Rant about Friendship School :P

[Literatel 144]

What really bothers me about it is that it's just a concept that should never work ever in any functional society.

I can see a singular - and I do mean singular - course on friendship perhaps being a good thing for very select groups of people. People who have trouble socializing and understanding social cues like those with autistic spectrum disorder or extreme social anxiety or perhaps people with trust issues from abuse or ptsd. I could understand having some kind of therapeutic course for people like that, or for helping those who can't understand social subtleties to better understand them.

But that would be an extremely select group of people, and I can only see one course being necessary. Perhaps a course with multiple speakers and lecturers, maybe, and one that can be taken multiple times if needed, but a singular course nonetheless.

But for the life of me I cannot rationalize why there would be an entire university, since that's essentially what it appears to be, with a large dedicated campus, multiple courses like 'Generosity 101' (which was actually a course mentioned in the episode), with people coming from far and wide to learn about something that should be inherent and understood in any social society.

Now when Twilight alone was 'studying friendship,' it made some sense. For one, Friendship is apparently a concept that is somehow important to magic in Equestria, and magic is an important part of Equestrian daily life and apparently studied as a science. With Twilight already being a magic scholar and also being a socially awkward, friendless bookworm who may or may not have a mild form of high-functioning ASD or OCD or other disability, it made sense for her, in particular, to study friendship. And again, it might make sense to offer a singular, dedicated course on "friendship and its connection to magic," or something akin to that, in a university.

But an entire school devoted to just the friendship aspects of it and not the magical sciences? With courses like 'Generosity 101?' That's not something that any healthy society should need! How do you teach generosity in a classroom setting? And if a society is so socially messed up that they can't understand friendship and need to learn it in a classroom (and I'm not convinced such a society could even exist) then I honestly doubt that trying to teach it in a classroom would work. If your society is so broken where enough of the population can't understand these things that a university is at any point proposed as needed, then I somehow doubt that a university is actually going to help. There's a deeper problem there that can't be tackled in this way.

And apparently, in the show, it's a place that people come from far and wide to study at. There's a whole campus. With multiple buildings. A library with volumes upon volumes of books on why friendship is apparently important. There's classrooms where they try and teach concepts like Honesty, Generosity, and Kindness.

HOW? How does that WORK? You can't teach that sort of thing in a classroom!

If Twilight were to open a Magic Studies university with perhaps some kind of curriculum focus or required course on how friendship connects to magic, that would make sense. Hell it would even be a really consistent and in-character direction to take her. But this... this is just the biggest can of worms I think the show has opened so far, and that's really saying something.

 

*Gasps for breath*

[Dreambiscuit 12,663]

It's true that there are some things that can be taught in a classroom setting (for those who are disposed to learning that way) and many that can't. Life is the best teacher, especially to an inquisitive mind that's open and interested in learning. All minds are interested in some things to some degree because that's just the nature of any intelligent being. To assume a university setting is the optimal way to learn certain things, especially such intangibles as friendship and generosity, is the absurdity that makes the school system the train wreck that it is.

The best thing to do is to make information available and allow anyone interested in learning to access it. Simple as that. Twilight doesn't love books because she's forced to read them all in a set amount of time by a group of teachers; she does it because she loves it. The mind will only learn and retain that knowledge when it's interested and ready. And cramming in a school setting is decidedly non-conducive to that end. 

The Friendship school isn't really the most inspired idea to come from the show. Hopefully G5 will dispose of it.

[Literatel 144]

2 minutes ago, Dreambiscuit said:

It's true that there are some things that can be taught in a classroom setting (for those who are disposed to learning that way) and many that can't. Life is the best teacher, especially to an inquisitive mind that's open and interested in learning. All minds are interested in some things to some degree because that's just the nature of any intelligent being. To assume a university setting is the optimal way to learn certain things, especially such intangibles as friendship and generosity, is the absurdity that makes the school system the train wreck that it is.

The best thing to do is to make information available and allow anyone interested in learning to access it. Simple as that. Twilight doesn't love books because she's forced to read them all in a set amount of time by a group of teachers; she does it because she loves it. The mind will only learn and retain that knowledge when it's interested and ready. And cramming in a school setting is decidedly non-conducive to that end. 

The Friendship school isn't really the most inspired idea to come from the show. Hopefully G5 will dispose of it.

I'll tell you something, if the Friendship School becomes a focus of G5, I'll be screaming louder than bagpipes in Baghdad. Well, maybe not, but you get the point. I'm a charismatic and reasonable person usually, and maybe I am looking too deep into it, but there are a few things I am passionate about... and one of them is crushing the hopes and dreams of tiny little ponies. (Erm, I mean, looking into things deeply and then ripping them apart. ) But yeah, the whole purpose of this "Friendship School" was to bring many species (who had no concept of friendship somehow) together, which can be connected to many political things in this world for sure. But why couldn't they do it all in a board meeting?

(Now all you have to do is imagine me saying this in Mike Myers' voice. )

[Azureth 687]

I am glad I'm not the only one who found the whole "friendship school" idea really dumb. You can tell the writers are running out of ideas.

LOL found this:

http://www.thefriendshipschool.org/

Edited November 22, 2018 by Azureth

[Will Guide 21,378]

@Literatel @Dreambiscuit @Azureth

The three of you disappoint me for not being being open to some changes that actually brought joy to some viewers like me. Even not all the episodes work, the friendship school still brought some creative fan fiction fuel that many writers could use.

Edited November 22, 2018 by Will Guide

[Literatel 144]

2 hours ago, Will Guide said:

@Literatel @Dreambiscuit @Azureth

The three of you disappoint me for not being being open to some changes that actually brought joy to some viewers like me. Even not all the episodes work, the friendship school still brought some creative fan fiction fuel that many writers could use.

And you disappoint me for not accepting that people have their own opinions. I didn't mean to say that the Friendship School is a terrible idea; I was just stating that the concept makes no sense to me and that I don't like it. Just because I say I don't like something doesn't mean it's a bad thing; we're not a bunch of yes people, we don't have to like everything.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Literatel

[Will Guide 21,378]

51 minutes ago, Literatel said:

And you disappoint me for not accepting that people have their own opinions. I didn't mean to say that the Friendship School is a terrible idea; I was just stating that the concept makes no sense to me and that I don't like it. Just because I say I don't like something doesn't mean it's a bad thing; we're not a bunch of yes people, we don't have to like everything.

I do accept that people have their own opinions. I never said they don't.

I'm more open minded to accept that every bad concept has its fans.

[Literatel 144]

6 minutes ago, Will Guide said:

I do accept that people have their own opinions. I never said they don't.

I'm more open minded to accept that every bad concept has its fans.

I do realize I posted this criticism of mine rather harshly. However, I never did say within the post that, "If you like the Friendship School, you're an idiot". I was just expressing my opinion. Maybe it was a bit harsh. I'm usually a very open minded person, but occasionally... some things just bother me.  What I won't deny however is that it was an interesting new creative direction.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Literatel

[Midnight Solace 5,135]

I feel like the Friendship School is like going back to kindergarten. Learning how to make friends again and all that.

Maybe the Friendship School was made so that they can teach other races how to be nice to each other, like the Griffons, they weren't brought up to be friendly, so this might be where they get to know how to be nice. 

[EpicEnergy 23,259]

I didn't think it was bad, I thought it was a good idea.

[Splashee 28,606]

When I heard Season 8 was going to go to school, I was thinking about when I was forced to go to school. I didn't want to watch a show that makes me think about such horror.

But it turned out okay, except the student 6, the Non-compete Clause, the rasism, the songs sung at school. Hmm, so only Cozy Glow and Kirin where good in that Season, lol 

Spoiler

no need for school!

 

[Soundwave 28,558]

Just the idea of a friendship school sounded asinine, friendship is not one of those things that can be taught in a school, but it’s even worse when you remember the show itself said the exact same thing in the very first episode. 

It also doesn’t help the School itself actively brought down most of the episodes it was a focused on or involved in 

[Will Guide 21,378]

8 minutes ago, Megas said:

Just the idea of a friendship school sounded asinine, friendship is not one of those things that can be taught in a school, but it’s even worse when you remember the show itself said the exact same thing in the very first episode. 

It also doesn’t help the School itself actively brought down most of the episodes it was a focused on or involved in 

Think of it less like a school and more like a daily/weekly social group. Back in middle high school I used to attend a social group every Tuesday and we did all kinds of activities and even a few little exercises. It help me opened up a little more socially. Same concept here

[Soundwave 28,558]

41 minutes ago, Will Guide said:

Think of it less like a school and more like a daily/weekly social group. Back in middle high school I used to attend a social group every Tuesday and we did all kinds of activities and even a few little exercises. It help me opened up a little more socially. Same concept here

It's not the same thing, the Mane 5 were brought in to straight up teach classes on fundamentals of friendship(i.e., the Elements of Harmony basically)

Spoiler

And I'll be real here, I'm biased as fuck against this point of the show, let alone the Friendship School lol

 

[Landi 602]

I agree! The School of Friendship is the worst thing to happen to My Little Pony. 

I'll start off by stating the obvious. Friendship isn't something you need a school to teach. Friendship is a social activity that one picks up throughout the experiences of his/her life. The show itself made that clear during the early seasons. The School of Friendship is big institution where ponies need to spend hours studying and learning. That is not how you learn friendship.

Then you have all the bad changes it made to the show. There's twilight, a princess, demoting herself to the role of a principal. For her character to come so far, it was really disheartening to see it all go to waste. Then you have the others. They already have jobs! Now that they have these jobs at the School of Friendship, they can't focus more on their legit jobs. How do they even have time to interact with each other outside of the school? Plus, they aren't even legit teachers. They don't have teaching experience, yet they are becoming full on teachers. Sounds pretty ridiculous to me.

Then there's the student six. They are pretty boring to start off with; not having many traits to make them interesting. They just don't have the appeal that the pony main characters have. Along with that, they actually take away the screen time from the main characters. This caused many, many episodes in season 8 to be lackluster. Now, I know some do like these characters, but I'm just not one of them.

It's just sad that the show took such a wrong turn with the introduction of the school. Season 9 was a little better, but it still suffered from some of the same mistakes. I'm just glad more people feel this way about the School of Friendship. It's not just me .

[Savy 5,662]

Damn I guess I'm the only one who really likes the school and the students.

Sorry, but I just actually prefer the later seasons to the newer ones.

[Cash In 23,503]

I'll tell you why the school was added in. Because the show was already on the eight season and they wanted to try something new to keep things fresh. My issue with the school was that it was introduced too late. It felt like it was sort of a gimmick for season 8, because they didn't really do as much with it in Season 9. The idea of it isn't necessarily bad, because I liked some of the things they did with it. I just felt the execution needed work.

[Sparklefan1234 189,210]

On 2021-09-02 at 4:22 PM, Cash_In said:

My issue with the school was that it was introduced too late.

 

That's a big reason why I didn't like the school of friendship and I think I would've grown to like the student six if they were

given more than two seasons to develop.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Sparklefan1234

[They call me Loyalty 1,958]

It is a poor plot device, or so I believe, because I haven't watched past the start of season 8. But I think part of the problem is that the show was not allowed to grow up beyond the limitations of its own formula, and targeted demographic. This, and running out of ideas, resulted in things like the school of friendship, the young six, the cutie map and starlight glimmer, among other offenders. Which were ways to exploit the unexpected success of a series that had gone past its closure point, by artificially extending its life, instead of giving it a timely conclusion.

[JMTV99 1,364]

I would go on and rant about the school on how much of a shitty and abysmal idea was, but that's the least of it's problems since it was made to shill out more toys anyway.

The biggest problem I had with Season 8 is that the crew was trying so desperately hard to connect everything together in the 2017 film into the show to make it feel connected. Unfortunately that doesn't work because, for the people who never seen the 2017 film (like myself) will get lost and confused about what's going on.

Season 8 really did set the bar so low for the series that the crew just didn't really care about the show anymore. While Season 9 was the final nail in the coffin.

[Cash In 23,503]

5 hours ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

That's a big reason why I didn't like the school of friendship and I think I would've grown to like the student six if they were

given more than two seasons to develop.

Yeah. I'm sure they could've reached their full potential if they were around for longer. The thing is that not only did the final two seasons have to focus on them, but also the Mane 6, Spike, CMCs, Discord, Starlight and a bunch of others. It was just too much.

[dead account 2,719]

My only problem with the school is that it makes no sense to make Twilight's friends teachers, they are busy as heck already. I like the episodes and the characters and don't think about it while watching. I just don't like it from a logical standpoint. And making her the ruler afterwards made it even worse. She would never leave her friends, that's what she said in episode 2 already. Then pushing the school onto Starlight, who also lives alone in Twilight's huge, empty and cold castle from this point onward. (Sunburst will probably move in, since he starts to work in the school too. And maybe Trixie, after getting tired from her wagon. ) It's basically Starlight's school and castle now. But she should discover and follow her own dreams. Twilight should follow her own dreams too and stay with her friends.

The writers there had no idea about FiM. And G5 is the far future on G4, right? A huge mistake in my opinion, they built the new generation on top of a miserable end. It should have been it's own unique thing. It could have been a fresh start.

The way I see it, FiM is something completely unique and outstanding. And it is great for the most part. But after some point they basically returned to being a typcial company and lost their greatness. It slowly started with FiM already, but got super weird afterwards. And that's why we have the school and other shenanigans, I suppose.

It's up to the fans to make Equestria great again, haha.

[They call me Loyalty 1,958]

Well said. Not only you cannot teach virtue. I've had enough opportunities to observe human society and understand this does not work. Because animal is as animal does. But also the school of friendship suggests a very dysfunctional reality for social interaction in equestria, which is not the case. So, I beleive they just ran out of ideas. I can also imagine hasbro pushing for more seasons, and the writers asking themselves "What the hell do we do, now?". Anyway, it is nice to to be reminded you can always kick a dead horse, and it still feels good.

Also, this addition killed my enthusiasm for the show. Magic and innocence, died for me that day, really.

Edited May 15, 2022 by They call me Loyalty

[Tom Gallagher 33,650]

I love FiM to bits and I can defend just about everything that people don’t like about it. The School of Friendship however is something that even I can’t and won’t defend, very much for the  same reasons explained by @Sven Seelenherz and @They call me Loyalty. The series had spent eight years to this point showing the Mane Six learning and working up to reaching the places they’ve always wanted to be in since the start of the series. They finally had made it. Rarity now had her boutiques, Rainbow Dash was finally a Wonderbolt, Twilight was of course Princess, Fluttershy has always had animal business, Applejack always had family business and Pinkie… well, she has her Pinkie business. Life is good and Friendship is Magic, right? 

Then Season Eight comes along and some moron behind the scenes decides to strip all that away and make them teachers, completely against their will. Are you just gonna completely forget what the last eight years of hard work has led to? So even in terms of well-established character development it makes no sense! Why don’t you get somepony who’s actually qualified instead of just snatching the Mane Six away from their priorities?! 

And on top of all that, there comes the biggest slap in the face for me personally. The Student Six or as I like to call them, the Student Sh*ts. Not only is the School thrown into the mix but now we have to meet even more characters in an already bloated cast! And it all wouldn’t have been too bad if these students weren’t the stupidest, blandest, most annoying characters to ever appear on the show. But alas, they are IMO.

It’s no secret here that I really despise these characters and I often make jokes about my hatred towards them. I remember even on my first ever watchthrough, I naively thought the School was a good idea but even then, I didn’t find the Students interesting. They were so dull, so lifeless and just plain uninteresting. Bit like where G5’s going! 

And it’s so obvious how desperately they want you to like the Students. So they completely shove the Mane Six aside which is already a big no-no for me, make them take over and they sometimes even dumb the Mane Six down to make the Students look good! 

I’ve never even memorised the Students’ names, that’s how forgettable they are to me. I guess even our favourite show has to slip up sometimes. There’s a lot of decisions made in the last episodes that could’ve been changed or dropped completely. Especially the School and Twilight being forced away from her friends when she desperately wanted them to always be by her side. 

Edited May 16, 2022 by TomDaBombMLP

[dead account 2,719]

Well explained and well written, @TomDaBombMLP.
I still can't come over the fact that Starlight literally and completely took over Twilight's place there. Starlight stays in Ponyville, will take care of the Twilight's castle and also lead her school. She can always meet the other mane 6 in her freetime. Imagine - really - imagine there was a season 10 afterwards (without the time skip at the end), this is what it would be like. Twilight is gone, Starlight replaced her and they are the new mane 6. It is canon if you think about it, it is their new life from this point onward. Super weird.
I really enjoyed all the episodes, always will. But some small changes would have made a big difference, it could have easily been so good and there are so many missed opportunities too.

The school of friendship is a bad idea in any case. Because...if they make Twilight the headmaster (naturally), it is obvious that her 5 friends must be part of it as well. Especially from a company's perspective. So if you invent a school with Twilight as the headmaster, there is no way around it.

I'm glad that the last two seasons exist, I enjoyed them immensely. Without all this in mind, I still enjoyed the new characters, the humor and songs - everything. I never hated it. Again, this is just from logical point of view. It definitely could have been better and it would have been easy. Everything was already there. I don't know what was going on at Hasbro, but I genuinely think that the original crew did have other plans for the last few seasons.

1 hour ago, TomDaBombMLP said:

I remember even on my first ever watchthrough, I naively thought the School was a good idea but even then, I didn’t find the Students interesting. They were so dull, so lifeless and just plain uninteresting. Bit like where G5’s going! 

That's a good comparison. Hasbro's change already started here. I also falsely assumed that Pony Life was just a small thing for inbetween, not a serious addition. But by Celestia, it was! Everything that came afterwards proves it. This always was their actual, serious, new direction ever since. Hasbro's greatness with FiM was really just a one time thing, it's not what they typically do, sadly.

The way you feel about the student 6 is what I feel towards G5 as a whole (without the hate ). I don't like a single character here, they are all boring and uninteresting. MLP lost it's appeal for me since Pony Life, I'm not able to relate to it anymore at all.

1 hour ago, TomDaBombMLP said:

and they sometimes even dumb the Mane Six down to make the Students look good! 

True. They act sometimes like they did in season 1, which makes no sense at all. They already made those experiences, learned from them. Everything was fine in the other seasons, so why do they act completely different all of a sudden? You already said it: It's because of the student 6. The school.