Class Activities: The Workout No One Signed Up For

Some people genuinely enjoy class activities. I am not one of them. To me, these so-called “fun” sessions are just disguised sports — except instead of running, you're shifting tables like you're training for a furniture-lifting championship. I find absolutely zero joy in scooting around on the floor just to guess which organism eats frogs. Couldn’t we just do that while sitting at our desks like normal humans? 

I vividly remember one incident in language class. Our teacher enthusiastically announced an “interactive” activity and instructed us to rearrange the entire classroom. Ten whole minutes were spent scraping tables across the floor, forming awkward, mismatched groups — only for us to complete the assignment individually. Individually. Exactly as we would have done without the physical workout beforehand. It left me wondering: was the objective academic growth, or unpaid interior designing?

Most class activities feel like arm workouts cleverly marketed as “engaging” and “exciting.” On another occasion, we were once again commanded to reorganize the classroom for a group task. Dictionaries were distributed, and we were told to find synonyms for words in a paragraph. The reality? One hardworking individual searched for every synonym while the rest copied diligently, pretending to participate. If this was meant to be a groundbreaking, thought-provoking exercise, I must have missed the revolution.

As you can tell by now, I perceive these activities as a useless effort of re-arranging tables and chairs. It’s never something worth the hard work. The worst part is all this occurs in the worst periods as well! The horrendous times of the day, when our energy is non-existent (which is the entire day, but that’s unimportant). 

Maybe I am a boring person for speaking out against class activities. But let’s be clear—I don’t mind wasting a lesson chatting with friends in the name of a class activity. I do mind becoming a part-time furniture mover every time someone says, “This will be fun.”

So, until further notice, I remain—

Hoor,
Unofficial Classroom Table Shifter

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