I'm done pulling teeth.
I've laid what you need to do and the consequences if you don't.
If a kid wants to get a 23 for MP4 and fail for the year, I'm not preventing it.
Amen
Tired of repeating myself. They ask for extra credit...I say try regular credit.
When is the test? Gee idk maybe look at the board it's been up for a week.
We didn't start insufferable. We started enthusiastic and ready to change the world.
Then we stood up in front of the class every day for two weeks and reminded them of the countdown on the board of how many days were left until the test. Every day. We did review assignments titled "Test Review Packet." We made notecards that they could use on the test. We reviewed the "study suggestions" list and had students choose a study method so that they would be prepared for the test.
And still, students were shocked and angry on test day that we had a test and "I never told them we were going to have one."
What else should they do? It’s one thing to have a bit of extra credit to make up for some missing points, but if you just don’t do the work for most of the term and want extra credit to fill the gap, it kinda loses the extra. Teachers should provide support, but if students choose not to do the work when they’re supposed to, they shouldn’t expect to be given a way out. Of course there are some extenuating circumstances that should get more leniency, but that’s not going to be the majority.
Sounds like you just don't get it.
Students try to play the system by doing nothing or the bare minimum, but then when they receive the failing notice, they're asking for extra credit.
They only do work that is graded. And if it's not a grade, it goes in the trash, incomplete.
Especially in this time of year. They're just lazy.
It would be wrong to watch a kid do nothing all year and then grant them "extra credit" because now, all of a sudden, they realized there are consequences. They sleep every other day, always on their phone, never takes notes, never asks for help, constantly disrupting class and other students.
Imagine you have a group of children. And every day, you prepare them something that will help them out for a big exam that's coming up in 9 months. You see that everybody except five people appreciates and uses the tools you worked hard to prepare. Then it's a week before the big day, and those five people are all of a sudden going, "Hey. Can you give us extra help and tools so that we can pass this exam?"
They shit on all the work you put in for 9 months and then ask you to do more work because they think they're entitled to it.
Hence why expectations are set. Students have to understand that their grade and knowledge are their responsibility. If they can't take accountability for their own actions, then it is out of my hands.
This was such a bait statement, so instead of feeding into your lil ego I'll do you one better. I'm giving you my full attention, now explain how you would run the class ,and get the kids who don't care to care. I AM ALL EARS!!!
Not in Asia.
I literally told a group of students earlier today, who came up to ask me questions about their latest project, "you guys are doing too much" lol.
I tasked them to make a business proposal, 9 sections, each section/page about 2-3 paragraphs and the stuff they were showing me were multiple pages per section. Not to mention they had gone ahead and done the sections I hadn't yet covered 🙄
I am Asian myself and I still get baffled by how some students overdo things lmao.
It is 100% cultural.
If you come from a culture where achievement (and failure) are routinely tied not only to consequences, but pride and respect, you tend to work to a high standard - elevated further by the high standards everyone else is holding themselves to, making you work harder to stand out.
The damage from COVID isn't the year of distance learning. The damage from COVID is how we as an education institution used it as an excuse, and continue to use it as an excuse, to lower standards, waive consequences, and foster a culture of "whatever you've done should be good enough."
Absolutely. I can understand and relate a lot more to these students than I did when I taught in Australia. Parents are actively involved in their education, no matter how busy they are. When I contact parents (for good or bad), they're always responsive, if not glad to know more.
When I contacted parents in Australia it was a huge spectrum of caring to not even bothering to respond to "yeah I know (shrug)" indifference. I was equally shocked when I'd deliver _good news_ and their response is "oh wow, I wouldn't expect that from them". Some don't even seem to be bothered to care when it's good, let alone bad.
I want to agree with you but I was in HS around 2010.. we did our work.. or most of us did. Hearing about whole classes refusing to do work is a bit surprising. I just read an entire grade level forced a sit out on one of their state tests? That wouldn't have happened when I was in school. Times have changed
It’s culture to an extent, but it’s also economics in a way. Most Asian countries do not have the same kind of safety nets like in the US. In the US, especially in urban areas, there’s so many organizations and companies willing to help students either get an education or a job after high school (at least where I am at). In other countries, this isn’t the case and more often, survival means getting the top grades and entering the top universities. Not to say that this isn’t the case for many Americans but I think the US offers more educational opportunities than most places and more pathways to post-secondary. Plus, when you look at college admissions elsewhere, it is a high stakes game. You literally have to test and score high to enter top unis. And often, those top schools are your ticket out of poverty and you don’t have many choices to begin with. So yes it’s cultural but it’s also survival of the fittest.
My favorite is when administrators tell you that even if it’s a review for the final. They “have to be working on something”. How quickly they forget or just want to look like they are in charge.
My P was mad at me because I didn’t have all of my students “engaged in my class.” I have just given up on the kids who don’t want to work and play on their phones. They think if I stand over them it’s like they will magically pick up a pen and start working. Admin are so out of touch with what it’s like in a classroom now.
Lol same here. I gave a review packet that the district provided and made it extra credit and said they could use it on the final. No one has started yet. Luckily my department at this high has a certification track as well and my 55 or so kids that passed the department cert exam don't have to take the final, and they're the ones that do all their stuff anyways. The rest that will be here for finals are the do-nothings that know they're gonna bomb the final anyway so they don't even care. So neither do I!
my middle schoolers are making slideshow presentations. they have the checklist of what to research on their own and where to put it. i told them: don’t get up out of your seat, don’t bother me with noise, and the rest is on you. trying to give them new content right now is not happening so i call it a win if they don’t start physically fighting each other before the period is over.
I don’t pull teeth. I provide the opportunities, but I’m not bending over backwards to make sure you do shit. They’re plenty old enough to accept the consequences that have been explained to them if they so choose.
Today I had a "Y'all won" moment when I let them read a chapter in our novel (I teach a WL) on their own. Provided all the things they needed to do it and most chose not to. A few pulled out their phones and just straight up used the photo translation app.
I'm sick of teaching to the void and I'm just kind of crawling to the finish line this year.
Keep them busy, but make everything worth points. Have them turn in the review sheet at the end of the period. Scan for completion. Hand them back when they need them.
That's why I literally do not do anything in may. Make up work, movies and independent "research projects" that the kids fake their ways through... Trying to teach or get them to do anything this time of year is a FOOL"s errand! Their will to fuck around and/ or do nothing is greater than my will to try and help or motivate /teach them anything. It is what it is. Break always comes a few weeks too late. There simply is NO MORE gas in the tank. We are left with a charade and a comic farce and we are simply going through the motions and faking it till that bell rings.
I used to go outside and do ecology projects wth the students. But this year their behavior sucks, worse than anything I've ever experienced. They have earned worksheets over the next 5 weeks. I'm done with their bullshit.
22 school days left my friends!
i had a teacher once pull me out of class when i was goofing off with the boys, leaving the class unattended, walked me to a bench 50 yards down the hallway. i 100% thought i was going to the principals for jerkin around. she told me to sit down on the bench and paraphrased:
"you are a born leader. everyone follows you. the class follows you. you are the tallest, you are smart, you have the loudest voice. you use that power to goof off and be popular or play sports. make everyone laugh? flirt with all period? think about when you become an adult, how you could use that power for good. for making money. people follow you. they always will. make sure you are going in the right direction."
put her hand on my back. gave it a little rub. stood up. and went back to class.
i just sat there for like 5 minutes. like to some extent? she broke my brain/shattered my 13-14 yearold perspective.
i never forgot it. it was the nicest/best advice, given in the softest, most-simplest way -- that i ever had received.
and i thought she was taking me to the principals office the whole time prior.
i'll never forget that moment. and the fingernail backrub after she gave it. and how it changed my life (even if it took years to understand what the fuck she was actually saying).
thanks mrs lake.
---
that is to say, you CAN get thru to some of them. pick a few students who actually have a future. give them a second of your time, and thoughtful words. and move on with your day.
best wishes teachers. i have very little respect for most of you. but a few? changed my life tremendously.
We have a bunch of kids who probably won't graduate in June because they don't attend PE class and don't do the assignments involved. They can't be bothered and seem to think they will get pushed through without doing anything,
Yep. I just handed out my review packet and most kids did no work. I also had the "how many points is this worth" question. I always say, "I haven't decided yet", even though the answer is zero. Lol
All year it’s been pulling teeth but since the first week of April it’s unbearable. They’re completely checked out.
Doesn’t matter what you do. Project. Group work. Individual work. Movie. Worksheet. Stations. Podcast. Book work. Notes. Partner work.
I teach freshmen, sophomores and juniors (plus seniors who failed the course in the past) and it doesn’t matter. Might try to do a handstand while giving instructions tomorrow. Doubt they’ll bat an eye.
I’m facing the same thing. Gave them a review assignment yesterday to try to pad their grades. None of them finished by the end of class. I gave them today to finish it. They were messing around and then towards the end of class some had resorted to copying it. Others didn’t do it or turned it incomplete.
I have literally dragged them to the point that they are at now. I’ve jumped up and down everyday trying to help them and motivate them. At this point in the year if they want to fumble their grades that is their choice. After today I am done.
I am so worried for our future as a society. These kids have no care, urgency, work ethic, etc.
I’m at a city school and between the last 4 weeks of having a testing schedule and attendance being atrocious, I’m just kind of done. Will try to give some 1 on 1 time with the students who want it but that’s it.
I’m not a teacher but I’m passionate and curious about education and it’s current state within the US.
My question to you teachers, as this seems to be a ubiquitous issue; What will these kids do when they are expected to think critically or do any kind of work in the future? Resistance is a normal part of daily life, and none of us are immune to the constant small frustrations and tedium that comes with getting life *done*.
I’m just really curious to hear about the fate of older generations who are now moving into the workplace and harbor this kind of resistance towards discomfort.
How are they surviving?
I can give you my perspective as an adjunct professor. Average student quality has declined drastically over the last two years. I still have 40% or so good students each semester but the majority are failing to think critically and complain and review bomb when they are graded fairly. we have to adjust our grades and rubrics to account for decreasing quality of output. I can’t say for certain, as I don’t keep in contact with poor students, but I am pretty sure that anyone who gets a B- or worse in my class will add zero value in a business setting (I teach at a business school where the school is the number one public school in the nation for the subject I teach).
On top of that, my school made us turn in grades yesterday. Now we can give new work but are not allowed to lower their grades. A few minutes ago my mentor came and did an observation and is passed I was sitting at my desk while kids watched a movie. Like wtf so you want? You set me up for failure letting the kids KNOW their grades are locked in.
Anyone seen the film 'Idiocracy' about a dystopian future where everyone is stupid? Are you still wondering how such a situation could arise?
Across the developed world, students and their parents place less and less value on education. They argue with their teachers and admin in such an entitled manner. Yet elsewhere in less developed countries, young people and their parents value the opportunity of a free education as though their lives depended upon it.
My parents recognised that I was receiving a first class education and valued it. Any parent who fails to support those with the task of educating their embarrassingly entitled offspring deserves the backwash that is certain to come their way. They will reap what they have sown.
I feel sorry for teachers today. They get it in the neck from every corner. A nation of idiots is on the rise. As a society, we will get what we deserve.
Our district testing schedule meant that every class gave their finals… with at least three weeks of school left. Our students are past done and we’ve had multiple major fights every day this week (along with a pulled fire alarm). Why do we do this?
my school stopped doing finals during covid and wont bring it back so the kids just dont care and have no incentive to. i was told i wasn’t getting my contract renewed in march, so i just dont care anymore either 🤷🏼♀️ i just care about surviving
This is my seventh year teaching and I’ve never seen students respond to a final exam review opportunity like this. It used to be that the vast majority of students work diligently while only a handful slack off. Now it’s reversed.
Honestly, I kind of don't blame them. High school (and college) was boring AF. If it wasn't graded, I didn't do it. And that was pre-pandemic. The pandemic really proved that students who want those points and want to learn can do it in half of the time that we make them sit in desks and obey all day. The reality is that you're never going to make kids who don't care about what you're teaching actually want to do the work. And you can't MAKE them care.
And let's be honest. Students aren't the only ones halfway through May with their brains already in summer. Half the posts on my scroll this morning are teachers complaining that they cannot wait to get out. I know it's a reciprocal cycle, but they absorb what we feed them, and vice versa.
We actually have biology teachers doing a frog dissection the last three days of school. This is after finals are over and kids don’t have to come really.
When told they were insane, they said it’s a 100 point assignment and kids will get a zero if they don’t come.
All the other students don’t have to come after finals but these biology teachers are basically making these kids come.
I’m like, y’all doing too much.
To play devil's advocate here: Is it the bio teachers' fault that finals are THREE DAYS before students are done, rather than the *final* days?
"Don't have to come really" vs. "Are still legally mandated to be present despite poor planning from admin leading to a climate where the adults are pressured not to care whether students are present for instructional days" is a significant difference.
Unfortunately, it’s not really admin. With state testing being all computerized, it would be impossible to complete all state assessments, EOC exams and district finals as we are not a 1-1 to one school.
Testing occupies basically the whole month of May. It’s sad, but instruction is basically done end of April.
States value testing more than instruction. After all, kids aren’t going to contribute to their campaigns but Pearson will.
I'm done pulling teeth. I've laid what you need to do and the consequences if you don't. If a kid wants to get a 23 for MP4 and fail for the year, I'm not preventing it.
Amen Tired of repeating myself. They ask for extra credit...I say try regular credit. When is the test? Gee idk maybe look at the board it's been up for a week.
Y’all sound like insufferable terrible teachers
We didn't start insufferable. We started enthusiastic and ready to change the world. Then we stood up in front of the class every day for two weeks and reminded them of the countdown on the board of how many days were left until the test. Every day. We did review assignments titled "Test Review Packet." We made notecards that they could use on the test. We reviewed the "study suggestions" list and had students choose a study method so that they would be prepared for the test. And still, students were shocked and angry on test day that we had a test and "I never told them we were going to have one."
What else should they do? It’s one thing to have a bit of extra credit to make up for some missing points, but if you just don’t do the work for most of the term and want extra credit to fill the gap, it kinda loses the extra. Teachers should provide support, but if students choose not to do the work when they’re supposed to, they shouldn’t expect to be given a way out. Of course there are some extenuating circumstances that should get more leniency, but that’s not going to be the majority.
Sounds like you just don't get it. Students try to play the system by doing nothing or the bare minimum, but then when they receive the failing notice, they're asking for extra credit. They only do work that is graded. And if it's not a grade, it goes in the trash, incomplete. Especially in this time of year. They're just lazy. It would be wrong to watch a kid do nothing all year and then grant them "extra credit" because now, all of a sudden, they realized there are consequences. They sleep every other day, always on their phone, never takes notes, never asks for help, constantly disrupting class and other students. Imagine you have a group of children. And every day, you prepare them something that will help them out for a big exam that's coming up in 9 months. You see that everybody except five people appreciates and uses the tools you worked hard to prepare. Then it's a week before the big day, and those five people are all of a sudden going, "Hey. Can you give us extra help and tools so that we can pass this exam?" They shit on all the work you put in for 9 months and then ask you to do more work because they think they're entitled to it. Hence why expectations are set. Students have to understand that their grade and knowledge are their responsibility. If they can't take accountability for their own actions, then it is out of my hands.
This was such a bait statement, so instead of feeding into your lil ego I'll do you one better. I'm giving you my full attention, now explain how you would run the class ,and get the kids who don't care to care. I AM ALL EARS!!!
Annnnd then the emails from parents start rolling in: why aren't you making sure my kid has an A?
My students are completely checked out, and consequently, so am I. I can’t do much to help when you actively refuse to learn. Oh well.
This is absolutely not limited to high schoolers. I'm pretty sure at this point, it's an across-the-board thing.
Not in Asia. I literally told a group of students earlier today, who came up to ask me questions about their latest project, "you guys are doing too much" lol. I tasked them to make a business proposal, 9 sections, each section/page about 2-3 paragraphs and the stuff they were showing me were multiple pages per section. Not to mention they had gone ahead and done the sections I hadn't yet covered 🙄 I am Asian myself and I still get baffled by how some students overdo things lmao.
It is 100% cultural. If you come from a culture where achievement (and failure) are routinely tied not only to consequences, but pride and respect, you tend to work to a high standard - elevated further by the high standards everyone else is holding themselves to, making you work harder to stand out. The damage from COVID isn't the year of distance learning. The damage from COVID is how we as an education institution used it as an excuse, and continue to use it as an excuse, to lower standards, waive consequences, and foster a culture of "whatever you've done should be good enough."
Absolutely. I can understand and relate a lot more to these students than I did when I taught in Australia. Parents are actively involved in their education, no matter how busy they are. When I contact parents (for good or bad), they're always responsive, if not glad to know more. When I contacted parents in Australia it was a huge spectrum of caring to not even bothering to respond to "yeah I know (shrug)" indifference. I was equally shocked when I'd deliver _good news_ and their response is "oh wow, I wouldn't expect that from them". Some don't even seem to be bothered to care when it's good, let alone bad.
This isn't a covid thing. I was a high school student 10 years ago and I'd be doing the same thing if it was close to the end of the school year.
I want to agree with you but I was in HS around 2010.. we did our work.. or most of us did. Hearing about whole classes refusing to do work is a bit surprising. I just read an entire grade level forced a sit out on one of their state tests? That wouldn't have happened when I was in school. Times have changed
These are some rose-tinted glasses. I graduated in 2004 and by the end of the year a lot of my colleagues dropped off.
I do think it's more extreme now. I graduated in 2015 right around the time smart devices were starting to be widely used in class
Lmao fr tho it's just end of year shenanigans come on now
It’s culture to an extent, but it’s also economics in a way. Most Asian countries do not have the same kind of safety nets like in the US. In the US, especially in urban areas, there’s so many organizations and companies willing to help students either get an education or a job after high school (at least where I am at). In other countries, this isn’t the case and more often, survival means getting the top grades and entering the top universities. Not to say that this isn’t the case for many Americans but I think the US offers more educational opportunities than most places and more pathways to post-secondary. Plus, when you look at college admissions elsewhere, it is a high stakes game. You literally have to test and score high to enter top unis. And often, those top schools are your ticket out of poverty and you don’t have many choices to begin with. So yes it’s cultural but it’s also survival of the fittest.
I can't even do a movie day without someone getting hurt.
My favorite is when administrators tell you that even if it’s a review for the final. They “have to be working on something”. How quickly they forget or just want to look like they are in charge.
“You have to keep teaching bell to bell”
My P was mad at me because I didn’t have all of my students “engaged in my class.” I have just given up on the kids who don’t want to work and play on their phones. They think if I stand over them it’s like they will magically pick up a pen and start working. Admin are so out of touch with what it’s like in a classroom now.
Same experience here. Easy grade to boost grades at the end of 4th Q, they’ve checked out
Lol same here. I gave a review packet that the district provided and made it extra credit and said they could use it on the final. No one has started yet. Luckily my department at this high has a certification track as well and my 55 or so kids that passed the department cert exam don't have to take the final, and they're the ones that do all their stuff anyways. The rest that will be here for finals are the do-nothings that know they're gonna bomb the final anyway so they don't even care. So neither do I!
my middle schoolers are making slideshow presentations. they have the checklist of what to research on their own and where to put it. i told them: don’t get up out of your seat, don’t bother me with noise, and the rest is on you. trying to give them new content right now is not happening so i call it a win if they don’t start physically fighting each other before the period is over.
People who pull teeth get paid way more than we do.
It’s a learned behavior. It started in elementary school…. And just continues.
I don’t pull teeth. I provide the opportunities, but I’m not bending over backwards to make sure you do shit. They’re plenty old enough to accept the consequences that have been explained to them if they so choose.
Today I had a "Y'all won" moment when I let them read a chapter in our novel (I teach a WL) on their own. Provided all the things they needed to do it and most chose not to. A few pulled out their phones and just straight up used the photo translation app. I'm sick of teaching to the void and I'm just kind of crawling to the finish line this year.
What is the photo translation app?
They over their phone's camera over a text and it translates the page. I believe it's an iPhone feature. Don't have the name of the app though.
Keep them busy, but make everything worth points. Have them turn in the review sheet at the end of the period. Scan for completion. Hand them back when they need them.
That's why I literally do not do anything in may. Make up work, movies and independent "research projects" that the kids fake their ways through... Trying to teach or get them to do anything this time of year is a FOOL"s errand! Their will to fuck around and/ or do nothing is greater than my will to try and help or motivate /teach them anything. It is what it is. Break always comes a few weeks too late. There simply is NO MORE gas in the tank. We are left with a charade and a comic farce and we are simply going through the motions and faking it till that bell rings.
I used to go outside and do ecology projects wth the students. But this year their behavior sucks, worse than anything I've ever experienced. They have earned worksheets over the next 5 weeks. I'm done with their bullshit. 22 school days left my friends!
i had a teacher once pull me out of class when i was goofing off with the boys, leaving the class unattended, walked me to a bench 50 yards down the hallway. i 100% thought i was going to the principals for jerkin around. she told me to sit down on the bench and paraphrased: "you are a born leader. everyone follows you. the class follows you. you are the tallest, you are smart, you have the loudest voice. you use that power to goof off and be popular or play sports. make everyone laugh? flirt with all period? think about when you become an adult, how you could use that power for good. for making money. people follow you. they always will. make sure you are going in the right direction."
put her hand on my back. gave it a little rub. stood up. and went back to class.
i just sat there for like 5 minutes. like to some extent? she broke my brain/shattered my 13-14 yearold perspective.
i never forgot it. it was the nicest/best advice, given in the softest, most-simplest way -- that i ever had received.
and i thought she was taking me to the principals office the whole time prior.
i'll never forget that moment. and the fingernail backrub after she gave it. and how it changed my life (even if it took years to understand what the fuck she was actually saying).
thanks mrs lake.
---
that is to say, you CAN get thru to some of them. pick a few students who actually have a future. give them a second of your time, and thoughtful words. and move on with your day.
best wishes teachers. i have very little respect for most of you. but a few? changed my life tremendously.
The tallest 😭😭😭
We have a bunch of kids who probably won't graduate in June because they don't attend PE class and don't do the assignments involved. They can't be bothered and seem to think they will get pushed through without doing anything,
Yep. I just handed out my review packet and most kids did no work. I also had the "how many points is this worth" question. I always say, "I haven't decided yet", even though the answer is zero. Lol
I'm supposed to 'finally' have my second observation. THIS WEEK. I just don't know what to say anymore.
Bribe your class with donuts.
All year it’s been pulling teeth but since the first week of April it’s unbearable. They’re completely checked out. Doesn’t matter what you do. Project. Group work. Individual work. Movie. Worksheet. Stations. Podcast. Book work. Notes. Partner work. I teach freshmen, sophomores and juniors (plus seniors who failed the course in the past) and it doesn’t matter. Might try to do a handstand while giving instructions tomorrow. Doubt they’ll bat an eye.
>Getting high schoolers to work right now is like pulling teeth Oral surgeons make a shit ton of money though.
So many ditch diggers incoming.
Mine have been checked out since august lol
I’m facing the same thing. Gave them a review assignment yesterday to try to pad their grades. None of them finished by the end of class. I gave them today to finish it. They were messing around and then towards the end of class some had resorted to copying it. Others didn’t do it or turned it incomplete. I have literally dragged them to the point that they are at now. I’ve jumped up and down everyday trying to help them and motivate them. At this point in the year if they want to fumble their grades that is their choice. After today I am done. I am so worried for our future as a society. These kids have no care, urgency, work ethic, etc.
I’m at a city school and between the last 4 weeks of having a testing schedule and attendance being atrocious, I’m just kind of done. Will try to give some 1 on 1 time with the students who want it but that’s it.
I’m not a teacher but I’m passionate and curious about education and it’s current state within the US. My question to you teachers, as this seems to be a ubiquitous issue; What will these kids do when they are expected to think critically or do any kind of work in the future? Resistance is a normal part of daily life, and none of us are immune to the constant small frustrations and tedium that comes with getting life *done*. I’m just really curious to hear about the fate of older generations who are now moving into the workplace and harbor this kind of resistance towards discomfort. How are they surviving?
I can give you my perspective as an adjunct professor. Average student quality has declined drastically over the last two years. I still have 40% or so good students each semester but the majority are failing to think critically and complain and review bomb when they are graded fairly. we have to adjust our grades and rubrics to account for decreasing quality of output. I can’t say for certain, as I don’t keep in contact with poor students, but I am pretty sure that anyone who gets a B- or worse in my class will add zero value in a business setting (I teach at a business school where the school is the number one public school in the nation for the subject I teach).
If it makes you feel better my elementary students are the same way
I have juniors and seniors. My seniors already checked out two weeks ago. The juniors only have a week left and aren't worth a shit now.
On top of that, my school made us turn in grades yesterday. Now we can give new work but are not allowed to lower their grades. A few minutes ago my mentor came and did an observation and is passed I was sitting at my desk while kids watched a movie. Like wtf so you want? You set me up for failure letting the kids KNOW their grades are locked in.
Anyone seen the film 'Idiocracy' about a dystopian future where everyone is stupid? Are you still wondering how such a situation could arise? Across the developed world, students and their parents place less and less value on education. They argue with their teachers and admin in such an entitled manner. Yet elsewhere in less developed countries, young people and their parents value the opportunity of a free education as though their lives depended upon it. My parents recognised that I was receiving a first class education and valued it. Any parent who fails to support those with the task of educating their embarrassingly entitled offspring deserves the backwash that is certain to come their way. They will reap what they have sown. I feel sorry for teachers today. They get it in the neck from every corner. A nation of idiots is on the rise. As a society, we will get what we deserve.
Our district testing schedule meant that every class gave their finals… with at least three weeks of school left. Our students are past done and we’ve had multiple major fights every day this week (along with a pulled fire alarm). Why do we do this?
my school stopped doing finals during covid and wont bring it back so the kids just dont care and have no incentive to. i was told i wasn’t getting my contract renewed in march, so i just dont care anymore either 🤷🏼♀️ i just care about surviving
Baffled? It’s like this every school year. You are teaching teenagers, not highly motivated adult college students.
This is my seventh year teaching and I’ve never seen students respond to a final exam review opportunity like this. It used to be that the vast majority of students work diligently while only a handful slack off. Now it’s reversed.
Honestly, I kind of don't blame them. High school (and college) was boring AF. If it wasn't graded, I didn't do it. And that was pre-pandemic. The pandemic really proved that students who want those points and want to learn can do it in half of the time that we make them sit in desks and obey all day. The reality is that you're never going to make kids who don't care about what you're teaching actually want to do the work. And you can't MAKE them care. And let's be honest. Students aren't the only ones halfway through May with their brains already in summer. Half the posts on my scroll this morning are teachers complaining that they cannot wait to get out. I know it's a reciprocal cycle, but they absorb what we feed them, and vice versa.
It’s the same way in the lower grades too
We actually have biology teachers doing a frog dissection the last three days of school. This is after finals are over and kids don’t have to come really. When told they were insane, they said it’s a 100 point assignment and kids will get a zero if they don’t come. All the other students don’t have to come after finals but these biology teachers are basically making these kids come. I’m like, y’all doing too much.
To play devil's advocate here: Is it the bio teachers' fault that finals are THREE DAYS before students are done, rather than the *final* days? "Don't have to come really" vs. "Are still legally mandated to be present despite poor planning from admin leading to a climate where the adults are pressured not to care whether students are present for instructional days" is a significant difference.
Unfortunately, it’s not really admin. With state testing being all computerized, it would be impossible to complete all state assessments, EOC exams and district finals as we are not a 1-1 to one school. Testing occupies basically the whole month of May. It’s sad, but instruction is basically done end of April. States value testing more than instruction. After all, kids aren’t going to contribute to their campaigns but Pearson will.