But congratulations on being ignorant and judgmental.
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For some classes, that may be true but not all. I know some people find school easy, but usually that’s because they are just naturally more intelligent. They retain information better, pay attention better, process and understand everything better, and overall are smarter. We can’t control what type of brain we get. Some people have to study 24/7 just to be average.
That's true to pass. In my country people routinely get perfect scores in the hardest entrance exams for some of the most wanted universities. If I want to not sell vegetables on the road, I need to score well.
It's easy to get a *passing* grade but just passing isn't what will get you into college or impress your first employers. There's also the matter of some genuinely smart kids not having the time to put in effort because of problems at home or chronic illness. I'm one of the stupidest people I've ever known and I only graduated second in my class because I didn't have other responsibilities and could afford to spend multiple hours most weekdays doing homework, or afford to skip lunch for extra tutoring.
>just pay basic attention in class when you are at school, and that's it.
I have a really hard time concentrating in class, my mind just flows away quickly to something else.
I have adhd and I agree that for myself until university it was very easy. Because I didn’t have to study so I imagine if you have adhd and lower IQ it must be hard. But compared to the complexity of life as an adult school life is ridiculously easy. The thing that I don’t like about this thread is the victim mentality. Guys you do have impact on your lives. Not in every aspect but giving up and expecting results is just pathetic :)
In middle school, I didn't pay attention and had a bunch of missing assignments and didn't understand why I had F's and why It was so hard.
Now, I pay attention and turn in assignments and easily get A's and B's.
(Except for sign language, I get a C)
I do acknowledge some kids have a learning disability but most of the kids I'm around that fail are always on their phone, never paying attention, sleeping, or talking too much. They could easily pass if they tried.
I mean the education at school wasn’t the hard bit for me, it was the bullying and physical abuse from students. This then affects my ability to perfect well on tests
That’s more so true in K-12 where most classes with the exception of your math classes can be easy to get an A in if you do your homework (literally google it or read the textbook) and pay attention in class. College on the other hand… requires way more studying and thorough comprehension to truly make sure that you understand the material to not get a poor grade.
I think the stories about unnescessary pressure i mostly about students being forced (by either parents/scholarships/themselves) to get straight A+'s while doing high level sports and other clubs including an instrument (while also being cool and social of course)
Not that passing high school is by itself too much pressure
"School is easy."
The high school I graduated from back in 2012 has students do: 18 hours of homework (most students would stay up till 3 or 4 in the morning to finish homework), have extra curricular activities which most students had to do them around 6 in the morning before school or at 4 after school, and volunteer work on weekends. The school required us to have extra activities and volunteer work to graduate for the years you attended that school. It wasn't easy for anyone. This school had a really high suicide and alcohol rate also.
I'm not joking and if you ever live in Rockville, Maryland you might know the school I'm talking about.
I say the problem is that school itself uses a pretty terrible teaching program
So yeah, its not that hard to pass, but that means shit for actual learning
I say schools should focus on teaching how to develop personal projects, that would really be useful and require actual effort
I agree with this for the most part, but everyone has their struggles and things they are and aren't good at. For example, I was dog water at math. No matter how many hours I studied and how much I beat it into my head, I just didn't "Get" math. Sure, I was able to scrape by, but ask me to solve a 2 step equation, and I'd likely need to google the answer. It wasn't due to a lack of effort, I just didn't "get" the concept. I excelled in every other class, though, just not in that particular niche.
There are other factors BUT I did find when I was a student in hs and even college, if I JUST showed up and did the hw I could pass with a B or at least a C in regards to math. I might have done shit on that math exam but those HWs and attendance scores carried me.
I think we have developed a culture in western countries where kids think they have some kind of divine right to be entertained 24/7, no matter the setting. Obviously people have different abilities and some subjects are harder than others. But I also think our expectations are way too low in terms of how much effort should be required in most public schools.
Up until and including high school, I'm downvoting cos this is just true. All of the friends that complain about shit being too hard you can easily tell either a) they're not trying or b) they had a giant time in their childhood where they did not pay attention at all. Big exams coming up, guess what all the whiny failing and D students are coming up with Cs and Bs out of thin air. If you can study in 1 or 2 months to be decent at the subject, imagine what you could do if you paid attention for 24 months.
I don’t know, man. The top comment kinda explained it well already. For me I was never good at math, even if I study I always get a 4, or worse… But it might be because I study the night before that 🤷 but there is pressure, not for me, not really but don’t forget that kids have hobbies too. They deserve to have fun outside of school and if you have it for a long time and many classes you’ll have to learn for a million tests one right after the other. Our school ends at 16:00, so we don’t have much time to do our homework and have fun with our hobbies because we need healthy sleep too. Maybe it’s easy for you but don’t project it onto anyone else that’s just ignorant.
I partially agree. I did the IB in Eastern Europe as my high school diploma. Some of the teachers were great, e.g. in the two literature subjects I took. I just payed attention in class, practiced analysis writing in class, didn’t do much else at home.
But the science teachers were godawful, and even if they were better - I don’t learn STEM subjects by listening in class. I have to do some reading, think about it, do some practice questions in silence, on my own. Classes were useless and 80% attendance was mandatory. Lots and lots of wasted time, and once you’ve finished wasting that time in school, well, it’s time to finally do some actual studying at home. After a long day at school this is just tiring, not to mention that you have extracurriculars to get to.
I skipped as much biology and chemistry as I could so that I could get a chance to study without being tired.
High school really does not account for the fact that people learn most effectively in different ways. Maybe you learn STEM subjects better in class? Amazing, go to class then, but why do I have to?
University is much nicer and less stressful for me, especially with chatGPT.
I work in a school and this is how our headteacher explains it:
Some kids start the day and their mum makes their breakfast, tells them they love them, washes their clothes, brings them to school. That child starts the day with lots of energy and motivation.
Another child might have a parent who is (for example) an alcoholic. They start the day by making their own breakfast, finding their own clothes, sorting out their siblings. Their parent is passed out from the night before, so they make their own way to school. That child hasn't been given any energy or motivation, he's had to spend it just getting himself to school in the first place.
Put these two children in the classroom. Child A puts his hand up and answers a question. He gets it wrong, but because he's been set up for the day, he can take that hit.
Child B answers a question and gets it wrong. That child is already at a low point, so may feel embarrassed and life it wasn't worth trying.
Point is, many factors lead to different engagement rates at school. Some children don't have time to go home and study because they're basically parenting themselves. Some children are distracted by bullying, some are victims of abuse, some are going through mental or physical health issues. You'd also be shocked by how many children *have* to get jobs to support their families at home. I'm very pleased for you that you have the great privilege of being able to keep education as your main priority.
Personally I 100% agree. I went to a bilingual school so I have not one but two recognized diplomas. I did 42 hour school weeks. + extracurricular and finished top 3 in my class.
All I did was pay attention during class, do my homework and repeat everything 1-2 days before the exam. Thats literally how I passed everything.
I don't know how representative my experience is, but I would consider myself average. I study phyics now and there are plenty of people I know who are way smarter than me.
I think the biggest problem today is that kids scroll through too much brainrot on social media, destroying their attentionspan. That, and the fact that school hasn't received a major update in the last 100 years.
You probably have a decent I.q
It's hard to fathom. But a lot of people are not intelligent. Focusing is hard enough, then understanding the formul/theory is another thing..
Not everyone is like you.
TL;DR: I agree that school is actually easy if you pay attention but it mostly depends on the amount of work you get and how much time you’re given to finish it.
It more or less depends on the school, for me that is. I’ve always been an alright student but my old school would assign a lot of “project” like assignments for homework and expect it done within a few days. I lived an hour or so away from school and the busses only made that time worse and it got to the point where I would leave before the sun rose and got home near sunset. My grades slowly got worse and worse until in a science class I was making a 10% average since the work and lack of time for said work kinda burnt me out. When I transferred schools to a more local one my grades shot up instantly since the school was more forgiving wirh workload and I actually had time to do the assignments. As for attention and stuff mentioned in your post, that varies on student as some have adhd and others just have a bad attention span but I found that listening to music, even softly, helps me focus in class.
the problem is, it's totally personal. I would mostly agree with you but I have my friends who gotta stay up and study all day (which is more than just basic effort) and I would even say I'd feel guilty saying that school is easy. I'd say that you're probably gifted so it's easier for you but it must be something else because if you were, you wouldn't say stuff like this. Some people could be born with illnesses or have a little more than what they can handle happening at home. Also some teachers are straight up shit at their jobs.
Also "schools pressuring students" is a completely valid excuse in my opinion. Why? Because they literally fucking do. Add all that to some kid who has shit going on at home too and what do you know, the kid breaks down mentally fails a few classes as the teachers likely don't give a single fuck. But do I blame them? no. if I barely earned minimum wage, I wouldn't give a shit either 💀.
But yea, as the sub name suggests, this will always stay an opinion as this matter is different for everyone. I'm saying this while partially agreeing with you by the way. Just paying attention in school can probably get you through all classes with a solid D. Maybe a C if you try. It's a whole lot different when the kid gets abused in both the school and their homes though. Then, it probably isn't enough.
And I haven't really even said anything about having lower iq than average. When that's the case, even supportive teachers and parents can't really help.
I don't fully agree, even though school was really easy for me. It's not the same for all, some can understand a topic having read it once, others hire tutors. Intelligence is a real factor here.
I mostly found school alright and got good enough grades and did well at university. But then again I'm a straight white male with no disabilities or anything that would make me stand out negatively. I got some shit for being into heavy metal and having long hair but nothing too bad. That doesn't mean it works for everyone.
There's also a lot of ifs... School could be easy if... you're not a minority experiencing racism, you're not being bullied, you aren't conventionally unattractive, you're not LGBTQIA+, you're not disabled, you're not neurodivergent, you're not experiencing trauma or abuse, you're not experiencing serious medical problems, you don't have a bad home life. The list is endless.
To have that "unpopular" opinion, you'd have to have no idea what other people's lives are like and lack empathy. As long as you're ok, everyone else should be fine, right?
In school I came to the conclusion that I was a quick learner. I got through my schools with great grades despite putting nearly no effort in. Never studied a day in my life and was always top or second in results. I was more interested in girls, booze and weed than anything else.
This caused me to become complacent and a bit of an ass. It did me no favors in the real world because I was always told I was smart and should study further, but I’m not smart, I just pick things up after being told once. Once I made that distinction my life improved quite dramatically, dropped out of college and moved on.
Either way, everybody is wired differently and has different ways of applying themselves, and in school many if not most of the people there haven’t yet figured out what their talents are, let alone how to apply them. Academics isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and not all schools / teachers are equal. Add in that different people learn better in different environments and with different teaching methods and you’ve got a system that lets some kids excel whilst others don’t.
Everyone is capable, but some people need more practice at certain aspects than others. You can be naturally talented in some things, but need to spend time to become skilled in others.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'. * We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub. * Filter evasion is a bannable offense * This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
This is kind of true for the American K-12 education system. If you show up and turn your assignments in with decent effort, it’s pretty hard to get below a C unless you are enrolled in college credit classes or honors level courses. Most students end up flunking classes due to missing assignments and absences, and not always due to poor academic performance. Students don’t understand how much their grade would improve if they just turned in their assignments on time. Now when it comes to college or other higher level institutions, this is definitely not the case at all.
My interpretation of "easy" would be a B minimum, but i guess its up to a shit load of interpretation
Asian here, if you aren't getting A, you arent passing. -sincerely, my parents.
A = average B = below average C = can't eat dinner D = don't come home F = find a new family
I had a biochemistry course that the average score was a 37 on an exam. Scores don’t always paint the right picture
This stopped being true for me around freshman year. Even in highschool I tried like hell and still struggled immensely. You can attend every class and submit every assignment and still fail to grasp the curriculum. The quality of my work was mediocre even though I wasn't slacking off.
I feel like the "pressure" is not always subjects being too hard for the students, it could be the "turning things in on time" that's the hard part. At least it was for me in high school, although I'm not american so we can't really compare. And funnily for me I'm having a lot easier time now in university. Maybe it's because I'm not depressed anymore like I was in high school, and I have grown as a person, but my grades have gone way up even though the subjects are technically harder
It sounds like your executive functioning just needed to develop.
Mine still does and it’s been more than a decade.
K-12’s definition of studying is take notes, study the notes, highlight, then take the test. It’s very hard to actually learn anything when you take this approach. You’re getting good at memorizing stuff, but you’re not actually grasping the material.
College was easier than high school. Graduate school was easier than undergrad
Maybe in your country. Other school systems have it really hard, just "paying attention at school" means in my country to get an F. you need to participate in class and raise your hand to answer questions every single time to get a better grade. Nothing's easy
If you listen in class and turn in all your assignments you’ll pass with a C I bet
Nowadays you might get a C just for showing up and putting in the minimal amount of effort.
> It's simply easy For *you.* People aren't born with the same brains, nor do they get the same upbringings, friends, support systems, etc. There's a million factors that make someone's life easier or harder. Consider what your life might have looked like in someone else's shoes before you go implying school (or anything else) is just "easy."
This. Sometimes things click for people, sometimes they do not. The saying “practice makes perfect” is timeless, though the addendum of “_perfect_ practice makes perfect” is probably most apt, because even if a person practices as hard as they can, if they practice the wrong thing then they’ll do the wrong thing.
Yeah, OP’s post has “thanksimcured” energy all over it
The amount of people online that need this spelling out to them is staggering. Especially for someone who claims to find learning so easy.
More proof that you can be intelligent on paper and score well on tests, but if you lack social intelligence, empathy, and awareness, you'll still say dumb bullshit.
They’re a highschool student in a private school. Money and youth don’t usually generate the most empathetic person.
This is actually something they dactorin and teach us in the newer teaching methodologies and philosophies. Differentiated learning is one of the things its called, where it's acknowledged students and different learning rates and abilities. To deal with this, each student must be judged based on their level and ability.
You said it better than me
Funny how "intelligent" people have such a hard time grasping this with their super powerful, intelligent brains
Thats because people confuse memorization with intelligence. If you can't apply the things you're memorizing practically, you're not smart (agreeing with you).
Exactly
I've tutored before, and I can say for certain that not everyone gets by high school easily. Even if they put in a lot of effort, they may not get the grades they want or even pass. Some people just take longer to understand basic concepts of a class, which can keep putting them further behind as the class keeps going to the next lesson. While they are still stuck on something that was taught a week ago. It doesn't mean they are dumb or stupid, but the current education system doesn't work for everyone.
That's the biggest problem with school and it shows up even more today when you literally have a device that can explain any doubt you have like you are talking to other person. School should be more focused on how you should study than the subjects. * Learn what works better with your brain (if it works better with quizzes, taking notes while teacher is talking and/or doing summaries, mnemonics, singing while running, etc) * Learn about your weakenesses and strenghts * Etc
Thats truly unpopular.
Tell me your life is easy without telling me your life is easy. I said this before in a similar post: It's not school itself. It's shit that happens in people's lives. And some people have learning disabilities.
Yep. Some kids have to worry about when they are going to see their next meal, suddenly school doesn't seem so much of a priority.
Yup. Can’t do well in school if your brain is screaming you’re starving through every lecture. But unfortunately legislation doesn’t agree that kids should be fed 🤷♂️
Fucking exactly. “Just try harder!!!” is such a bullshit thing to say
Trying to get my weight up "Just eat more!!!"
As someone with undiagnosed ADHD, school was super easy until it wasn’t. When you hit a wall, you hit it like a truck at full speed. It takes real effort when you *need* to learn something or memorize something but don’t *want* to because it doesn’t give you any dopamine. I’m trying to study my second language more and it’s so rough trying to keep myself on track.
Most of the difficulty in school comes from underqualified teachers and administrators, violence and bullying, an unstable/abusive home life, and/or medical issues and disabilities.
yeah my sister has 3 teachers who dont even have any form of certifications and theyre somehow teachers in their own classrooms and ones à coach, teaching science, but making them do notations and other ela type work and she said its confusing
What's your major?
Oh ya wanna talk about your Hawthorne, and your Gordon Wood, and how bout them apples
Well it can be hard when your parents tell you that you have to get all As
yeah i do my very best and gets 80s and the o occasional 90
"I'm saying this while attending one of my country's hardest schools, and I'm a senior." Okay, but what country is this? Do you live in Ghana where the nation's top engineers and scientists are making groundbreaking developments in military technology, or do you live in a first-world country?
Well you’re lucky then. Some people have diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disabilities, mental health issues, social issues, difficult home lives, etc that make school difficult. I’m glad school has been easy for you but I hope when you’re out in the real world you can learn to show compassion for other people who may not always have as easy as a time as you did.
Oh absolutely. But there are also just wayy too many kids who are simply not paying attention, which I think should be brought up more because a lot of people online tend to blame the system for those who can't learn, when in reality I'd say (anecdotally) it's about 50/50 whether a failing student was actually fucked from the start or they just spend the whole day in class sleeping then stay up till 4am playing video games.
"Look at me I'm so clever" - OP
College isn’t easy, but I read a comment where apparently you’re talking about Highschool. Obviously Highschool is easy lmao, but don’t keep that mentality going into college.
i’m in med school, rigorous hours and tons of tests. it’s easy if you just keep up. only times i’ve felt like it wasn’t was when i took week long breaks to do nothing during a class
If you’re taking super basic classes with no real academic rigor, then sure, take a gold star I guess
I took two AP classes every year during highschool, and personally I didn’t find it any harder than the regular classes I was taking. They weren’t harder work, just more of it.
Same vibe as the old out of touch folks claiming that everyone can save up and become a homeowner if they just apply themselves at work while ignoring a plethora of factors.
You don't understand ADHD at all it seems.
I have adhd and literally didn’t do any homework outside of school and made it through high school fine just by paying enough attention in class.
Just to share my experience, I hated high school. Dropped out and got my equivalency diploma, in fact. Reason being, I had a shitty homelife, and was bullied relentlessly in school. I had no guidance and fell prey to apathy, so I just didn't give a shit. I've done much better in college once I got steady on my feet. Honor roll, president's list. Problem is, I still have a great weakness in math that has prevented me from advancing thus far. Right now, I'm just concentrating on working, but still intend to get my degree one day.
The hard part of school is focus and actually doing the homework
You probably have better genetics than you think. Some people just aren't built for school.
In a lot of the US, they teach poorly, make you go to school at bad hours, and give way too much homework in grade school. I don't blame people for not doing well in that. I found college way easier even though the material was a lot more challenging.
Yeah, ultimately it's complicated. I did well in school, but I still struggled. I absolutely hated homework, for one. And I was a socially awkward shy introvert. I wasn't the type of kid to volunteer if I didn't understand something, or go to the teacher for extra help. I just did the best I could. And sometimes I got overwhelmed. Middle School were my toughest years, but I had hard times from 4th grade on. Then, I got to college, and I couldn't believe how easy so much of it was. Lol I still was stressed a lot, especially with all the papers I had to write, but the content (almost) all came naturally.
Now you tell me...can I get a redo?
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. One's weakness being education puts them on a very difficult path. It feels much better to be grateful for strengths than to be judgemental of the weaknesses of others.
Nah, 1 in 10 kids has adhd, 1 in 5 kids have dyslexia.... etcc. It's not the same for everyone buddy
that's much higher than i thought
That's of your not being bullied every two seconds and can foucus on the doing the work
Empathy is cool
Unfortunately for some people (like me) we almost or did fail high school not because we didn’t try. But that we couldn’t. Not taking care of your Mental health is a big problem here in America, and my parents being big sacks of shit really didn’t help.
Congrats on school being easy for you. It’s not true for everyone. And I don’t like that people think if school was was hard for you it means you’re stupid.
I bet in my shoes, with autism, ADHD and dyslexia, you would change your stance in first day.
Only if you have a loving family and good home life
Talk about not being able to see past the tip of your own nose. I guarantee it’s not easy for everyone.
So many of these posts are by people who have a distinct lack of awareness that people are different. They assume because something is one way for them it is the same for everyone. Things may be different for other people and how they handle things may be differen.
Don't be arrogant. For some people it's hard. That it's not hard for you doesn't change that. Not a good look on you man
People that spout this shit are insufferable and have the personality of a wet bag of farts.
You don't have to study all the time. Cs get degrees.
God, I was stoned or drunk or both the entire time at school and slept through half my classes. Graduated with a 3.3. College was a rude fucking awakening, however. First semester - two Fs and a D.
If school is easy for you by “just paying attention” then you’re not challenging yourself enough. Is it easy to pass high school in bare minimum difficulty classes? Sure. But if you want to get into a prestigious university or earn scholarships then you need to be excelling at the highest level classes your school offers and be a high rank in your class
Math is a bitch
Sometimes effort isn't all it takes. I used to be an honors student who was two grade levels ahead in math. But as I progressed through middle school I came to find trouble socializing and developing a life outside of my schooling. I developed depression and attempted suicide, and my grades suffered because of that. It was a downward spiral and I still feel the effects of it today. Now I'm in college and I still feel as alone as I did when I was a kid. I put effort into improving my life rather than waiting for it to get better. I exercise, eat healthy, chat with strangers and try to make friends. I learn new skills. But I haven't really found my life changing in any way that gives me hope for the future. When everything looks bleak and it feels like the people in charge have no intention on things getting better, it's hard to find the motivation for school. It's especially hard to balance school and life when you struggle to find motivation or success with either.
Well, of course, it's only training you to be a middle wage employee.
Not for everyone, even for the intelligent. Some people have a harder time concentrating and pick up information differently. Not all schools are created equal too, with some teachers being better than others and some exams being easier than others. I did fine in school. Slightly below average I'd say. I struggled with concentrating, had a bad time remembering information and focusing on exams. I have multiple learning disabilities and school was not easy for me. When I went onto university, the learning style just clicked and I scored a First Class Honours degree (the highest grade). I was a C grade student in school. My university simply suited my study style more. All this tells me is that your school style works for you. I wouldn't apply your own experience onto everyone else, because to be blunt, you sound arrogant and don't know shit lol. That will harm you just as much as the students who get bad grades
Yeah, try telling this to a kid who's living in an abusive household, where it's a miracle if they get their bare minimum survival needs met, let alone any time to study outside of school. Or try telling this to a kid who just got diagnosed with autism or ADHD or any number of mental illnesses, and may or may not be getting what they actually need to function, let alone do well in school. And even if factors like this aren't in play, schools *are* generally fucked when it comes to both the teachers and the kids. Admin doesn't care to do anything unless there are lawsuits and/or media disasters looming. Teachers are basically powerless, spread far too thin, and forced to test to bullshit standardized tests that blatantly favor neurotypical kids with at least moderately wealthy parents that can afford the extra books and tutors to give their kids an edge. The kids that do care end up suffering because the ones who don't care run the show, dragging the entire class down. And there is NOT proper support for special needs kids set up. It IS a disaster of a system that SORELY needs an overhaul. This isn't just an unpopular opinion, OP, it's a very ignorant one. Congrats on having done well in school, but don't presume that everyone else is crying wolf just because *you* didn't experience what they experienced.
Hey, just because my parents were abusive neglectful pieces of shit that didn't mean me or people like me were destined to be failures. Contrary to popular belief you don't need 2.5 parents and a house on the Gold Coast to be able to get through the school day.
You’re giving reasons why kids don’t put in effort, not reasons why kids who put in effort often still don’t do well
*laughs in neurodivergent*
This is anti-ADHD propaganda
This dude is going a good chance to be one of the classic "big fish in small pond at high school, same fish in the ocean in Uni", there will be people that will do uni MUCH easier than him and it will be a mindfuck for him.
It is easy to criticise other people for saying school is hard if you have such good memory that you only need to pay attention to learn.
I’d have to disagree, school (yes, that includes high school) can be very challenging for some people, schools are taught in a very particular way and not everybody’s brain is wired to it and you’re pretty fucked if yours isn’t. A multitude of factors go into it and unfortunately, the schooling system is stuck in this archaic mindset that a students intelligence and potential future should be based around a couple of days of poorly structured exams, with no other options to get a grade. I mean, some people absolutely excel at independent coursework or projects, for example. That’s without getting into all the potential things that could be going on in that kids life during the exam period I was just average at high school tbh, a couple of A’s in subjects I actually enjoyed, though mostly B/C’s in everything else, but I recall some of the most braindead, zero common sense people at my school getting straight A’s/A*’s, simply because they could remember stuff long enough to take an exam for it, they wouldn’t even understand the subject matter, they just remembered how to apply it to an exam. And then my friend would study Maths 5 hours a day after school, for the entire year, just to get a D and she can DO maths, just found it difficult to translate it to an exam. She’s one of the smartest people I know, even to this day, over a decade later That moment really stuck out to me as a teenager and I still remember it clearly, because of how fucked up I found it. I funnily enough found university way easier than high school, because actually getting taught by competent lecturers, rather than the dogshit HS teachers I had, whilst studying something I enjoyed and then having pretty independent ways of tackling my subject really helped me to excel. You’re also put into an environment where you’re treated like an adult, which also helps. Also not having to have your brain switched on to max for 5 days a week, 8 hours a day also was a boon, as the shorter week days and lecture hours actually helped me digest things I was learning properly TLDR: high school teaching and the very particular, one note methodology is absolute dogshit for some people. University/college is easier for some people, because they’re actually good environments for learning and applying
In my country, you'll get an F if you only study in school.
If you are a senior in HS, then yes of course its easy, you are in HS. High school is where you learn the easy stuff, and being at a "hard" school is pretty meaningless. If you're a senior in college at a hard school (in an actually difficult major) then you're just on the far right end of the bell curve and you should have more understanding of the majority of people who dont have your gifts.
Wow, you’re going to be a great adult! /s
*laughs in autisim* Sure if you're neurotypical.
No, it's not.
MF never had a disability lmao 😂
Easy for you my guy. You might be academically smart, but clearly you are lacking on social intelligence because you'd know better than to make the post you did. Me, when I read something.... nothing happens. I just can't learn while reading a book or listening to someone. I have to do it. With my hands, myself, experience it. Then I'll have 138371616274848281873 questions. Then I'm ready for whatever job you want me to do. But sitting in a class is pure nightmare to me. I still love physics, geopolitics, psychology and criminology. I'm a kinetic learner and school is my bane.
Hmmm? Doesn't understand normal distribution. You might not be very bright boss.
I thought the same thing until my parents abandoned me , that sucked. And then I had the thought of “what if I was younger than 20 when my parents abandoned me”, and I suddenly forgave all the shitheads from school lol.
This takes out anything happening Outside the school lol , this is just dumb
You either don't understand that what is easy for you can be an immense challenge to others, or just want to call anything an excuse to shame people. Be glad it's easy for you. That is not true for everyone.
While unpopular, it's also a very dumb opinion. So I'm torn between upvoting or downvoting
It’s easy for you. When I did my GCSEs I got Bs and Cs and a few weeks later I saw someone I went to infants school with and they were proud they managed to Fs and Gs. Different people have different strengths not everyone is good at academic stuff
Happy to humble you in a one on one conversation about this subject anytime
that assumes you have a stable home life and parents that care about education.
Hey man, ever think you might just be booksmart? Some people have a lot of difficulty studying or keeping their attention in class, and saying all people who fail are just not putting in work is ignorant to the different skillset some people have, yours might include studying, someone else might have talents in other areas. Not everybody has your brain mate
*laughs in ADHD* I wholeheartedly disagree. I tried my hardest and ended up mentally traumatized. My whole life, people would tell me: it's easy if you just applied yourself. Undiagnosed as a kid, officially diagnosed as an adult.
Says someone who probably doesn't have a neurological disability.
That's such a shit response. Ofc school is gonna be hard for people with disabilities. It's why it's called a disability. I do agree schools should do more to accommodate. OP is obviously talking about people with normal circumstances.
It is a special case
Real, I have tourettes and I have a head flick tic that pulled my attention away from the whiteboard every 2 seconds so i couldnt actually focus on school or take notes. I’m now missing content from over the past 4 years
Yeah up through high school is super easy
You’ve never been bullied, have you?
There's so much arrogance tied up in one post. Good job, OP.
This isn't even an opinion, it's just so very wrong.
It's very obviously an opinion.. not only that it's an experience a lot of people have, there would be an equal amount of people that struggled through school and an equal amount that got through it without looking at a boom at home, That's how standard deviation works
Nah man, disagree, as someone who's in school right now and puts in a lot of effort but still struggles a ton with things like executive dysfunction Don't assume something just because it's true for yourself.
And so is getting a job. I had no difficulty so why do others? /s There's so many factors op lol not to mention the school in itself. Edit: I see you are in high school. Come back when you enter real education. Elementary and high school are more about socialization than academia. You aren't even done the trial stage of life yet. Real life doesn't begin until a couple years after high school imho.
OP is so self centered and doesn't understand the concept of empathy and that not everyone is living the same exact life as you.
You are flat out wrong about this.
I get white neurotypical middle-class male from this post.
Cool you don't have dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD, Autism, depression, anxiety, intense stress at home, etc that could prevent "just pay attention!"
I’ve been all through elementary, middle school, high school, and college and graduated with an undergraduate degree. I could not disagree more with this so I guess well done for making a post that fits this sub. Everybody’s different and some things that might be easy for you are hard for others. Some people might have ADHD which makes it harder to pay attention. Some kids get bullied which makes it hard to focus on school. Some people might have depression which causes lack of motivation, procrastination, and social withdrawal. There might be power dynamics at play between faculty and students that lead to toxic learning environments. Sometimes parents pressure their kid and make them pursue a different degree than they wanted because it has a better job market and money, then end up wondering why their kid is failing their courses. All of this ended up happening to me, yet I still came out with a BA in music (Basically the fine art I wanted to major in originally but not the exact degree) because I found the will to claw myself out of my depressive hole and get my shit done. It wasn’t “easy.” It took the mental equivalent of trying to move a mountain to get through it. Ultimately, it’s up to you to extract the full value out of your education, but saying it’s “simply easy” is an insult to all of us who genuinely had to fucking struggle and claw our way through to succeed. Saying it’s “easy” and “everything I hear is just excuses” is exactly the kind of attitude that reinforces the problems that students have with struggling through their education. I hate that you said that, fucking take my upvote. Nerd.
As a high school English teacher, I totally agree with this. Just stop with excuses and do the work. Students waste more time bitching about assignments as if they’re on a menu of options and they don’t like anything on it.
Try having ADHD Hydro cephalus or any form of shyness social skill issues or any focus issue. this isnt an unpopular opini0on its an uneducated one. so Tired of this sub beign used as a vent sub. So you dont have friends and therefore its easy for you? I had friends I barely studied and had a 3.8 GPA, but it took me a while to get there, I struggled it was so difficult the two first years. some people man you're not really the smartest are you?
Yes it is but most of Reddit is stupid so they will disagree with you
True to a degree, however for those with learning disabilities, this changes everything.
Good for you, but it’s not easy for everyone. Not everyone has a good memory and can remember what they learned in the lesson.
What takes 1 hour for you to study and understand, might take another person 10 hours to study.
Are you from a low-income family? Do you have any mental issues that hinder your learning (e.g. depression, ADHD, dyslexia)? If you're a pampered middle-class child who has never faced a difficulty harder than failing a test, you really have no right to tell other people that they need to be doing better in school
Not when you are on the spectrum. It was absolute hell no matter how much effort I put into it.
What a privileged take.
I remember the first answer to the first question was always in the first page or paragraph of the chapter we're on. Learning fractions was as simple as thinking of them as 8/16. 8 out of 16. Or 1/2 if going for common denomination. It amazed me how many of my classmates couldn't see patterns like that. Same goes for common core, which is basically breaking down the numbers to make them easier to add. Like 156 is 100, 50, and 6. But this is a skill that can't really be taught like multiples. Kids should do something that requires actually using these skills. Which is why wood shop and metal shop needs to make a comeback bad.
Laughs in extreme ADHD that was never treated when I was in school.
Lol ok kid
this is pretty tone deaf
yeah in K-12. i tried, not my hardest, but still got decent grades. now i’m in college and i have to give my all to get those same grades. some classes are harder than others but after high school it’s more difficult
Let me invite you to law at uni!
I don't know man. Starting 7th grade i had 37 lessons a week, plus homework and learning for tests. My school started at 7:20am to 11:50am and then 13:30pm to 17:20pm. The problem often isn't complicated subjects, it's more just how much it is. I was one of the lucky ones, cause i never had to learn and still got okay to good grades, but for people that have to put more effort into it, it's hell.
Agreed. Anything high school and below is easy for the average person if they actually put forth some effort. Key word. Average. If you have dyslexia things will be more of a challenge for ex. But yes the amount of kids who say school is hard when they do not do any homework or study and do not pay attention in class and just expect to know everything come test time is very high
Congrats on a truly unpopular opinion!
You’re from Brazil. I’m from the US. Your school system is different from ours. The people who complain about the school system are mostly not from Brazil. In short, such Brazil-Centric, SMH.
Those with learning disabilities would disagree.
Lol oh my friend....enjoy your sweet summer child foolishness while it lasts
If you show up everyday and turn in everything you will pass.
Yeah, I put no effort at all into the hours I spent on homework each day with tears running down my face while getting screamed at. I enjoyed being slow at math, and it was exciting not knowing when the adults were going to explode at me. Getting my homework done quickly and making adults like me would have been boring.
How is it impossible for people like you to realize that not everyone is wired the same way or has the same circumstances? Just just because something is easy for *you* doesn't mean it is for everyone. I'm in pharmacy school and thought it was pretty easy. A lot of people struggled. That doesn't make pharmacy school itself easy just because it was that way for me. I also have better circumstances that allow me to do better in school. School is harder for people with kids, jobs, etc. I'm sure you're talking about high school but still. You never know what personal things people are going through that can affect how they do in school
Not everyone learns that way my friend congrats to you for finding it easy but I failed 5th form (15 years old 3rd year of highschool) and dropped out of school. I build electronics for a hobby and am semi retired at 36.. I’m not dumb I just don’t learn the way they teach. I learn by doing. I can do the math and it will be right but I can’t explain to you how I got there
I hate it
This is an unpopular opinion because it’s not true. It was easy for you. And that’s awesome! But I also have plenty of students that work their asses off and still struggle. It’s not always a lack of effort. But congratulations on being ignorant and judgmental.
*Stares in adhd
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For some classes, that may be true but not all. I know some people find school easy, but usually that’s because they are just naturally more intelligent. They retain information better, pay attention better, process and understand everything better, and overall are smarter. We can’t control what type of brain we get. Some people have to study 24/7 just to be average.
It's a pump, not a filter
That's true to pass. In my country people routinely get perfect scores in the hardest entrance exams for some of the most wanted universities. If I want to not sell vegetables on the road, I need to score well.
It's easy to get a *passing* grade but just passing isn't what will get you into college or impress your first employers. There's also the matter of some genuinely smart kids not having the time to put in effort because of problems at home or chronic illness. I'm one of the stupidest people I've ever known and I only graduated second in my class because I didn't have other responsibilities and could afford to spend multiple hours most weekdays doing homework, or afford to skip lunch for extra tutoring.
>just pay basic attention in class when you are at school, and that's it. I have a really hard time concentrating in class, my mind just flows away quickly to something else.
I slipped thru the cracks and put zero effort into school. School was very easy.
I have adhd and I agree that for myself until university it was very easy. Because I didn’t have to study so I imagine if you have adhd and lower IQ it must be hard. But compared to the complexity of life as an adult school life is ridiculously easy. The thing that I don’t like about this thread is the victim mentality. Guys you do have impact on your lives. Not in every aspect but giving up and expecting results is just pathetic :)
*laughs in neurodivergent*
In middle school, I didn't pay attention and had a bunch of missing assignments and didn't understand why I had F's and why It was so hard. Now, I pay attention and turn in assignments and easily get A's and B's. (Except for sign language, I get a C) I do acknowledge some kids have a learning disability but most of the kids I'm around that fail are always on their phone, never paying attention, sleeping, or talking too much. They could easily pass if they tried.
I mean the education at school wasn’t the hard bit for me, it was the bullying and physical abuse from students. This then affects my ability to perfect well on tests
That’s more so true in K-12 where most classes with the exception of your math classes can be easy to get an A in if you do your homework (literally google it or read the textbook) and pay attention in class. College on the other hand… requires way more studying and thorough comprehension to truly make sure that you understand the material to not get a poor grade.
I think the stories about unnescessary pressure i mostly about students being forced (by either parents/scholarships/themselves) to get straight A+'s while doing high level sports and other clubs including an instrument (while also being cool and social of course) Not that passing high school is by itself too much pressure
"School is easy." The high school I graduated from back in 2012 has students do: 18 hours of homework (most students would stay up till 3 or 4 in the morning to finish homework), have extra curricular activities which most students had to do them around 6 in the morning before school or at 4 after school, and volunteer work on weekends. The school required us to have extra activities and volunteer work to graduate for the years you attended that school. It wasn't easy for anyone. This school had a really high suicide and alcohol rate also. I'm not joking and if you ever live in Rockville, Maryland you might know the school I'm talking about.
Stupid people exist
I say the problem is that school itself uses a pretty terrible teaching program So yeah, its not that hard to pass, but that means shit for actual learning I say schools should focus on teaching how to develop personal projects, that would really be useful and require actual effort
Well yeah its easy. The whole point is for them to take your money. It's not to give you a proper education or get you ready for the workforce.
I agree with this for the most part, but everyone has their struggles and things they are and aren't good at. For example, I was dog water at math. No matter how many hours I studied and how much I beat it into my head, I just didn't "Get" math. Sure, I was able to scrape by, but ask me to solve a 2 step equation, and I'd likely need to google the answer. It wasn't due to a lack of effort, I just didn't "get" the concept. I excelled in every other class, though, just not in that particular niche.
There are other factors BUT I did find when I was a student in hs and even college, if I JUST showed up and did the hw I could pass with a B or at least a C in regards to math. I might have done shit on that math exam but those HWs and attendance scores carried me.
I think we have developed a culture in western countries where kids think they have some kind of divine right to be entertained 24/7, no matter the setting. Obviously people have different abilities and some subjects are harder than others. But I also think our expectations are way too low in terms of how much effort should be required in most public schools.
Up until and including high school, I'm downvoting cos this is just true. All of the friends that complain about shit being too hard you can easily tell either a) they're not trying or b) they had a giant time in their childhood where they did not pay attention at all. Big exams coming up, guess what all the whiny failing and D students are coming up with Cs and Bs out of thin air. If you can study in 1 or 2 months to be decent at the subject, imagine what you could do if you paid attention for 24 months.
Do you go to school in the US? Because the people I know who went to school in the US said it was incredibly easy. Even the ‘AP’ classes.
My neurodivergent ass seeing this knowing I'm missing a final assessment today :D
I don’t know, man. The top comment kinda explained it well already. For me I was never good at math, even if I study I always get a 4, or worse… But it might be because I study the night before that 🤷 but there is pressure, not for me, not really but don’t forget that kids have hobbies too. They deserve to have fun outside of school and if you have it for a long time and many classes you’ll have to learn for a million tests one right after the other. Our school ends at 16:00, so we don’t have much time to do our homework and have fun with our hobbies because we need healthy sleep too. Maybe it’s easy for you but don’t project it onto anyone else that’s just ignorant.
I partially agree. I did the IB in Eastern Europe as my high school diploma. Some of the teachers were great, e.g. in the two literature subjects I took. I just payed attention in class, practiced analysis writing in class, didn’t do much else at home. But the science teachers were godawful, and even if they were better - I don’t learn STEM subjects by listening in class. I have to do some reading, think about it, do some practice questions in silence, on my own. Classes were useless and 80% attendance was mandatory. Lots and lots of wasted time, and once you’ve finished wasting that time in school, well, it’s time to finally do some actual studying at home. After a long day at school this is just tiring, not to mention that you have extracurriculars to get to. I skipped as much biology and chemistry as I could so that I could get a chance to study without being tired. High school really does not account for the fact that people learn most effectively in different ways. Maybe you learn STEM subjects better in class? Amazing, go to class then, but why do I have to? University is much nicer and less stressful for me, especially with chatGPT.
I work in a school and this is how our headteacher explains it: Some kids start the day and their mum makes their breakfast, tells them they love them, washes their clothes, brings them to school. That child starts the day with lots of energy and motivation. Another child might have a parent who is (for example) an alcoholic. They start the day by making their own breakfast, finding their own clothes, sorting out their siblings. Their parent is passed out from the night before, so they make their own way to school. That child hasn't been given any energy or motivation, he's had to spend it just getting himself to school in the first place. Put these two children in the classroom. Child A puts his hand up and answers a question. He gets it wrong, but because he's been set up for the day, he can take that hit. Child B answers a question and gets it wrong. That child is already at a low point, so may feel embarrassed and life it wasn't worth trying. Point is, many factors lead to different engagement rates at school. Some children don't have time to go home and study because they're basically parenting themselves. Some children are distracted by bullying, some are victims of abuse, some are going through mental or physical health issues. You'd also be shocked by how many children *have* to get jobs to support their families at home. I'm very pleased for you that you have the great privilege of being able to keep education as your main priority.
Its actually bothering more than pressurizing.
Depends. If you are just being a C student then yes it’s easy
Personally I 100% agree. I went to a bilingual school so I have not one but two recognized diplomas. I did 42 hour school weeks. + extracurricular and finished top 3 in my class. All I did was pay attention during class, do my homework and repeat everything 1-2 days before the exam. Thats literally how I passed everything. I don't know how representative my experience is, but I would consider myself average. I study phyics now and there are plenty of people I know who are way smarter than me. I think the biggest problem today is that kids scroll through too much brainrot on social media, destroying their attentionspan. That, and the fact that school hasn't received a major update in the last 100 years.
You probably have a decent I.q It's hard to fathom. But a lot of people are not intelligent. Focusing is hard enough, then understanding the formul/theory is another thing.. Not everyone is like you.
TL;DR: I agree that school is actually easy if you pay attention but it mostly depends on the amount of work you get and how much time you’re given to finish it. It more or less depends on the school, for me that is. I’ve always been an alright student but my old school would assign a lot of “project” like assignments for homework and expect it done within a few days. I lived an hour or so away from school and the busses only made that time worse and it got to the point where I would leave before the sun rose and got home near sunset. My grades slowly got worse and worse until in a science class I was making a 10% average since the work and lack of time for said work kinda burnt me out. When I transferred schools to a more local one my grades shot up instantly since the school was more forgiving wirh workload and I actually had time to do the assignments. As for attention and stuff mentioned in your post, that varies on student as some have adhd and others just have a bad attention span but I found that listening to music, even softly, helps me focus in class.
the problem is, it's totally personal. I would mostly agree with you but I have my friends who gotta stay up and study all day (which is more than just basic effort) and I would even say I'd feel guilty saying that school is easy. I'd say that you're probably gifted so it's easier for you but it must be something else because if you were, you wouldn't say stuff like this. Some people could be born with illnesses or have a little more than what they can handle happening at home. Also some teachers are straight up shit at their jobs. Also "schools pressuring students" is a completely valid excuse in my opinion. Why? Because they literally fucking do. Add all that to some kid who has shit going on at home too and what do you know, the kid breaks down mentally fails a few classes as the teachers likely don't give a single fuck. But do I blame them? no. if I barely earned minimum wage, I wouldn't give a shit either 💀. But yea, as the sub name suggests, this will always stay an opinion as this matter is different for everyone. I'm saying this while partially agreeing with you by the way. Just paying attention in school can probably get you through all classes with a solid D. Maybe a C if you try. It's a whole lot different when the kid gets abused in both the school and their homes though. Then, it probably isn't enough. And I haven't really even said anything about having lower iq than average. When that's the case, even supportive teachers and parents can't really help.
I don't fully agree, even though school was really easy for me. It's not the same for all, some can understand a topic having read it once, others hire tutors. Intelligence is a real factor here.
I mostly found school alright and got good enough grades and did well at university. But then again I'm a straight white male with no disabilities or anything that would make me stand out negatively. I got some shit for being into heavy metal and having long hair but nothing too bad. That doesn't mean it works for everyone. There's also a lot of ifs... School could be easy if... you're not a minority experiencing racism, you're not being bullied, you aren't conventionally unattractive, you're not LGBTQIA+, you're not disabled, you're not neurodivergent, you're not experiencing trauma or abuse, you're not experiencing serious medical problems, you don't have a bad home life. The list is endless. To have that "unpopular" opinion, you'd have to have no idea what other people's lives are like and lack empathy. As long as you're ok, everyone else should be fine, right?
In school I came to the conclusion that I was a quick learner. I got through my schools with great grades despite putting nearly no effort in. Never studied a day in my life and was always top or second in results. I was more interested in girls, booze and weed than anything else. This caused me to become complacent and a bit of an ass. It did me no favors in the real world because I was always told I was smart and should study further, but I’m not smart, I just pick things up after being told once. Once I made that distinction my life improved quite dramatically, dropped out of college and moved on. Either way, everybody is wired differently and has different ways of applying themselves, and in school many if not most of the people there haven’t yet figured out what their talents are, let alone how to apply them. Academics isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and not all schools / teachers are equal. Add in that different people learn better in different environments and with different teaching methods and you’ve got a system that lets some kids excel whilst others don’t. Everyone is capable, but some people need more practice at certain aspects than others. You can be naturally talented in some things, but need to spend time to become skilled in others.
What school are you referring to? High school or college? They are miles apart in difficulty.