Student apathy.
It's easy to blame technology, but is that the real issue?
I recently saw a video of a professor lamenting his students’ lack of interest in his class. When he meets with students for a specific and targeted purpose for which they have, in effect, raised their hands, they are engaged. I’m guessing it is because they are engaged because they want to learn in that situation.
Over 20 years ago I was part of an adult degree completion program. Adults who had had to interrupt their education and wanted to finish their bachelor’s degree had various pathways to complete their degree. For the most part, the adults completed their work in a timely fashion. This was before so much technology was available, so they would meet 1:1 with a mentor professor, but they controlled their progress. Although the program had “infinity” students—those who might never finish—most of the adults were engaged because they wanted to complete that degree. Even the non-majors courses were tackled with intention.
There have been a number of articles about student apathy, student disinterest, the lack of intellectual curiosity, and the general attitude of putting up with class and whatever students might be asked to do. For some students, only the threat of a bad grade is a motivation.
Learning is an accidental byproduct.
There are plenty of educators who have noted the following:
students cannot or will not read even 20 pages for a class assignment; actually I’ve struggled to get college students to read 7 pages
students expect to be able to resubmit work for a better grade after the professor has told them what to do to improve it
students simply do not listen, even if they are not glued to their devices, and if they do listen, they do not write down information or retain it in any way
rather than take notes, or listen, students take pictures of whatever is on the screen although it seems rare that they revisit those pictures
Certainly students’ deep and profound relationship with their screens is problematic. Students do seem to have an inability to “read the room,” but they often seem not to care to do so, regardless of their age.
Educators at all grade levels—kindergarten through college—and in all demographics—rural, suburban, urban, private, public, well-to-do, and underfunded—have noted that students are less socially aware, have less empathy, and struggle to communicate.
Notice how often your students are not able to look you in the eyes when they talk with you, how they look all around the room with an occasional glance in your direction.
The writers of many of these articles report that “the experts,” whoever those people might be, suggest reducing screen time, reading books with students, and listening to stories together. And that might be all well and good for students in younger grades but parents/guardians have to be in agreement with that approach and support it at home, which isn’t always possible and for so many reasons.
We can blame technology, Common Core, No Child Left Behind, Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), and the Department of Education. We can blame SEL and any other combination of letters. But there are some compelling facts to consider.
The CDC reported in 2018-2019, so before the pandemic, that 13% of students ages 3 to 17 had a “current, diagnosed mental or behavioral health problem.”
The CDC also reported that, based on data from 2021-2022, 61% of children ages 6 to 17 “exhibit all of 3 indicators of flourishing” which meant they usually or always showed interest and curiosity in learning new things (83%), usually or always stayed calm and in control when faced with a challenge (72%), and usually or always worked to finish tasks they started (81%).
Are there issues? Yes. Are they as dire as some suggest? Maybe not. Does it feel worse or harder or more difficult because educators are exhausted? Possibly.
I had a terrible weekend as I thought about the last few weeks of the semester, especially for the gen ed literature courses all students have to take before they graduate. That description explains a lot. I was so defeated by their unwillingness to say a word in class, but their apparent lack of willingness to do any or most of the reading.
Then I started doing some grading I had been dreading. I mean, dreading. Of the 19 papers responses turned in, 7 gave thoughtful and insightful responses. Another 5 gave adequate responses that had moments of insight. I’m a former systems analyst as well as a writing and literature teacher (who has also taught math and computer science), so I can do that simple math: 63% of my students did reasonably well if not quite well. And those who mailed it in, well, that’s on them.
I also get to teach Children’s Literature for pre-service teachers, and we talk about what makes a good book and what might encourage students to read a picture book or a simple chapter book. That’s a small class and most of the students aren’t really readers, which is troubling. Future teachers who don’t like to read? At all?
On the other hand, they don’t mind listening to books or reading ebooks, so. . .
And then I have to wonder what the role of reading and writing might ultimately be in the brave new world with AI. There is a commercial of a guy in an office drafting an email on his phone, then asking the AI tool to rewrite it. He sits at his desk goofing off as his manager responds to the email with disbelief. I have to unpack that a bit more because it sends a lot of messages to everyone.
I can think of at least a dozen (and maybe more but less than a zillion) reasons that people need to know how to write all on their own without the help of AI. But I’m old and I like to read and I like to write. When my current college students are deep in their careers, I won’t be here so I have no idea what they really need to know and be able to do as the world continues to change.
I’m going to make more one mental switchback and that’s to the Google effect, a cognitive bias most of us have experienced. It occurs when you look up something and then immediately forget it. The link takes you to an insightful article by The Decision Lab and the impact of the Google effect is worth considering. Even if our younger students are not immediately affected by the Google effect, they witness others who look something up and then, often with exasperation, have to look it up again.
Quite frankly, I don’t think there is an easy solution. In a 2015 The Chronicle of Higher Education article, Dan Berrett reported that on February 28, 1967 the purpose of a college education changed. On that day, then Governor Ronald Reagan declared a budget crisis in California and noted that “taxpayers. . .shouldn’t be ‘subsidizing intellectual curiosity.” According to Berrett, Reagan was essentially saying that “[a] higher education should prepare students for jobs.” And that may have been the beginning of the end of the liberal arts education.
All of this to say that I think student apathy is a symptom of a larger problem. Eliminating the Department of Education will solve some problems and introduce many others. The Law of Unintended Consequences.
There are some great teachers doing their best. There are some great administrators who are working hard to ensure their teachers and families have what they need. But the community of education and educators is badly fractured with too many articulating “one size fits all” solutions that have rarely worked. There are hard choices ahead and none that should be made quickly and without considerable assessment of possible outcomes, both negative and positive.
Because I think a lot of student apathy is a reflection of educator exhaustion.
You might find this Pew Research Center report of interest: “What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?”