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Students Hate St. Valentine’s: A Riddle

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“So are you planning to celebrate St. Valentine’s?” I asked my students in class.

“No! Bleh! We hate it! It’s almost as bad as Thanksgiving!” they responded in unison.

After that, all they wanted to do is discuss how much they hate this holiday, and it took me a while to get them to settle down and talk about types of rhyme in Spanish poetry.

Question: Why do my students hate St. Valentine’s so much?

Hint: No, it isn’t because they don’t have a date. Would I ask a question that has such a boring answer?

14 responses to “Students Hate St. Valentine’s: A Riddle”

  1. Evelina Anville Avatar
    Evelina Anville

    They don’t like Thanksgiving? Thankgiving is such a great holiday!!!! My students always rave abut Thanksgiving.

    I would guess that students don’t like V- Day because of two reasons. 1) The commericialization. The idea that love is something to be packaged and sold with pink bows and candy hearts can be a bit distasteful for idealistic young people. 2) The pressure. Young people who are dating feel pressured to have a V-Day holiday–even if the relationship isn’t serious. Single people feel pressured to “do something” with friends. And they are just coming off Christams and might be a little short on money and don’t need or want another holiday which encourages spending. 🙂

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      They hate V-Day and Thanksgiving for the same reason.

      Another hint: it’s the same reason why I always allow them to hand in all of the assignments written by hand.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        // it’s the same reason why I always allow them to hand in all of the assignments written by hand.

        And I thought young people preferred typing.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Yes, normally, they prefer to type and to spend Thanksgiving eating turkey with their family and to celebrate Thanksgiving. But. . . remember what makes my university unlike many others (HINT).

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      2. Evelina Anville Avatar
        Evelina Anville

        Do they think of V-Day as idolatrous somehow? I think some Bible Belters have issues with it?

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  2. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I was thinking it was for some effed up cocooned millenial reason but now I’m leaning toward Evelina’s explanation (though I had not idea that evangelicals had turned against Turkey day the ones I knew ages and ages ago definitely celebrated it).

    Very long shot: their financial situation makes celebrating more difficult (so the holidays rub their nose in their lack of prosperity).

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “Very long shot: their financial situation makes celebrating more difficult (so the holidays rub their nose in their lack of prosperity).”

      – We are going in the right direction but are not completely there yet. 🙂

      “I was thinking it was for some effed up cocooned millenial reason”

      – We are not a traditional, secluded university that works more like a finishing school for overgrown Mamma’s boys and girls, so things are different around here.

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  3. David Bellamy Avatar
    David Bellamy

    I will hazard a guess. Does your university does not close for Thanksgiving and also not for Valentine’s Day?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      No, we have a Thanksgiving break. Of course, Valentine’s is not a holiday.

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  4. Pen Avatar
    Pen

    I think I remember you saying something about how many students at your university work? Extended hours during Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day can be a pain, especially when you have classwork and homework. Thanksgiving in particular is horrible, now that stores open for Black Friday on Thanksgiving night. And a student who is working will generally lack access to a computer for extended amounts of time, meaning that much of the homework they get done during those times will be handwritten.

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    1. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      I bet this is it.

      And I detest the commercialization of Black Friday (not even a thing when I was still in the US) and starting it on T-day evening is beneath contempt (not the employees fault of course).

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    2. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “I think I remember you saying something about how many students at your university work? Extended hours during Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day can be a pain, especially when you have classwork and homework. Thanksgiving in particular is horrible, now that stores open for Black Friday on Thanksgiving night. And a student who is working will generally lack access to a computer for extended amounts of time, meaning that much of the homework they get done during those times will be handwritten.”

      – And we have a winner! This is exactly what the students told me. On Thanksgiving, many were forced to work all through the night, and that was a bad experience.

      I knew Pen would guess because she is also a student. 🙂

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  5. Steve Avatar
    Steve

    I’ve never observed it, when I was a kid nobody did. I still don’t cvommemorate it because it seems to have been made up by greetings card manufacturers, seems to be purely commercial.

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  6. kelly Avatar
    kelly

    Maybe some of your students are scared of things like this one:
    http://www.today.com/klgandhoda/woman-reunites-first-love-28-years-after-they-met-2D12106541

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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