Valentine’s Day–A day that many people dread for a multitude of reasons. Maybe they are alone. Maybe they are broke. Maybe they have too many cats or FaceTime their dog and therefore have no hope to ever be anything but alone.

For me, as both a human being and a teacher, Valentine’s Day is a day to be dreaded.

People may think I hate it because no one gets me anything. They may also think I hate it because my students are sugar-fueled and overly-emotional.  While these are both valid reasons, they don’t cover the enormity of my feelings towards Valentine’s Day.

I hate it personally because I don’t like feeling like I should care if I get flowers or go out to dinner. Other women post their baubles and chicken alfredo on social media like this is every female’s dream.

This makes me feel like a lesser person because I would rather my husband buy a week’s worth frozen pizza (Red Baron Mexican pizza), and we watch Netflix in our sweatpants while passing a family size bottle of ranch dressing back and forth.

I hate it professionally because those tiny foil wrapped peanut butter cups begin showing up at 7:45, followed by the cupcakes with the red icing that stains students’ teeth for the rest of the day and the red heart suckers with the white writing that turns their tongues white. This whole combination leaves the students looking like members of a killer clown cult.

The real reason the teacher me hates Valentine’s Day, however, is not the party, the boxes, or the fact that sometime in second-grade students figure out that the heart they just cut out also looks like a butt.

I hate it because of the way it separates the students into the “haves” and the “have-nots”.

Every day my students are hit in the face with the concept of “have and have not”. Pete has new clothes that are stylish. Bobby wears the same worn, ill-fitting jeans every day.

Susan has a new car and no job while Alice works thirty hours a week and will probably never have a car because her paycheck goes to buy clothes for her siblings.

Valentine’s Day amplifies this concept, for no benefit to anyone.

Parents decide that Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to send items to school to show that they are the world’s best parents. The more balloons, the bigger the bear, or the more roses just proves that they love their kid more than any other parent.

The problem is that other students see all of this, and part of them spends the day wishing life were different, that they had someone who could spend hundreds of dollars on gifts to send to them at school.

As a teacher, for every student I see carrying armloads of goodies and passing out expensive chocolates to her friends, I see two forlorn students with their heads down just wishing the school day would be over.

Some people may think I am just a bitter old woman who hates to have fun. I love fun. I love the holidays.

I just see no point in a “holiday” designed to perpetuate the look at me, everything is for show concept that plagues my students today.

Now that I have that off my chest, I think I will go FaceTime my dog.