Teaching is an important job, but some days it feels more like wrangling wild animals than educating young minds. While every grade level comes with its own unique challenges, the debate rages on among educators: which grade is the hardest to teach? Is it the kindergartners, who have wet shoe laces when it isn’t raining outside and a consistent stream of phlegm trickling from their noses? Or perhaps those goblin middle schoolers, whose hormones are making them like demons from the gates of hell?
I asked my followers which grade out of K-12 was the worst grade to teach. I received over one thousand responses! People felt very passionately about which grade was the worst, but the overwhelming majority agreed: 7th grade is the absolute worst!
Why is 7th grade the worst out of all the grades?
Simply put: hormones. While not all kids go through puberty at the same time, the majority are starting or right in the middle of the hellish changes that puberty hormones bring in 7th grade. They have a bit of a middle child syndrome because they aren’t the school’s youngest or oldest. They whine a lot like toddlers but want to be treated like mature young adults. The parents either won’t parent them at all or baby them too much. Overall, it’s a giant nightmare for everyone involved.
Comments from 7th grade teachers
“I’ve never been so emotionally abused, and I’ve dated alcoholics!”
“I’d rather crawl on shards of glass than teach 7th grade again.”
“7th graders are awkward looking like 5-month-old German shepherds.”
“Public schools need to make 7th graders do a year of community service. Between growth spurts and hormones, their brains are out to lunch!”
“7th graders are dipped in hell juice!” -A 31-year veteran
“Their kindness is gone, and they are just mean!”
“I’ve taught a lot of different grade levels, and 7th graders are demon spawn!”
“7th graders have grown people hormones with the critical thinking of a toddler.”
“My 7th graders ruined my class novels by putting slime between the pages. They draw penises on everything. I’ve been told to “eat a d*ck” and “calm my t*ts.” I’ll never do this grade again.”
“7th graders are too unpredictable. One minute, they are happy and laughing, and the next minute, they are breathing fire out of their behind!”
“7th-grade girls can suck your soul out!”
“They need a vaccine to prevent this inhuman stage from occurring. They are smelly, irrational, aggressive, immature, and funny-looking.”
“This is the armpit of all grades. The smelly, unclean, hormone overloaded armpit.”
“They’re awful to each other and utterly confused about everything!”
“The hormones are flowing and the mouths are flapping non-stop!”
“They talk sh*t, then cry when you talk back.”
“They’re like Gremlins. They’re cute in the beginning, but turn into monsters.”
“They go from sweet angel-babies to absolute terrors quicker than you can say BRUH. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, hormones, and eye rolls.”
Kindergarten is the Runner Up
Apparently, kindergarteners are extremely needy little people with extremely needy parents. The curriculum puts too much pressure on them and many are not developmentally ready for what is asked of them. Booger noses, wet shoe laces, and potty accidents are also common. Another issue is that this early in their education, they haven’t been identified as having any learning differences yet and don’t have IEPs, so the teacher just has to make do with so many different learning abilities, levels, and issues.
Comments about kindergarten:
“They don’t know anything except inedible objects, Baby Shark, and crying.”
“They mostly pick boogers. Some eat them.”
“You literally can’t sit down.”
“Field trips, recess, awards, performances, parties, vomit, pee, poop, and they have to go from reading baby books to reading small chapter books.”
“I had to do a whole lesson on how to turn a page over a staple in a packet.”
“Bathroom accidents, vomit after lunch, temper tantrums, they’ve never had conversations with adults, and too many annoying kids’ songs!”
Grade 1 Isn’t a Cake Walk
There is way too much pressure on small minds in 1st grade. They also start tattling on each other every five seconds, which is quite annoying. They aren’t much different than kindergarteners except they are expected to do a lot more.
Comments from grade 1 teachers:
“You are starting from rock bottom, and they completely drain you.”
“Cute but way too needy and they do dumb things you can’t even fathom. Also, everything is the end of the world.”
“Fun but exhausting!”
Grade 8 Kids Are Obnoxious
Now that they are the oldest in the school, 8th graders think they run the show. They can be mean to the younger kids at times because they think that’s what mature people do. They seem to think they are already high schoolers, and when attempting to act like older kids, they are just obnoxious.
Comments from grade 8 teachers:
“8th graders are hellions.”
“8th graders are not human.”
“Immature bastards who think they are the most mature people on earth.”
“My 8th graders are like hardened criminals.”
“They don’t think before they speak or act and have extremely low impulse control. But if you get them on your side, as a teacher, you are untouchable.”
“8th graders don’t give a crap about anything!”
“Hormones, bullying, girl drama, impulsive behavior. It’s like internet trolls sitting in your class commenting on your clothes, your hair, your lesson…”
Grade 9: Freshman think they are mature adults but they are immature, squirmy, and annoying. The boys can’t stop touching each other and fart jokes are still the most hilarious thing on the planet. They think they know everything and have attitudes because they think it’s cool to be obnoxious. Many still haven’t discovered deodorant yet.
Freshmen Aren’t So Fresh
They’re done with middle school and that means they’re the coolest kids on earth. The only problem is they have no idea what cool is. And they can’t stop touching each other.
Comments from 9th grade teachers:
“They just figured out they aren’t the BMOC (big man on campus), so they start all over again with the attention-seeking shenanigans.”
“Freshmen are the worst human beings on earth.”
“9th grade boys are arrogant but immature and obnoxious.”
“Pretty sure 9th graders are the ones who collect souls at the gates of hell.”
Grade 10 is Annoying:
They aren’t new to high school, so they think they know everything, but aren’t close enough to graduation to take their education seriously.
Comments about grade 10:
“Every time I have had to teach 10th grade, I have almost quit!”
“10th graders are the 7th graders of high school.”
“This is when they decide if they are going to drop out or stick with it. It’s very hard to keep them motivated.”
“They’re over their fear of authority but still driven by hormones and a need for peer approval.”
Second Semester Seniors are M.I.A.
Once the second semester rolls around and seniors know what college they are going to, they don’t do anything and often don’t even show up.
Comments from grade 12 teachers:
“If anyone doesn’t have a reason to care anymore- it’s them!”
“They think they know everything without any life experience.”
“Grade-grubbing A-holes because they did nothing second semester and need to graduate.”
As the school bell rings and the final lesson comes to a close, one thing becomes abundantly clear: every grade has its own special blend of chaos and charm, except for 7th graders. They are just awful and nothing else.