There is a crisis of compassion and I am battling apathy in my students.
Generational apathy. That's not me, but that was my first guess. Inhale the vapor, lower your head, and repeat. They hate me, but they don't.
When I asked around, I heard that the same thing happens to every teacher at any time. A good teacher, a beloved teacher, and a teacher who deserves to be. I deal with “Sleepy Magoo Syndrome” (as I've named it) in my kids, which causes them to drop books, honk their horns, make phone calls, and my favorite, snipe their cell phones. We asked each teacher what they were doing to achieve this goal.
Euphemisms make reality tolerable, but they blow up even bigger issues and eat away at a small part of my psyche every day. I'm worried, and you should be too.
As a frontline English teacher since 2007, I have a unique perspective that I consider a sacred privilege. It's me opening the door, writing assignments, and letting my students pour their hearts out on paper. I read about their fears, past traumas, and other issues. I once read two different essays written by siblings from different grades about how their parents' divorce affected their development. It was episodic.
During this time, from 2007 to 2024, I watched bright, enthusiastic faces become dull. For them, literature is a dead medium.
Forcing children to sit still with a book in their hands for long periods of time until they can appreciate it feels like pouring holy water on a possessed person. Books make them uncomfortable. Some children are leaning heavily on books, while others are reading books with their foreheads resting on their desks and books in their laps.
If we don't look, most of us use our phones as “bookmarks”. Just as my brother had to hold down a stubborn two-year-old to brush his teeth, I too have to tie my students to desks and hold books in front of their faces while prying their eyes open.
As I write this, Governor Hochul just passed a law that does not guarantee schools will receive the same or additional funding each year. As a result, my school district canceled summer school for two years in a row to save money. Last year, it was due to budget failure in our community.
Today I told my students that they need to be mindful of the summer school situation. Many students fail because they don't submit their assignments, but I felt little fear or concern.
My example illustrates two points. The first is that a youth culture that resists reading portends an unkind and inquisitive world, as research shows that reading increases compassion and empathy.
My second point is that people are moving further and further away from the ability to access and engage with challenging texts. Critical thinking skills are not developed. All the beautiful things that have been written since time immemorial will die and be replaced by their thief, AI.
Every year, more and more children are advancing to the next grade. I heard one student use this as a reason for not being able to complete their current class. She is not encouraged to give a grade below 50 in the first quarter and will quickly lose credibility. Why do numbers 1 to 49 exist?
Since the pandemic, attendance has become optional as we have all proven that we can travel from the comfort of our homes. There is literally no obligation to attend. Woody Allen said, “Ninety percent of her life is showing up.” This is the absolute and most basic element of a functional society.
Children can pass the exam even if they are absent 50 to 60 times. Instead of having a policy, administrators leave this responsibility to us. We teach our children that they don't have to attend.
We promote and condone a society in which certain demographics are indoors, unsociable, and afraid of the world. They will hopefully become the future “work from home” staff or victims ready for an AI takeover.
Children have incredibly difficult lives, and this affects their academic performance. If someone has a valid enough sob story, we'll pass it on. I recently did that with a student who offered to take me on a tour of colleges in the area. Because she's really smart and doesn't have many capable adults in her life.
Children proudly stay home when they are not sick. Many of their parents know. Children no longer need to attend, but teachers do. Now, we create replicable lessons in Google Classroom to provide easy-to-understand instructions for tutors of suspended children who have no knowledge or expertise in the subject. We must treat crew members who cannot come the same way we would treat crew members who can.
Anyone who has ever felt the magic of a great teacher's class knows that it can't be replicated. We hunt down absent children who do not take make-up lessons and make them pass the exam. We will send reminders to her 1,000 times. It's on the G class. Email. We offer countless ways to access jobs, but they blow away more and more jobs.
While reading the article about Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for having the courage to go to school, I felt humiliated that we had to sell schools like this and give them away for free to ungrateful customers. I feel targeted and discouraged. Then, your hand will be raised. Toilet pass. Inhale the vapor, lower your head, and repeat.
Reading Tara Westover's memoir educated With second graders, we talk about families, parenting styles, and all that jazz. I have them do the following writing assignment. If you choose to have children someday, what will you do differently than your parents?
We have to stop living in a world of make-believe, where a child's success depends solely on the quality of their teachers and school district, where the lack of interesting books, fun teachers, and appropriate technology is the problem. not.
It's not because the school apps don't remind you enough. It's not because the assignment wasn't also posted to Google Classroom. It's a nursing care crisis.
We must stop overreacting to what is wrong and underreacting to what is right. We must be the loudest influencers for our children. Most importantly, we must stop betraying our moral values just to get through the day. Because I have to come back tomorrow.
Caitlin Hanratty teaches high school English in the Hudson Valley, New York. Previously, she was featured in Gay & Lesbian Review. She would like to add more credits to this list.
All views expressed are the author's own.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, finding common ground and finding connections.