14 Cringe-Worthy School Presentations

From Redditor /u/sbh97:

In college Abnormal Psychology, a student gave a presentation on Obama's bipolar disorder, citing an article from The Onion.

From Redditor /u/otterusingreddit:

Two girls sang "Mr. Bledel" for the 8th-grade talent show. Mr. Bledel was a good-looking, recently college-graduated teacher. The song focused on how cute they thought he was. It felt very uncomfortable. I remember looking at the teacher's face; he did not seem amused.

From a Redditor:

The school often held student performances during assemblies. These usually featured musically skilled students or theater kids doing a scene or monologue. One student performed a standup comedy routine about a girl giving him [oral]. The scene felt awkward, and the principal had to stop him.

From Redditor /u/Mr-Butt-Thanks:

For a college Public Speaking class, a student gave a persuasive speech about pornography.

If he had argued a real point, like "sex work is real work" or "porn has a negative effect on a person's self-image," the speech would have worked. We were all grown adults. Instead, he listed the types of porn he liked in detail, using visual aids.

The professor stopped him after a few minutes. He asked him to explain what he wanted the audience to believe. He answered, "Porn is good."

From Redditor /u/hayeday:

This was not a presentation. In high school, students who helped plan homecoming announced the court nominations during an assembly. The event always had a cute theme and a short skit. The audio cue for the skit failed. They paused for technical issues. A girl from the planning committee then started singing a random Disney song a cappella while improvising a dance. This happened as a distraction while they fixed the audio.

She tried to get others to join her, but no one did. She stopped singing mid-song and pouted because no one would sing with her. After they fixed the audio for the skit, she pouted again and snapped through the rest of her lines, making everything more uncomfortable.

From Redditor /u/velcromidway:

My sophomore year, I spoke in public. We gave our first speech to the class. A large boy stood before the class. He gave a five-minute speech about his football position and why linebackers matter. He stood next to the lectern. About thirty seconds into his speech, he grabbed his groin. He kept pulling and adjusting it in his jeans. A teacher had to stop him after about a minute and a half. She stopped him because another student called him out. She then taught the class how to hide nervousness and keep hands busy in appropriate ways.

From Redditor /u/krysty702:

In Speech 101, college required picking a children's book and voicing every character. That finished the assignment.

One student took it further. He chose a Berenstain Bear book. He acted out the voice acting for every character, not just voiced them.

Watching this guy scramble around pretending to be bears and animals felt physically uncomfortable. It was poor work. It was awful.

From Redditor /u/Tacon*ps:

I was not at school. In high school, my church youth group went to a church camp. Thursday nights usually felt emotional. This camp was different. Thursday night, the camp starter got on stage and gave middle and high school boys and girls sex talk. I only recall this quote: “Just because there’s a hole there doesn’t mean you have to stick something in it!”

From Redditor /u/whatnameisnttaken098:

We expected Arnold Schwarzenegger to visit our school around 1999 or 2000. The principal hyped it up for weeks. Then, four days before his arrival, Friday announced he was not coming. Monday morning announcements then announced he changed his mind and would come to our school tomorrow as planned.

Tuesday morning, everyone was excited. We were hyped to meet The Terminator. A few parents even brought VHS copies of his movies and posters. Everyone went to the gym or auditorium, taking seats.

The principal took the stage to make announcements, award honor roll, perfect attendance, etc. Finally, she hyped up Schwarzenegger. Everyone got excited and tense. She said, "Here's Arnie," and...

The vice principal, wearing a leather jacket, held a shotgun (not a toy) and spent thirty to forty minutes hyping us up for FCAT. During this time, he gave the worst impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger I have ever heard.

Once we saw Arnold wasn't there, people shouted and screamed at the principal for lying. Some parents who came also shouted.

I hope someone has video of this meltdown. K-5 kids shouted and screamed at the principals because Arnold Schwarzenegger did not come to our school. I clearly remember two or three people had camcorders.

Arnold was scheduled but canceled last minute for both my school and my cousins' school on Wednesday. Instead, he only went to one school in my city (I don't recall which one now, but I will add it if I remember it).

The principals apologized the next day. The vice principal changed schools the following school year.

I have no idea why he thought bringing a shotgun was a good idea. I think he tried to look the part, but his large gut did not help.

Redditor /u/razorchick12:

In college, I sat on the end of the “U” shaped desks in my Spanish class.

A guy gave a presentation from behind a podium. He got hard. I stood on the side; no one faced him, so I could see. He kept going and going. He seemed to try and last longer. He finished before he had to sit down. The presentation took ten minutes, needing only three.

Edit: The presentation was in Spanish too.

From a Redditor:

I attended a private Christian school for 9th and 10th grade. We held weekly chapels, like normal assemblies but they began with a prayer and gospel songs. One day, we learned there would be a special chapel with a guest speaker. Usually, a pastor gave a sermon instead of a normal assembly, but we were surprised to see a well-known, liked senior student speaking. The principal introduced him, we clapped, and he began talking. I did not know it, but a major moment of my youth was about to happen.

“Hey guys, I’m really proud to speak to you about something personal that affects many of you, but most people do not talk about it.”

My thought: What is it? Drugs? Mental health?

He said: “I will explain this by sharing my own experience. I will tell you how it can affect you, and then you can break into discussion groups; the teachers will give you material to discuss” (The discussion groups after chapel were standard).

My thought: Damn. I dislike those discussion groups. I hope this topic is interesting and easy to discuss. This will be, since he is one of the most popular students, and they never let students speak in chapel.

He said: “The truth is, although you only see the best of me here, I have struggled with something deep inside for a long time. It brought me shame. But I finally found the strength to talk about it. For the last few years, I have been addicted—”

My thought: This kid? An addiction? No way. He is such a good guy.

He said: “I have been addicted to porn and [self-pleasure]”

Hearing that from a 15-year-old shocked me. That statement felt totally unlike anything he expected. It took me ten seconds to grasp what that boy actually said in front of his entire Christian school. Then, he delivered a twenty-minute speech about his fight to stop jerking and the shame it brought him before the lord. This was not a prank. The kid was serious; his speech nearly brought him to tears. The school planned this event. They knew the topic; they had discussion questions ready. I wish I could have watched the conversation between that kid and the headmaster that sparked that chapel session.

Holding back laughter during his speech was the second hardest thing I did. You get suspended for laughing during chapel. Keeping it together in the discussion groups was the first challenge. They separated boys and girls for the discussion. Still, we convinced the old biology teacher that we, 14-to-16-year-old boys, were going to touch ourselves with Jesus’ blood.

Redditor /u/partofbreakfast:

It's me. I did this. I cringe about it now, nearly 20 years later.

I was sixteen, in high school. My high school planned a spring talent show. I wanted to perform in it.the talent showI wanted to show off my talents. My actual talents did not fit a talent show. So, I decided to try singing.

I have never sung. I never had voice lessons.

I was in my prime weeb stage. I chose an anime song to sing. I did not know Japanese. I just memorized the lyrics from hearing the song many times.

I did not pass auditions. However, several people saw an overweight girl in a Sailor Moon shirt try to sing 'Butterfly.' She had never sung or had voice training.

Nearly 20 years later, remembering this keeps me awake at night.

Redditor /u/Aquaticfilly0:

Psychology class. Our final required a research and presentation on a mental illness. One group picked necrophilia. They started the first slide saying 'lets crack open a cold one'.

Redditor /u/Veritas3333:

The girl who gave the Valedictorian speech at my high school graduation finished with, "What's cooler than being cool? ICE COLD!"