Kim, for example, began developing headaches and missing several days of school a weeks soon after begining her sophomore year of high school. The major factor behind her school phobia seemed to be a difficult and demanding geometry teacher. She was so afraid of this nun, who yelled at student if they gave wrong answers or asked questions. She didn't dare ask questions. She was so afraid of getting yelled at for making a mistake that she avoided going to school whenever possible, which meant that she got further and further behind.
Some teenagers avoid school out of fear of their peers.
Linda, fourteen, whose stomachaches have kept her oustomachaches have kept her out of classes a large amount of time lately, complains that a group of girls keep chasing her and threatening to beat her up. Her parents observe that these disabling stomachaches never hit on weekends or school holidays. And some young people are afraid to go to school becuase they feel responseable for holding things together at home. School phobia springs from a multitude of causes and too often parents unwittingly encourage it by making special demands or by allowing their teens to stay home day by day, thus reinforceing the phobia. I wanna say that I was just talking to a mother of a 1st grader that just started school.