A high school teacher was caught off guard after a sophomore student claimed they were “only at school for attendance purposes” and were “not required to do any work.”
According to the post, which was shared on Reddit by user paigeafterpaige, the student’s message read, “I would like to inform all of you about the fact that I am only at school for attendance purposes. I am not required to do any work that is given to me.”
They added that teachers could still assign work “if you choose, but it won’t get done,” and invited follow-up questions by email or in person, listing both a school address and a personal Gmail account.
Reddit users flocked to the comments to weigh in, with one writing, “I would print out the email and label it as Exhibit A when admin asks why this student failed the class.”
Another added, “This sounds like a teenager who just learned about ‘setting work boundaries’ and thinks they’re being very clever.
“It may even be a move against their own parents, who probably told them they’re old enough now to start earning their allowance instead of just being given it.”
“So technically he’s not wrong,” one contributor noted. “He’s decided he’s going to do the legal requirement of attending school. As long as he isn’t disruptive, you can’t MAKE him do work if his parents won’t support it.
“You can (and should) give him all warranted academic consequences, but I wouldn’t engage him unless you feel like talking with a very smug 16-year-old. Definitely pass it up to admin, though.”
Guidance on handling resistant or defiant students often urges educators to avoid taking these kinds of statements personally while still holding students accountable.
Grace Dearborn, writing for the Association for Middle Level Education, notes that students who resist authority often do so as a test of whether adults will remain consistent and firm.
“Defiance, disrespect, and confrontation in general are all just tests,” Dearborn wrote, adding that accountability can be maintained without escalating conflict when responses remain calm and structured.
Research cited by Rutgers University points to resistance as a recurring issue in educational settings, with College Teaching magazine claiming that around 20 percent of college students display “active resistance to learning.”
While the Reddit post involves a high school student, educators in the thread said similar attitudes appear across grade levels.
For many educators responding to the post, this incident serves as another example of how classroom authority and student accountability can be tested in unexpected ways.
Newsweek has reached out to paigeafterpaige for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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