Ellen Bremen has written a powerful indictment of the entitlement culture rampant among youth. As a high school teacher, I see this same apathy every day and the nanny state of our educational system won’t allow us to truly hold these students accountable for their lack of work ethic. A student’s failure to read or submit assignments, engage in discussion or, often, even hold up his head in class is scapegoated to the teacher who is then indirectly pressured into inflating passing rates for fear of having to explain high failure rates.
When I was a student, cheaters received zeros and that was the end of the story. A colleague of mine is faced with the dilemma of having caught a cheater and being required to give the kid another chance to take the test and replace the zero. While I agree with the concept of content mastery, this student has forfeited the opportunity in this instance and should receive a zero and demonstrate mastery on an additional test rather than a replacement test.
Most often, the head of this hydra are the parents who insists a child has been unfairly treated or disadvantaged in some way. No longer is a teacher’s word trusted. I spend nearly as much time documenting poor and apathetic behavior for future reference as I do preparing lessons.
Does Your Prof Care More than You Do? Will Your Boss?.
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- Do teenagers deserve the Apathy label? (rebeccadeurlein.wordpress.com)
JE Baugh 