A frustrated high school teacher has detailed how her students’ ‘learned helplessness’ has left her hating the sound of her own name.
The teacher took to the internet to reveal how students expect teachers to solve all of their issues, and it’s reached a new low, even though she thought students’ learned helplessness ‘couldn’t get any worse’.
“A (year 11) student had with the paper assignment in front of him staring off into space,” she explained.
“I asked him why he wasn’t doing his work he said, ‘I don’t have a pencil’. When I asked him if he’d asked anyone for a pencil he just stared at me. I finally asked, ‘Would you like to borrow a pencil???’ He nodded.
“I gave him a pencil from my desk. I walk back around a few minutes later and he’s still staring into space. I asked him again why he wasn’t doing his work, he said. ‘The pencil you gave me is broken’. The pencil was not broken folks, it needed sharpened.”
The teacher said it’s the same with entire classes, including one of their year nine cohorts.
“The principal came on the school speaker this morning and said that there are problems with internet connectivity but he would let us know when it was fixed. I had a room of 30 students all saying, ‘My computer isn’t working. It’s not working Ms my computer has a blank screen’. It reminded me of those Muppets that only said ‘meep’ in rapid succession.
“I can’t anymore. I still have students who have been told a million times to take my assessments they need a school-issued Chromebook and expect me to provide them with one.
“I came home this afternoon, went into my half bath, closed the door and screamed at the top of my lungs to get out this frustration/rage. I hate the sound of my own name.”
The rant was met with hundreds of supportive comments from other teachers and parents.
“This is because we keep coddling them … They should slowly be given more responsibilities from grade 6 to year 8. Didn’t bring your Chromebook? You have to do the work at home. By year 7 grade, they should losing points for late work. I had students who had transferred out of my class and had parents still asking if they could submit an assignment from the previous semester to boost their grade. It never ends.”
“I stopped helping the helpless this year. Learned helplessness is how some students survive. They have other do their work for them or meander through their classes with minimal effort while teachers bend over backwards for them.”
“A lot of these kids act ‘dumb’ because it’s easier. They know the teacher will help them, their parents will coddle them, and they’ll get extra consideration from their peers and admin. It’s beyond learned helplessness, it’s faked incompetence. I have kids doing it in grade 3.”
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