Wait until you get this year’s 9th graders. The class I have right now is the epitome of learned helplessness. Some days I want to pull my hair out by the end of class. They want everything served to them on a silver platter and to be fed with a silver spoon. There are a few exceptions and I will be sure to steer them in your direction. Heaven help us if this is the future generation that will run our country. BTW I will say to you that during my first ten to twelve years teaching, I was on fire! You never saw me at my peak. I loved teaching and we did fun, creative activities that required the kids to think hard and they did think and they actually put out effort. The last ten years I was slowly burning out due to frustration with the direction that our school and district was taking as well as increasing apathy and discipline issues with students. Then health issues forced me to retire. I’m back now, part-time, because I really love teaching (and I need extra $ to support my “craft” habit). Only teaching one class is amazing and I feel that old Spark reigniting. I understand what you are saying about “grade greed”. I had a student last year taking 6 AP courses as a junior. She took 6 AP classes as a sophomore, two as a freshman and planned to take 6 more this year. That is 20 AP classes. I didn’t know there were that many offered. She was so stressed out! And all so she could have that 5.0 plus GPA. The class she was in was so grade-GPA-crazy. Their primary goal is to get that A in every class and be in the top ten in their class. They constantly had discussions about their GPAs and ACT and SAT scores, bragging about how good they were. I just shake my head and wonder what happened to the joy found in learning something new-learning for the sake of learning-not for grades and GPAs and standardized test scores. I don’t even remember what my high school GPA was-I’m sure it was on file somewhere but I never knew what it was. I loved learning and I still do. I wish there was some way we could rekindle that drive in today’s students.
Wait until you get this year’s 9th graders. The class I have right now is the epitome of learned helplessness. Some days I want to pull my hair out by the end of class. They want everything served to them on a silver platter and to be fed with a silver spoon. There are a few exceptions and I will be sure to steer them in your direction. Heaven help us if this is the future generation that will run our country. BTW I will say to you that during my first ten to twelve years teaching, I was on fire! You never saw me at my peak. I loved teaching and we did fun, creative activities that required the kids to think hard and they did think and they actually put out effort. The last ten years I was slowly burning out due to frustration with the direction that our school and district was taking as well as increasing apathy and discipline issues with students. Then health issues forced me to retire. I’m back now, part-time, because I really love teaching (and I need extra $ to support my “craft” habit). Only teaching one class is amazing and I feel that old Spark reigniting. I understand what you are saying about “grade greed”. I had a student last year taking 6 AP courses as a junior. She took 6 AP classes as a sophomore, two as a freshman and planned to take 6 more this year. That is 20 AP classes. I didn’t know there were that many offered. She was so stressed out! And all so she could have that 5.0 plus GPA. The class she was in was so grade-GPA-crazy. Their primary goal is to get that A in every class and be in the top ten in their class. They constantly had discussions about their GPAs and ACT and SAT scores, bragging about how good they were. I just shake my head and wonder what happened to the joy found in learning something new-learning for the sake of learning-not for grades and GPAs and standardized test scores. I don’t even remember what my high school GPA was-I’m sure it was on file somewhere but I never knew what it was. I loved learning and I still do. I wish there was some way we could rekindle that drive in today’s students.