The children refusing to go to school | Four Corners

My youngest sister also refused to attend school. My middle sister and I used to call her lazy. My mother on the other hand enrolled my youngest sister in a charter school with smaller class sizes, no assigned homework, and every other Friday off. My youngest sister thrived in this system and went on to be a very hard worker.

I have no words for how deeply this touched me. As a 90's AuDHD kid who never received any support, I vividly remember so many experiences these kids and their parents mention. It breaks my heart that in 30 years things barely seem to have changed. This cannot be allowed to go on.

I’m a high school teacher and this is heart breaking. I totally understand those kids who feel overwhelmed and overstimulated at school - sometimes I feel overwhelmed! We are trained for inclusivity, but the scenarios we get in uni are assuming you only have 1-2 high needs kids in class. It’s extremely challenging with class sizes and the number of high needs kids, all with different individual challenges. I’m one person in a classroom of 30, of which often at least 15 have adhd, asd, learning disabilities, mental health challenges, amongst a variety of other things (and combinations of them). Not to mention how these conditions and needs often clash - kids with sensory needs are in classes with kids with overwhelming energy who are loud and rambunctious. We physically can’t support all needs with our duty of care. We need a system reboot - smaller classes, more support from admin and in the classroom (EAs), more dott time for all the admin, behaviour and rapport building needs. There’s so much more to be said, but please believe us when we say most teachers are so empathetic to these students, and we are so sorry we can’t do more to help in the current system.

I will be forever grateful to my mother for stepping up and homeschooling me when I hated school so much and to my dad for working to make it possible..

As a child I was always confused why I struggled to go to school, I was bullied yeah, I had amazing friends 100000% but I couldn’t help but cry and stress. I was told “you’re just shy” I’m now 21 and was diagnosed at a very young age for anxiety but at the age of 12 I was diagnosed with social anxiety / severe anxiety. Kids deserve help. Being told “you’re shy” is the wrong direction because there is a EXTREME difference.

My husband is 37 he still has nightmares from shool.

I was a parent in this situation in the 90’s. Nobody understood. 🥹 I just looked like a bad parent, the schools completely unhelpful and blamed me. Seeing this docu just brought up a heap of heartbreaking memories 😭

I know of kids who find it very hard to keep on going to school because of the dreadful behaviour of other students in the classtooms, coupled with teachers who just cannot cope with their situations.

This was me from 1st grade up until now, 9th grade. I got diagnosed with anxiety, panic disorder, adhd, and eventually autism. Parents, please stop the tough love. Consider looking into one of those diagnosises for your child.

What we see from early childhood to primary is over crowded classrooms, inadequate resources to support children, families and teachers, families who feel let down, burnt out teachers and more and more children in crisis left behind. A system in crisis.

The student to teacher ratio is far too high when so many students have complex needs and trauma. Students are now also being traumatised by having to witness meltdowns from other students. Schools are noisy overstimulating environments for the most part.

Here in the USA, parents can go to jail if the kids miss too many days. That is the wrong way to go about things since the child could be missing due to mental health. These kids need help, not seeing their parents punished.

I am a primary teacher, and seeing these kids and their struggles makes me even more determined to try my hardest to engage all my students. It broke my heart when Ethan said he thought he would be homeless as a grown-up, and now he has hope in himself because that clearly shows, that these kids don't choose to be the way they are but rather don't have the coping skills or support they need. The sad part about this is more the overall system of school and the lack of understanding that the system has to change to educate the next generations and for teachers, who try their hardest, not to quit and also being healthy.

I am 44 years old. This is EXACTLY how I felt throughout my entire schooling career until I finally refused at age 15. I still have nightmares about school, and I panick whenever I pass a large group of high school kids.

I went through school undiagnosed autistic in the 90s. Life was awful. I threw up every morning, had panic attacks, completely shut down when I got home. My parents wouldn’t listen to how much I was suffering. School today is even worse … my kids are homeschooled. I hate how many kids are suffering because no one will listen to them 😢

My son in AMERICA is crying every day begging to stay home.

This was my daughter, I took her out of the school system at 10 years old. It was the best thing I ever did for her - some kids are just not suited to school.

My son doesnt have ADHD, autism etc, he is very bright, but very gentle and kids behavior at school and bullying and tormenting means I now have him in therapy to deal with it. The amount of school work and homework stress a 9 year old is put under also on exhasibates the situation. And missing school is not an option because the teachers will ensure you do the class work at home with your child and the homework. They message you sheets of work. And then Im not even talking about the extensive extra events the school expects both parents and kids to participate in. The balance is completely wrong.

They think the answer is more training (Professional Development) for teachers. It’s not. It’s time. More staff is what we need, and that’s expensive, and they can’t incentivise people to come and stay the way things currently are. The actual system doesn’t work. Too many students, all with individual needs, and not enough time and attention to give them. THIS is the teaching crisis.

I am a very introverted person and I hated walking out of the house every morning for school. Being in a noisy crowded place all day was frightening and exhausting. When my mother started working full time I bunked high school as often as I could get away with. Now at 67 and retired I can hide away as much as I please.