Today's students are said to be poorly motivated and lazy in comparison to their predecessors. What do you think?

As a college freshman i say yes, some students are lazy. But you can't say all students are. Some of us care, the rest will just end up working at Mickey D's for the rest of their life.

I think most students are not lazy, especially those paying for their own education.

The students who have made a definite career choice might seem more energetic than those who are having a harder time deciding which path to take.

MT

Brian, those teeth make me laugh everytime I look at them!

I don't feel that today students are lazy. As a jr in college who is majoring education i feel that the problem lies within the schools. School was easy for me not b/c i was smart b/c i knew what i wanted to do. I have had a lot of friends who were smart and didn't end up goin to college, or sometimes not even showing to classes in hs. The problem is that the people who are making the choices (school board members) really don't have any clue on what needs to be taught.
You have to look at the way students learn. Some students learn better with hands on training, like mechanics of construction. Most schools today do not offer these things or any kind of hands on experience. Students get bored with lectures, homework, and tests. Something new has to be implemented. The way children are being taught today has really changed much besides technology. As long as teachers lecture, give homework and tests students are gonna drop out

25% Lazy
25% Motivated
40% Unprepared
5% should have never been let out of High School
3% should have never been let out of Elementary School
2% should have never been let out of Juvenile Hall.

Procrastination is a key word here. If students would take their studies more seriously, and stop putting them off until moments before it is due, they would not be hurried, and therefore would had in higher quality work.

I don't know as I would call them lazier, but they may not be as motivated as say people after WII or the Korean War. The standard of living was not as high, and college was much more of a priviledge than it is today.
It is hard to say what motivates kids now. It could be a teacher, parent, coach. I suppose that was always true to some extent, but I think the drive to suceed and more discipline was there years back.
I remember when all young men (now I think it should include women) had to serve a couple of years in the armned services after college, or high school. I think a lot of kids that went out of high school came back as much more focused and mature men who had a better idea of what they wanted from life. This was true even though they were serving in peace time.
I am not recommending this should be the case,now, but it did work.

I AM INSERTING THIS POSTING FOR IWCRTERAN – WHO HAS HAD DIFFICULTY POSTING

I do agree with the lack of motivation is students, but I feel that students would take their studies more seriously if the studies were more interesting. Each student learns differently some hands on and some by lecture. Some students are under challenged and some or over challenged. You can't fit every ones needs, so no matter what a teacher does they will always have at least one unmotivated student!!

but one must also realize that in college everything will not be challenging. It is just that one must do some things in order to prove that they can. Life itself is not always a challenge in the workplace day after day. The ones who can find employment like that are the really lucky ones. But with most if it is challenging at least part of the time that is good.
My own family has had children who learned very quickly and became bored at school and started to be problems. We interested him in helping others learn. He was a born teacher. ...doesn't though..no money in it.
Then too, I have others who really had to work and study hard. As I said, it is hard to know by what, when or where they will motivated.

but one must also realize that in college everything will not be challenging. It is just that one must do some things in order to prove that they can. Life itself is not always a challenge in the workplace day after day. The ones who can find employment like that are the really lucky ones. But with most if it is challenging at least part of the time that is good.
My own family has had children who learned very quickly and became bored at school and started to be problems. We interested him in helping others learn. He was a born teacher. ...doesn't though..no money in it.
Then too, I have others who really had to work and study hard. As I said, it is hard to know by what, when or where they will motivated.
But it is late and I am motivated for bed.

Where did those number come from? Was that from a study you saw or from your own experience? Just curious.

There were a couple of posts that got lost in the shuffel today. I can't remember who was the author, but the gist of the post was that students would do better in school if they would not procrastinate, but get right at their assignments.

I agree. Self discipline is almost as important as intelligence.

MT

This is only my opinion from teaching middle and high school, as well as college students. Personally – If you were to poll a larger number of teachers, I am certain you will find that my numbers are probably more pro-student than the majority would be.

I believe that, yes, there has been a fundamental change in the attitudes of students over as little as the last ten years. I remember back to when I was in high school and even now to when I am in college and think about the respect that I had for my teachers. Today, I am around high school students almost everyday, and I see the lack of respect that they show to their teachers and administrators. This is probably the most pressing issue when we talk about the problems that teachers face. How do we solve this? It starts at home. The Education Department expects teachers to be able to solve the problems that face our Education system through paperwork and better lesson plans, when the reason that education is lacking in our youth today is because they have no respect. This issue cannot be solved by teachers at school, it has to be addressed at home. In this day and age both parents work and our youth are raised by daycares and the television, which is why they have no respect for their educators. For this reason, I don't necessarily think it is laziness, but more a fundamental lack of respect that makes our youth not want to perform like their predecessors on the academic front.

Speaking from personal experience, I would add that apathy on the part of the student has much to do with whether or not they will be successful in school.

I had problems with math. I NEVER had a teacher who could explain to me why I had to learn anything beyond simple addition, subtraction and multiplication. They simply told me to memorize it and appy it test time.

I understand now that if I had learned my trigonometry (instead of arguing with my teacher that numbers were merely a human creation and an arbitrary notion) I could be designing houses now.

I think that is why many homeschoolers are so successful. I'm sorry I can't cite the source right now, but I read an article written by a stay home mom who had just seen her last child off to college on a full scholarship. She claimed one of the keys to the education of her children was teaching cause and effect learning. For example, when she taught her children about fractions, she brought them to a restaurant and showed them how the chef was required to use his knowledge of fractions everyday. She applied the abstract lessons taught from books to the real world and made the knowledge useful to her children.

Teachers and parents need to explain to their children why they are being taught. They need to understand that life goes on after getting out of school and education is the tool that best prepares you deal with those later years.

That is so true. Three of my kids became university graduates after marriage. There's nothing like real experience to teach you that an education is important.
MT

today's students do procrastinate and put off things til the last minute. im a jr in college and i do put off my assignments til the last minute, but i do realize that if i dont do the assignment, how do i expect to learn or pass the class? with the growth of technology and computers, its hard not to just get on the computer and study or do your homework. for example, being in a chat room can be real addictive along with playing games for the heck of it. as i go through college it is easy to tell which classes you like and the ones you dislike, because it deals with in how the teacher is willing to teach the students. if the class isnt fun and interesting, who wants to learn in that class, for it will be dull and boring. recently in my american government class, our professor decided to do something cool and something i didnt realize we would do, that is we had our own lil debate in class. that is one of the most interesting things i have done this yr as far as being in college. it showed me and the other students in class that our professor believed we could do a good job in running a campaign like election in our class and it dealt with current issues that real senators have to deal with. these are just some of the things that professors or teachers who teach can do with their students in making them want to learn more as students. this helps out a lot in whether or not the student wants to learn and pay attention in class. the more fun in class the more the student will learn and want to go to class. education is a very important thing in life and if we all dont expect to learn anything, where do you think you will end up for a job in the future? not one worth wasting your time on, so we should all go to school and get a degree knowing that sooner or later that we will be successful in what we want to do with our life.

School culture has changed drastically. Where there used to be unchallenged authority and clear cut disclipline, there is now touchy, feelly meetings and one on one discussions.

A distruptive student is no longer simply punished. Rather, he/she must endure an arduous meeting with a concerned guidance couselor and/or teacher where the students' behavior is discussed in (sometime uncomfortable) detail.

This definately places more demands on teachers.

I do not necessarily believe that this is a change for the worse, but it seems peculiar to me.

Any thoughts?

jjirout

I don't think

I don't think all students are lazy now. I think most of they are concert their grades and would like to get the good grades for their futures. There are many quizzes, tests, papers and homework during the semester. Each one is important to them and counted into their total grades. So they have to study hard and try their best to prepare each one. The stress of study will force them to work hard. Specially most of international students study more hard than American student do because of their language problem. In most of the top universities, students' competition is very intense. If they get some worse grades, they maybe will be forced to leave their universities. So you can't image what large stress they have and how hard they study!

Students aren't lazy we have just adapted to this low level of education we supposedly recieve here in America. We are taught to memorize and to find ways to get the grade. That's what America is about anyway right? "Getting the job done?" In school we get the job done with minimal pressure to go further than what our minds will allow....Realize first that there is no limit to where I minds can expand and then realize that us students are not being pushed. We aren't lazy we are just content.

i agree with this. I'm a senior in high school and it definatly depends on the school, but also depends on the student. The school should be there to keep the students busy and make sure that the teachers are doing they're jobs, which would be to make sure kids are learning. you can't do this if you don't make it interesting. I'm in physics right now and don't understand almost all of it b/c the teacher can't teach it. So now i have to take the time to teach myself. The school needs to check up on students and what they're doing schoolwork-wise. The student has the responsibility to step up and say something if they're not getting enough out of their classes. So the laziness goes hand in hand with both the school and the students in the school.

As a High School Junior,

We are not necessarily lazy we just learn what we want to learn and dont learn what we dont care about.

Lazy or not, very little is expected of them. American education lags behind most other major industrialized countries... especially science. Asking the average young american about science is about as informative as asking cavemen what the moon is made of.

I would have to agree with jollyrancher. there is not much expected of us as students.

how can expect expect students to do well in school if they are constantly getting tests, and assignments on a daily basis?. I am currently in my second year of college and I am thinking of quitting because

1. I am tired of wasting my energy on assignments and tests and they don't teach any job skills

2. Part-time jobs are hard to get I am currently working outside picking up garbage(groundskeeping) in the cold winter where temparatures are about 0 degree celcius and it is windy plus I have spend half pf this semester looking for part-time jobs on campus and all I am hearing is nothing available

3. it is hard to fit in and find friends most of the people here are unfriendly, stuck up and disgusting

4. when january comes i don't how am I going to earn money to buy food, soap, to put on my laundry card, and to buy some school stuff because I won't be working outside plus I don't have any job skills. the part-time job employees in the college want students to have qualifications and experience and I don't have any of those years of tests, exams and homework did not give me any job skills whatsoever to do some of the part-time work that are on my college campus.

That is a very good point. Not only do we not enjoy school it is overly expensive.

Try to hang in there Freedom-man. If you don't stay in school now, chances are you never will have job skills. Believe me, you will have a better life if you are educated. So you have it hard for the next couple of years...what is that compared to the rest of your life? Hang Tough

MT

the problem is that I cannot find a part-time job i am currently working outside in the cold and it is affecting my health plus i am tired of being lonley and depressed all the time. pieces of paper like degrees and diplomas will not give me job skills and tests and assignments is not giving me job skills. I am not going to continue college if part-time jobs are hard to get