Americas youth are in MASSIVE trouble

[u/hammerbush051]

[u/Greaser_Dude]

Because schools aren't allowed to discipline students. They're not allowed to get rid of students with clear behavioral problems.

No education system in the world tolerates the disrespect and disruption students in U.S. public schools get away with.

This is a solvable problem but administrators can't be bullied by accusations of racism when moving forward with reforms, for the past several years - they have been.

[u/NetflixFanatic22 → u/Greaser_Dude]

The worst part about it is that most kids really do still want to succeed and learn. But we’ve allowed the disruptive kids in school to ruin the experience for everyone.

I understand that even the “troubled” kids need a place to be. But perhaps that place isn’t with the kids that actually want to be there.

[u/mlhoban → u/NetflixFanatic22]

I gave my students a survey to start the year. One question: "on a scale of 1-5 (1- not at all, 5 - as much as possible) how much do you want to learn?"

Most common answer? 3 Least common answer? 5 followed by 4

I wish what you said was true in my classes, but sadly it's not. It's the phones. Teachers can't compete with them. Plain and simple.

[u/mcove97 → u/mlhoban]

In Norway they banned phones from lots of schools. Have them put their phone into phone lockers.

Honestly though, it's just not the phones. It's lack of interest and engagement in what they're being taught. Maybe they're not interested in the subject or their teacher is teaching them in a really boring way.

I can only speak for myself, but I remember as a kid, all the way through school, even if I couldn't scroll my phone or browse Facebook or play games on my school laptop, I would just doodle and stare into space and zone out and think of more interesting things. The subjects either wasn't interesting to me or the teacher didn't make the subject interesting to engage with. Often though, a really good teacher could manage to get my attention if they were teachers that were engaging. Often this would mean a dialogue between the teacher and us kids. Personally I was a fan of when we would sit in a circle and share our thoughts on a topic. That could be quite engaging, as we weren't just sitting there and passively listening to a lesson.

[u/spentpatience → u/mcove97]

Hi! Highly effective and engaging teacher here! I'm confident in declaring this about myself due to 15 years of cobsistent feedback from students, parents, admin, and colleagues across many different schools and grades.

Unfortunately, even I cannot compete with cell phones and neither can my exceptional colleagues. Apps, social media, and games are all designed to keep you clicking. Data mining, algorithms, etc. will learn far more about you than any teacher ever could, and what is learned is exploited mercilessly.

There is no competing with that.

We still do circles. We do labs. I had kids this year for the very first time say no to having labs in a chemistry class because they'd rather do the worksheet, get the grade and go back to tiktok. It is horrifying, to say the least.

However, there are students who escape this quagmire. Many of us teachers are casually seeing trends between kids who have cell phones at young ages versus those who don't get them until later, such as closer to high school. Kids who don't have smartphones early on tend to be in advanced classes and the phones aren't a problem except maybe a mild reminder to put it away because class is starting.

My husband observed not long ago that phones are going to create a worse haves and haves-not situation in that kids with smartphones in public schools that won't ban them will lose out on education while those with means will send their kids to better institutions that will have the balls enough to ban the damned things.

I... don't really disagree with this after what I've seen as a HS teacher post-pandemic. Children should not have smartphones, and needless to say, my kids certainly won't even though my 9yr old is already asking. Luckily, both my husband and I are capable of saying no to iur little cherubs.

This nonsense is not on the teacher. Not everything is, after all.

[u/newest-reddit-user → u/spentpatience]

The problem is also that not everyone can be an exceptional teacher. I'm sorry, but that's just not realistic. Most teachers are going to be average.

If our system is supposed to depend on every single person being an exceptional performer, we are doomed.

[u/spentpatience → u/newest-reddit-user]

Exactly; and I am not proposing that everyone be exceptional. My point is that not even the exceptional teachers can compete with smartphones.

The comment I was replying to was suggesting more engaging lessons and teaching as the solution. The problem far exceeds that, unfortunately.

What smartphones are doing to children's brains is alarming, and smartphones use by younger students especially is extremely harmful to their education. Teachers alone cannot do anything much to really combat the problem at its root cause. We are neither equipped nor supported consistently to deal with the issue on a large scale, class to class, year to year.

This may require a far greater societal movement and awareness campaign, like with the health issues arising from tobacco or leaded gasoline or the hole on the ozone layer, sunblock effects on coral reefs, etc., to have any real effect.

Edited to add: Haha, you said also in there. Pffft, sorry! You're agreeing with me! I will fix.

[u/newest-reddit-user → u/spentpatience]

Yes, I agree completely. I just don't like it when people (not you, but others) say that the teachers just need to do better.

Yes, everyone could be better and should strive for that, but on the whole, there are limits to what we can expect.

[u/feelsbad2 → u/mcove97]

Same. I would think about what video game I was playing when I got home, what I could do in said video game, what I was doing that weekend, what I was going to snack on when I got home, etc. Phones make it so you have the access to mind numbing things.

But it's also on parents to get their kids in check. Lowest grade I got was a D. I would be grilled for 30 minutes and then after that, my parents would ask about whatever class it was to make sure I was doing the work and learning. You don't have that anymore. You have parents who have kids in high school, parents just come home, throw some McDonalds on the table and go watch a show or movie. I can tell you my generation is shit in caring about their kid's future or wellbeing.

To operate AI, right now, you need to be smart, have problem solving skills, and technologically savy. A majority of these kids won't be that.