/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19422968]

Is it just me or are students today more apathetic than ever and unwillingly to take their education seriously? I'm aware that things are rough for some people. I've had my own bouts of depression growing up, but I still pulled through and carved out a decent living for myself along with most people my age. However, these children don't want to do anything. Write a paragraph about what we read in class? Nope. Stop playing games on the chrome book for one minute and contribute to the Socratic seminar? Nope. At least act like you're paying attention to the content and my lectures? Can't be bothered. I'm at a loss with what I should do. I've tried to make class more interesting and help them as much as I can on the assignments, but none of them want to apply themselves. I feel like all of my efforts are in vain and that there's nothing more I can do.

[Anonymous No.19422997]

>>19422968
Welcome to current year. You need 2 degrees to use Excel these days so most of the people are just there for the letters.

[Anonymous No.19423029]

>>19422968
>Is it just me or are students today more apathetic than ever
Not really. The minority of any student body will be autistic enough and driven to excel while the majority just gets by. Consider this story from the time of Charlemagne.
>Charlemagne visits one of his newly built schools
>asks the teachers how the students are doing
>teachers complain about the sons of aristocrats barely doing any work and coming to class hungover
>teachers praise the plebians who were given a scholarship to attend

[Your master No.19423051]

>>19422968
>Is it just me or are students today more apathetic than ever and unwillingly to take their education seriously?
Getting a college education isn't something that results in any actual benefits on the job market. The only thing it does is preventing the penalty that would have otherwise arisen if you spent your four ideas after high school doing nothing. Also the college industrial complex that lures people into getting a college education they don't need with money they don't have.

>I've tried to make class more interesting and help them as much as I can on the assignments,
If you want to meet people that are actually interested in Greek philosophy, don't go for philosophy students. Half of them are going to drop out anyway due to the realization that any degree will do it for minimum wage positions and that philosophy degrees don't incure a lot of advantages on the job market relative to other degrees.

[Anonymous No.19423108]

>>19422968
I study philosophy and I'm not paying attention most of the time. I'm sorry, OP.
There are subjects that are more interesting to some than to others.
Most of your students will probably have to work for a living and you can't live off of a philosophy degree.
Maybe try to find out why they want study the subjects you teach and modify your teaching according to that?

[Anonymous No.19423115]

>>19422968
It's just you. Contrary to very popular and convenient belief, the student does exactly what society tells them. Right now, society is telling them that there's no reason to study any of this shit unless it's directly of interest to you. Less than 1% of their lives will be spent more than 10 feet away from a calculator. Less than 2% of their lives will be spent away from the internet. If they're children of elites, they will be cultured and wealthy enough to succeed regardless. If they're working-class, most education is a waste of valuable time. The model of putting kids in a room and administering education to them like a coat of paint has impaled itself deeply on the postmodern "no parents, no rules" ideology of today's middle-of-the-road liberals. Instead of tempering adults, we let them choose when to grow up, if at all. This is convenient for older generations who hang on to power in the face of less competition than their parents had to deal with, but it's not done to help society, or for any rational reason. People are just responding to social and economic pressures.

[Anonymous No.19423314]

>>19422968
The responses in this thread definitely get to some of the issues. Not all kids really know what they want to do with their lives at that age. The ones getting English or philosophy degrees are therefore usually just the ones who decided to coast through life because, “I don’t really know what I want to do after graduating but these classes are easier and my parents are paying for it.” They don’t really have an incentive to be super-competitive and care much because as long as they pass, life is still fine. Anyone who wants to go for a PhD in it quickly finds out that that’s insane (why such a huge amount drop out of grad school), maybe they’ll be one of your few golden students but with the grad school crisis and the way the economy is heading, you’ll see less and less of those star students unless it’s some rare person with the mixture of the independent wealth/financial support and the intelligence and passion to go for it without worrying what happens next.

The terrible dilemma of becoming a professor or a teacher is that you’ll almost always be the one who was different from other students in class because you actually cared. While actually caring so much, you became insensitive to and different from those who don’t care. Then, when you get to the top of the hierarchy you were once cheerfully at the bottom of, all the people who don’t care as much as you did and do are suddenly there in one annoying mass before you with their juvenile apathy to your blood, sweat, and tears. I’m not even a professor or teacher myself but I’m just putting myself in your shoes and can imagine what’s in it. Sorry OP, should’ve considered the stakes in it and that what you pursued out of passion could eventually become rather soul-crushing.

[Anonymous No.19423330]

>>19422968
Education, especially university, is focused on utility instead of fulfillment or general knowledge that would intrigue most people. It is hard to get excited about learning some boring skill that will get you a $70k / year job. Classes that don't contribute to that specialized skill are viewed as a waste of time, like taking GEs in college. Students are taught from childhood that school is meant to prepare them for hyper specialzied jobs, and any class that doesn't contribute to that pursuit is useless to them. Yes, students are apathetic and it is a lose-lose situation.

[Anonymous No.19423892]

>>19422997
>>19423029
>>19423051
>>19423108
>>19423115
>>19423314
>>19423330
I do not teach college if that's what my post implied. I am an English teacher at a public high school. Thank you for the responses though.

[Anonymous No.19424037]

>>19423892
Why would you expect students to care at If you're teaching at an avg public high school no shit most of your students won't care.

[Anonymous No.19424074]

>>19423892
It's still a rat race anon, you're just watching it closer to the starting line than college is. People either don't care because of civilization's imminent collapse, or they are hyper focused because it's a hoop they need to jump through to get to the next step to a paycheck.

God I hate this system

[Anonymous No.19424398]

>>19423892
It's my first year teaching high school science. My advice, parroted from colleagues, is to recognize that they just spent the last 3 semesters with no accountability.
>Oh you didn't turn in the "webquest" you had all week to do? That's okay sweetie, the pandemic is affecting us all in different ways--I'll exempt you from this assignment.
Chickens coming to roost. Average on my last exam was a 49. As for what you can do about it? I don't know. I want to fail these retards and make them repeat, but it's not like bad grades would motivate them either.

[Anonymous No.19424426]

>>19422968
I mean, school is inherently dehumanizing, so I don't blame the students at all. Thank God I was homeschooled. It may turn you into a social retard, but at least my brain didn't liquify in the process.

[Anonymous No.19424428]

>>19422968
This society is dog shit, and they're in your class because they've been forced to be there. Why would you expect anything else?

[Anonymous No.19424432]

>>19423029
>>teachers complain about the sons of aristocrats barely doing any work and coming to class hungover
based

[Anonymous No.19424433]

>>19422968
i’m a university instructor and yeah the kids do not give a fuuuuuck

maybe 1-2 kids per class actually care enough to put in effort, the rest either half ass it or literally don’t come to class. i can’t fail them because i’m not tenured. oh and this is one of the top schools in the region and accepts less than 10% of applicants.

[Anonymous No.19424441]

>>19423892
>>19424398
Nothing you're doing matters. Your students are captives, not willing participants, and what you're teaching is mostly likely bullshit anyway. I've spent every year since leaving school learning how what I learned was wrong.

[Anonymous No.19424452]

>>19422968
You're expecting prisoners to be enthusiastic. No one wants to be there. Can you really blame kids for distracting themselves in an attempt to make their days slightly more bearable?

[Anonymous No.19424490]

>>19422968
There are real solutions out there but bureaucracy will never let it happen.

[Anonymous No.19424552]

>>19423892
School sucks. And most teachers suck too. I'm sure you're a good teacher, but most are completely mediocre. Why would they think you're any different? Why should they give you a chance?

Become a private tutor for some elite's kid instead.

[Anonymous No.19424712]

You need to set the standard that you're a harsh grader from day one, while it's way too late for this semester, don't let kids get away with B's and C's for doing the absolute bare minimum. If you're lax about the grades the kids will think that what you're teaching is useless.

[Anonymous No.19424734]

>>19424433
Give me an A prof

[Anonymous No.19424737]

American college students fell for the movie memes and place more importance on the drinking, frat party, and sporting event aspects rather than academics

[Anonymous No.19424741]

>>19422968
school has always been an alienating institution
the main reason it's so widespread now is that it's a better option than sending your kid off to the glassblowing factory once they hit 5

[Anonymous No.19424782]

>>19422968
This is true. They speak Latin poorly if at all and conduct theology as if English.

Yours in Christ
Doctor of theology
Paris 1321

[Anonymous No.19424806]

>>19422968
>more apathetic than ever and unwillingly to take their education seriously?
It's built on paper-pushing fake managerial jobs for midwits, and increasingly diluted by hordes of proles. Real education and literacy requires effort and dedication. Some of those you're describing appreciate they're being served something fake, and therefore demoralizing whatever the material benefit.

[Anonymous No.19424814]

>>19424806
>It's built on paper-pushing fake managerial jobs for midwits, and increasingly diluted by hordes of proles
wrong. come back when you know what you're talking about.

[Anonymous No.19424922]

>>19424737
lmfao what's the point when you can't get a well-paying job and end up saddled with debt