"We're Just As Uncomfortable As The Kids": 16 Teachers Shared The Subjects They Hate Teaching
Recently, I asked the teachers of the BuzzFeed Community if there were any subjects they just *sigh* could not get excited about teaching. Teachers from all different subjects came through with several different areas that I would have never thought of!
Sesame Street
1."As a pre-K teacher, I hate teaching writing! Many parents and adults want their children to be writing ASAP without understanding how or when children’s bodies and brains develop. My school program straight-up tells families not to 'help' their kids write because we have a researched learning process and don’t want kids to have to unlearn poor practices."
—Anonymous
2."I'm a high school math teacher, and I hate teaching the first week of school. Usually, I teach structures and classroom procedures. I hate teaching students how homework is supposed to be done, how the bathroom pass works, and what to do when students miss a test. The second semester is the best because students understand class structures by then."
—Anonymous
3."I am a college physical geography professor, and I have grown to hate teaching about climate change. After over a decade of doing it, it is just demoralizing. Everything has gotten worse, not better. It used to be about inspiring young people to build a green future. Now, it is just talking about how we have failed them and the suffering that is happening because of it."
—Anonymous
4."Art teacher here. Painting. I absolutely hate it. I hate the mess made, and the brushes are never cleaned properly and fall apart. So, I came up with a hack — finger painting! It works out because we tie the lesson to a modern-day artist who finger paints for the same reason mentioned above and makes thousands off her work."
—Anonymous
5."Capacity conversions! Cups to pints to gallons and back. The kids hate it, I hate it, and the parents hate it. It’s the most miserable month in math."
—Anonymous
6."Teaching human growth and development (puberty talk) sucks. Especially when you're stuck with the boys because there are no male teachers on your team. The video we have is over 20 years old, and I know the facts don't change, but the production values sure did. Listen, we're just as uncomfortable as the kids are, and sometimes, it's so hard to not laugh at their questions."
—Anonymous
7."English — the differences between commonly misused words (they’re/their/there, it’s vs. its, you’re vs. your, etc.) and how to properly punctuate. They’re in high school. Surely, someone would have told them to not put a comma after the word 'because' when giving a reason, right?"
—Anonymous
NBC
8."Dinosaurs! Before shifting to the classroom, I was a school librarian that taught lessons every day to multiple grade levels. With the younger kids, I always did a lesson on dinosaurs and would read nonfiction and fiction dinosaur-themed books. I hate doing dinosaurs. I think it’s super boring, but the kids were always so into it. I’d have these little preschool and kindergartners throw out the full proper, correctly pronounced Latin names of these dinosaurs, like 'Oh that’s the Plesiosaur, I love that one, he’s my favorite,' and it was one of the few times I’d have to fake enthusiasm for a book."
—Anonymous
9."I teach high school science. I hate teaching about cells and the way we teach DNA. So much of it is not applicable to the real world."
—Anonymous
10."I hate teaching any arts or crafts. We do them at least once a week, if not more, since it is developmentally appropriate for my kids right now. I love the end result, but I hate the mess. Cutting and pasting with glue sticks goes through a glue stick a person, and paper pieces get everywhere. Watercolors and acrylic paints have made big messes. Again, I love the end results and the creativity, but the mess gets to me."
—Anonymous
11."I hate teaching vocabulary. The stories to teach the words are dry and uninteresting. Reading them to my first graders requires me to psyche myself up first. There are so many other great stories to read to them. Why can’t our vocabulary lessons use more of those as the base?"
—Anonymous
12."Kindergarten teacher here. I hate little kid social studies. Community Helpers is SO BORING."
13."English language teacher here. Exam preparation courses suck, and IELTS (International English Language Testing System) in particular is the bane of my existence. It's not a test of English, it's a test of exam techniques, and that's not what I signed up to teach."
14."Teaching time. Everything else is in a base of 10 except this. Ugh. Also, some pupils genuinely don't understand time. I've had some really, really clever Year Four pupils who just don't understand time and cannot manipulate it in questions."
15."US History teacher here. Teaching Andrew Jackson and the National Bank is the WORST. It’s this ugly blob of economics in the middle of an otherwise culturally and politically unique time period."
16.Finally, "Algebra. The kids just cannot comprehend."
—Anonymous
Legendary Pictures
If you're a teacher and you have a subject you hate teaching, drop it in the comments below or share it anonymously with us in this Google form!
Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
