# School During The Coronavirus Lockdown

School During The Coronavirus Lockdown covers a run of jokes that filled Reddit, Twitter and Facebook in March 2020 when schools shut down and classes moved online. Posts about webcam lectures, muted mics and students tricking teachers into closing the video call piled up on r/dankmemes and r/PrequelMemes, with top submissions clearing 40,000 upvotes by mid-March.

## Origin
Documented examples of the format began appearing on March 12th, 2020, the same week most U.S. and European schools announced closures to slow COVID-19. Redditor eelmor1138 uploaded one of the earliest known versions that day to r/PrequelMemes, using a still of General Grievous coughing paired with a caption about students returning from spring break to online classes. The post gathered more than 1,300 upvotes[1].

The exact first meme using the online-class theme has not been identified[4]. Similar jokes appeared on r/dankmemes and r/memes within hours, which made the switch to remote learning one of the first widely memed stories of the early COVID-19 outbreak.

- **Platform:** Reddit / Twitter / Facebook
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2020

## Overview
Posts in the format tend to fall into two camps. Many are image macros or reaction GIFs that pair a familiar character, from a coughing General Grievous[1] to Geralt of Rivia, with text about bad audio, students browsing in bed, or the move to webcam software. A separate batch takes the form of edited class screenshots, with teacher names, chat windows and student webcams played for laughs[3].

Humor in these posts usually works one of two angles. Students joke about enjoying the freedom of logging on from home, while a second thread targets teachers who fight with mute buttons, screen sharing or unfamiliar video calls. One popular variant centers on the ALT+F4 keyboard shortcut, which closes the active window on Windows, with students in an online class egging the instructor on to press it[5].

## How to Use
To make one, people typically take a reaction image or franchise screenshot and layer caption text about an online class situation: a teacher failing to mute, a student still in bed, a webcam showing something embarrassing[3]. ALT+F4 gags, in which the joke is to convince an authority figure to hit the shortcut that closes their window, are a recurring beat[5].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is School During The Coronavirus Lockdown?
A group of memes from March 2020 about the switch to online classes during the COVID-19 outbreak, posted mainly to Reddit, Twitter and Facebook[4].

### Where did School During The Coronavirus Lockdown come from?
The earliest documented example is a March 12th, 2020 r/PrequelMemes post by Redditor eelmor1138 that used a coughing General Grievous still to joke about returning to online class[1].

### What does School During The Coronavirus Lockdown mean?
The memes capture jokes about awkward video-call lectures, teachers struggling with new software, and students enjoying class from home during the spring 2020 lockdowns[3].

### How do you use School During The Coronavirus Lockdown?
People pair a reaction image or franchise character with a caption about an online class problem, like egging a teacher on to press ALT+F4 or showing a student still in bed[5].

### Is School During The Coronavirus Lockdown still popular?
Interest peaked in March 2020 as classes first moved online; r/dankmemes and r/memes submissions gathered tens of thousands of upvotes during that short window[3].

## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/PrequelMemes/comments/fhoyyk/general_grievous_coughing_noises/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/PrequelMemes/comments/fhoyyk/general_grievous_coughing_noises/>)
2. [https://twitter.com/NewtonsThug/status/1239532698517020672](<https://twitter.com/NewtonsThug/status/1239532698517020672>)
3. [https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/fhsn7u/very_interesting_indeed/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/fhsn7u/very_interesting_indeed/>)
4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/school-during-the-coronavirus-lockdown](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/school-during-the-coronavirus-lockdown>)
5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/fk4c1z/we_did_it/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/fk4c1z/we_did_it/>)
6. [https://twitter.com/DesutroyedMe/status/1238110924629737473](<https://twitter.com/DesutroyedMe/status/1238110924629737473>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/school-during-the-coronavirus-lockdown
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