With grades being harder and harder to keep up with, some students start to accumulate reasons to despise certain subjects. Some of these reasons include not seeing the value in that subject for their life, or feeling overwhelmed because the difficulty level is more than they can handle. 

The NAEye anonymously polled students in a variety of classes about their least favorite subjects. The result is a list of the most hated subjects based on the percentage of students who claim to resent each subject. 

Ranking in first place, Phys. Ed. is the most hated subject. 

Physical Education may be the most generic subject to pick because it is easy to assume that students are simply lazy. However, many of them actually offered clear reasons for their opinions. 

“I have it second period and my hair looks like crap and I smell for the rest of the day,” says one sophomore at NAI. Another student says that Phys Ed is “basically pointless for anybody who plays a sport.” Some student-athletes may try their hardest but still struggle in Phys Ed because they are exhausted from extracurricular sports.

Another sophomore adds, “Some days I’ll do a really intense workout in rowing, and I’m supposed to be resting. It can be really painful.  The teacher is nice and really understanding but I don’t wanna be that person who speaks up and is like ‘I already did a workout yesterday’.”

Ranking in second place, Social Studies is the next most hated subject.

Many students who voted for this subject explained that they found it very difficult. One sophomore says, “I feel like no matter how hard I study I will never get it.” A freshman states, “the teacher explains things frustratingly.”

Ranking in third place is Science.

One student explains that “the workload is insane,” which is a sentiment that several other students at NAI say they agree with. Another student mentions that “there is a lot of information to learn in a short period of time.” 

This workload could actually end up negatively affecting students’ understanding of the material instead of benefiting them. One student admits that “there is more time in worrying about how to get it right than focusing on how to do it.” 

Tied with Science, Math also ranks number 3 on the list. 

After a certain level of Math, it is common for students to question if what they are learning is necessary for life. One freshman who voted for math noted that they feel like it is, “annoying and unnecessary.”

Another student simply says, “everything else is more interesting.” One student called math, “literally painful.” They explain, “I’ve always struggled with math and it just doesn’t come really easy to me.”

Foreign language classes and English rank in fourth and fifth place.

No student was able to explain why they didn’t like their English class. In contrast, students did have complaints about their foreign language classes. One student explained that their foreign language class, “move[s] way too fast.” Another student spoke about how they feel like they, “don’t get work done in class.”

Students are not the only ones with opinions on their least favorite classes. Teachers can also have preferences for certain subjects based on their experiences in high school. English teacher Jeremy Rak was asked about his thoughts on the most hated subjects at NAI.

Asked his thoughts on Phys Ed being ranked the most hated subject, Rak says, “I would say it’s not completely surprising because I remember not loving the fact that I had to change, get sweaty, and then change back and go to class when I was in high school gym class… so I get it.”

So how does an English teacher feel about where English ranks on the list? “I think that is surprising because I feel like it seems like students nowadays are much more interested in STEM-related things than 20 years ago,” Rak says. “So I would expect English to be higher on the list because I don’t feel like it’s something many kids enjoy.”

It seems that even teachers don’t expect everyone to love the subject that they teach. 

Rak did offer one piece of advice that could be used to motivate students through high school: “Try to keep an open mind because all it takes is one really great teacher in a subject you don’t like to open your eyes to how that subject could be more interesting.”