8.
“They can’t manage their time or connect their poor time management to its natural consequences. I make sure I give them enough class time to complete assignments, and anything left becomes homework. I teach music, so a lot of the work is fairly AI-proof. Kids will choose to mess around, waste time in the bathroom, or stare into space for 10 minutes before getting up to find a pencil. Then, they’re upset when they don’t complete their work. They choose to turn in half-finished assignments or never return work they took home, and then they’re confused when they don’t have As. My dear students, completing 75% of a task with 100% accuracy is still a 75% grade.”
“I think it’s due to a combination of reasons. Part of it is COVID and post-lockdown policies that limited deadlines and created no sense of urgency. Part of it is a lack of consequences for not completing work. When I was their age, three missing assignments meant detention, where you worked on them. Another part is a lack of focus. The last part is poor numeracy. They don’t understand the math behind figuring out how many points they need to earn a certain grade.”
—Anonymous
