DEEP DIVE

What if we all skipped school on December 2nd? Haha just kidding…unless… Teenagers on TikTok have been posting and dueting videos that propose that others join them in skipping school on December 2, 2019. These videos began appearing in late October. The hashtag #2December has received over 2.2 million views on the app and #December2 has received over 530,000 views.

The format of these videos is straightforward: someone points to text urging viewers to skip school on December 2nd while a jaunty tune: a clip from Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” plays in the background. For whatever reason, the cold face emoji: 🥶 is often included after the date.

Unlike Greta Thunberg’s climate strikes, this skip day hasn’t been proposed for a specific reason other than being a general prank and excuse to cut school. Perhaps the makers of these videos suffering from senioritis, or they’re chasing clout, hoping to build up the kind of momentum that made the Area 51 raid go viral. Whether teachers, school administrators, and parents should be concerned about kids skipping school en masse on the 2nd remains unclear.

While the scope of this meme has been relatively narrow so far, there is a Change.org petition titled “Skip school December 2” with 10 signatures and an Urban Dictionary entry declaring that December 2nd is “National Skip School Day.”