Basic Trope: A character doesn't care about school.
- Straight: Bob cares very little for school, often slacking off and flat out skipping it.
- Exaggerated:
- Nobody cares about school. Nobody. Not even the teachers care.
- Bob is eighteen years old in eighth grade.
- Bob doesn't even attend school.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is lazy and often sleeps in class, but he does care about his grades.
- Bob is Brilliant, but Lazy. He could excel academically, but instead slacks off and gets respectable but unremarkable grades.
- Bob is only apathetic in one class that he especially hates, like math. Otherwise, he tries his best in school.
- Justified:
- Bob finds school to be a simply a waste of time and thinks nothing he learns is useful.
- Bob is a superhero, and that can seriously cut time in school.
- The school is awful.
- Bob is frequently bullied by other students, and even some of his teachers.
- Bob is suffering from depression.
- Bob has a learning disability that needs to be accommodated, but the teachers accuse him of faking it, so Bob stops caring.
- Bob doesn't know he has a learning disorder, and starts suffering from severe burnout due to not being able to keep up. He starts doing the bare minimum, hoping he'll still manage to graduate.
- The teachers give Bob assignments that are well below his skill level. He asks for more challenging assignments, but the teachers refuse, so Bob stops caring because they think he's stupid anyway.
- Bob firmly believes in the adage "D's get diplomas" and has no plans of going to college, so he deliberately puts in minimal effort, believing it won't change anything.
- Inverted:
- Apathetic Teacher.
- Bob works so hard on his schoolwork that he barely has time to make a living.
- Grade Skipper
- Bob has Abusive Parents and enjoys going to school because he does not have to deal with them.
- Subverted: Bob suddenly starts paying very close attention in class...
- Double Subverted: ...only to impress a girl.
- Parodied: Bob walks into class and collapses on the floor before falling asleep. The teacher simply sighs and starts the lesson, and no even bothers to wake him up.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob is only this when it comes to classes he hates, like math.
- Averted: Bob pays attention in class.
- Enforced: The writers want to show Bob is lazy.
- Lampshaded: "Do you ever pay attention in class, Bob?"
- Invoked: Bob stops caring about school because as part of a Batman Gambit.
- Exploited: A child predator takes advantage of Bob's hatred of school to lure him in.
- Defied: Bob realizes how far his grades have fallen and tries to improve.
- Conversed: "Bob wouldn't pass a class even if his life depended on it!"
- Deconstructed: Because of his apathy, Bob has failed all of his classes and is held back.
- Reconstructed: Bob learns to pay more attention in class and makes a vow to participate more and pass with flying colors next year.
- Played For Laughs: Bob's teachers are shown checking on his grades. They all collectively faint upon realizing he has a single-digit percentage grade in all of his classes.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob's apathy is the result of years of bullying. He's so depressed that he doesn't care about anything, much less how he does in school.
- Bob has a learning disorder, but doesn't know it. Despite his best efforts, his performance stays poor and causes him severe burnout to the point he stops caring about school, only continuing because he doesn't want to drop out either. Even if he manages to graduate, he's too burned out to actually enjoy the feeling, and later develops impostor syndrome.
Attention, all Apathetic Students, please report back to class now. And act like you give a damn about it.
