In the american scholastic context, tool is primararily a derogatory term for overachievers, bookworms, what have you. It suggests a certain social nonfunctionality to working hard. The word is sometimes knowingly self-applied or used as a verb.
Really, tool as insult is more common in many scholastic environments than tool in the sense of "power tools".
That said, I think the name doesn't matter that much. It's for teachers, not students.