School. The one thing in our life that we all have to face and can’t get away from. If you’re anything like me, school is something you definitely don’t enjoy. I’m here to tell you a bunch of things that you probably didn’t even know about school. I mean the craziness of some of them range from cute babies to unicorns on rainbows!

1. I doubt any of you know what the largest school in the world is. The largest school in the world is City Montessori school located in India! About 40,000  kids attend this school which is actually more students than most colleges in the U.S.! They have over 2,500 teachers and 1,000 classrooms. This school was founded in 1959 and boasts student grade averages above 80%.

2. In the U.S., children have to attend a required 12 years of school and the reasons date way back to The Great Depression in the 1930’s. When jobs became limited, adults and teenagers were competing for the same jobs. To lower all of the chaos for jobs, the legislature changed the schooling years from 8 to 12. This made it easier for adults to find jobs while the teenagers were kept in classrooms.

3. Why take the STAAR or any kind of standardized tests? Have you ever moved to a new school or school district and realized you were learning the exact same thing as your last school? This is called the standardized curriculum and there’s a reason it’s there and a reason you can pick up from where you left off. The standardized curriculum helps students who switch schools to stay on pace and not learn any less than the other students. 26% of kids ages 6-11 switch schools every year and 42% of students ages 12-17 switch schools every year.

4. Have you ever gotten an eraser that has two colors on it? Like one side is white or pink and the other side is blue? If you’ve ever used that blue part of the eraser to erase pen it turns out it doesn’t work, but that’s actually what most people think it’s for! The blue side of the eraser is actually used to erase pencil on heavy grade papers like sketching or drawing paper. Since the blue eraser is made for rougher paper it can usually lighten the color of most pen but not erase them.

5. Did you know that after a study at Yale University, Crayons were proven to be the 18th most recognizable scent. It’s not even just the smell, if you really think about it, kids spend a lot of time using crayons. By the time we are ten years old we would have gone through 730 crayons and an average of about 28 minutes of coloring every day! Isn’t that insane?

6. Have you ever been scared to start your first day of school? Or maybe afraid of going to school the next day? Does the thought of school just make you want to crawl into a hole or fall off the face of the earth? You may suffer from Didaskaleinophopia, which is the real and literal fear of school. Yes, this a totally real fear and diagnosis, look it up,  I dare you! You’re also not alone if you really do have this fear. It is believed that 2.4% of school aged children around the world suffer from the fear of school.

7. We all know that pencils are an absolute need when it comes to school, but there is much more than meets the eye with these simple contraptions. Pencils are the definite choice of writing for astronauts as they can be used in zero gravity, upside down and even underwater! They also have a very long lifespan. They can write up to 45,000 words and if you kept drawing one continuous line with the same pencil it would go on for 35 miles! Just think about how many words you have written your entire life, it’s kind of overwhelming!

8. Have you ever wondered why in cartoons or TV shows or maybe in your own classroom, why the teachers have apples on their desks? I know I have. Like why an apple? There’s actually a very significant reason. In the 16th century, in Denmark teachers didn’t make very much money. So to offset their poor salaries, parents would pay the teachers in food. Often apples were given because they were considered expensive and hard to harvest, so they were a real treat to the teachers when a student would give them an apple.

9. Have you ever had a really super old teacher? It kind of seemed that maybe they were knocking on Heaven’s door or felt like they were just going to fall and die right there in front of you. If you’re in the U.S. you could possibly be learning from the oldest teacher in the world, Agnes Zhelesnik, who is a wonderfully youthful 102 years old! Agnes isn’t the only ancient one on the list. Now you may not be learning from the oldest teacher in the world but maybe you’re learning in the oldest boarding school in the world! It was established in 1567 named the The King’s School in Canterbury, England. Even though it’s been here since the16th century, older than all of us I hope, it is still in full operation and they even use some of the world’s most advanced technology.

10. The age old questions, “why am I here?” or “why do I even have to go to school?” People have been asking these questions since the very beginning of mandatory schooling. To make sure all children become well rounded adults and get the education they need to survive, most countries have resorted to mandatory schooling. Some countries believe that educated citizens give off the impression of a healthy republic. So really there is no need to make a drag out of school because we really are lucky that we even get to be there! There are still countries that don’t even offer public or mandatory schooling.

If we really think about it, school is wonderful. It’s an amazing opportunity to make new friends and get a really good glimpse of the real world. And if you really and truly are afraid of school I hope some of these facts could lighten your mood about it. Don’t fear one of the most wonderful things we are offered in life. Stay in school kids! It really will help you as an adult!