“I love going to school, but without the mathematics classes. The numbers and the ‘x’ do not fancy me” says an eighth-grade Anshuman. “I love school when I do the coloring and other activities, but not when they teach me” – a third-grade Nikita. “I have not been able to make new friends since we moved from our earlier place to this new city. So, I hate going to school’ says a sixth-grade Aditya.
And there are more reasons for it. Why do some children dread/hate going to school? For these children going to school becomes so stressful. School refusal is common in the age group of 5 to 6 years – when they actually begin school after kindergarten. It is also common in children in the age group 10 to 11 years old just when they finish elementary school.
The stress is so much that the children refuse to go to school, and they throw temper tantrums and start giving vague complaints of
And in some cases, other signs shown by the children sometimes can be overwhelming, in which case a medical intervention is necessary.
Let us explore the reasons why some children hate going to school.
A child’s nature is to be curious, and this curiosity encourages the child to be communicative and fosters the desire to explore and experiment. Therefore, he becomes chatty and fidgety. But the school teaches the child to be disciplined and follow a strict schedule.
This suppresses the child’s desire to express himself and explore. Moreover, the school does not stir up the creative minds of the child, rather it confines the child to a classroom and follows an established learning pattern. Hence the child feels a lack of freedom for anything and everything.
For any educational institution, the guiding principles are discipline and efficient use of time. The playtime activities/playtime are of a lesser duration than the learning times. And it is the same every day for the entire week.
So, after the freedom of the weekend holiday, though definitely after the holiday homework, getting back to school is definitely ‘Monday Blues’. This aversion to school is produced by such a monotonous schedule.
In a class of 20-25 students, the teacher follows a teaching style suitable for the majority of the students. But for the students with differing learning abilities feel left out and they are not at ease in voicing out their doubts either due to shyness or hesitation. Hence they are not able to keep pace with the class and eventually fall behind. Thus, the fear of failure hampers the enthusiasm to go to school.
Lack of communication either because of the child’s inability to mingle and socialize instantly or because of getting bullied by others, hampers the ability to express himself. This and also the lack of freedom leads to a feeling of loneliness and thus rebellion against going to school.
The school usually has very few or no optional subjects and lots of mandatory subjects, leading to the students learning a limited number of subjects. Within a couple of months, they find the subjects boring. They are not actively participating in the lectures and do not bother to speak up to clear their doubts.
And often, this is the case for multiple subjects. Because of this disinterest in the subjects, putting in that extra effort to complete the homework after the heavy school hours becomes a burden on them. And usually, the homework is to be covered for multiple subjects and not restricted to one. So, it is like a never-ending school setup even after school. And eventually, avoiding school is a better option for them and slowly they start making excuses to not attend school.
Again, due to a lack of freedom and communication, learning and understanding are heavy on the student, making him shift to the rote memorization method. Hence attending classes, doing homework, and taking tests and exams becomes a routine without understanding the subject. Thus over a period of time, he falls behind in the class. This, in turn, becomes difficult and tedious with every step and slowly he starts losing interest in the subject and the school in the long run.
Every subject has a set number of teaching hours in school. And if a student finds a subject interesting, he would have only a restricted time duration to study and learn about his subject. The school has a rigorous and demanding schedule and little time to spare and spend that extra time for the subject of interest hence he is not able to pursue his interests and hence school does not seem interesting.
Different students have different learning abilities and take their own time to grasp a particular concept. There are students who understand the concept in a longer duration of time and in a different format. But irrespective of the differing abilities school adopts the monotonous teaching style at a constant speed and are not able to afford that extra time for the needy students. Thus, the students who need a different time and style find the subjects boring and hence the hatred for the school itself.
There are different ways in which the school can be more of a fun learning space rather than a burden on the children. For that, we can look at a few points
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Book your Free Counselling Session now!The three things that a much higher percentage of dislikers than likers said they detested the most were homework, teachers, and discipline procedures.
Eighty percent of parents of students in grades K–12 who participated in a recent survey said their children either disliked school or found it boring. This feeling was linked by more than half (57%) of respondents to difficult material that makes their children feel like they are slipping behind.
Every child complains about school now and then. According to Christopher Kearney, head of the Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, five to ten percent of children finds it so uncomfortable that they don’t want to attend.
Scolionophobia is a severe dislike of going to school. When thinking about going to school, some children who have scolionophobia experience severe physical symptoms. They might miss a lot of school for unclear or unstated reasons.
Two of the most frequent causes of youngsters leaving school are academic challenges and the financial demands of the family.
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