As students, through the years of our tedious schooling, we have all developed our own personal likes and dislikes regarding teachers. It’s just natural, we all judge, whether positively or negatively, but there are just certain things that throw us over the edge.

After accumulating various opinions and perspectives from students and teachers, we have our list of top 5 biggest student pet peeves!

To start us off easy, our number 5 pet peeve is when teachers call us out in class. The stress of going to class, finishing assignments, and “fitting in” is already enough pressure on kids. However, the thought of being publicly announced and often humiliated is a dreadful idea for many. There are exceptions to this. Some teachers are fun, free-spirited, and when they call you out, it’s always with kind intentions. These kinds of teachers create comfortable classroom environments. Mr. Frey, an English teacher at Davis, is a good example of this. Walking into Mr. Frey’s room, students feel as though they can finally take a breath. A feeling of relief washes over students as they enter the door and no longer feel the need to be “the perfect student”. When Mr. Frey calls you out he does it in a fun, positive way. On the other hand, other teachers will simply criticize you in front of your classmates for their own fulfillment which is a problem.

Number 4! “Teacher, can I please go to the bathroom?” “Well I don’t know Billy, can you?” Or another great one, “I’ll wait.” These stereotypical phrases, along with many many others can become quite annoying for students. Even several teachers, when recalling on their high school days, mentioned that this was one of their pet peeves as well.

It’s a normal day, students are sitting in class, minding their own business, when all of a sudden…brrring..brrring…brrring goes one of the student’s phones. Their sweaty hands fumble for the phone as the entire class turns their attention to them. The student quickly pushes down the “silent mode” button, and looks up to see the teacher glaring at them. Whether they deliver a warning or a punishment, the teacher always holds a grudge on the student for their simple mistake. The same goes for a text or alarm or whatever else it is that disrupts the class. It was never meant to happen, and many wish it never would. They are honest mistakes, and yet, students are frowned upon because of them. Now, this is where the pet peeve comes in! We get chastised for such mishaps, but when a teacher receives a call in class, a text message, or other distractions they have absolutely no problem to stop class and engage in the distraction. Therefore, number 3 on the list goes to…teachers being hypocrites. They throw us in a fire and watch us burn, yet when it comes to it, they can’t take the heat themselves.

This brings us into the second point on our list. Some teachers disregard, disrespect, and underestimate students, simply because we’re young. Although there definitely are high school students who waste their time and don’t have a single regard for academics, there are also incredibly talented, successful, and intelligent teenagers that roam the halls of Davis High. Yet, teachers undermine them because, in their minds, we’re just “stupid kids.”

And finally, last but not least, our top pet peeve is how teachers base a student’s intelligence on their grades. In some aspects, the grading system is a good way to analyze what we know, however, teachers use it to a fault. A letter on a screen does not determine who we are, what we’ll do with our lives, and how successful we’ll be! So why is it the only thing many teachers turn to when judging a student?

“Its stupid how teachers rely on grades to determine our intelligence, we’re so much more than that. We’re humans and we definitely make mistakes, life happens, and grades might fall. However, it shouldn’t be what defines us!”

Says Jared Clark, an achieving student at Davis High.

Despite how annoying these things are for students, we love and are very grateful for all of our hardworking teachers here at Davis High!