Related Posts
For those eligible for vaccines in Illinois as part of group 1b+ (pre existing conditions) and have access to transportation, there are many appointment windows available in Springfield and southern IL (3 to 4 hour drive) State site explicitly says all zip codes can get vaccinated at these sites: https://coronavirus.illinois.gov/s/statewide-vaccination-locations
Need a morning workout buddy
Conversation Starter
Additional Posts in Math Educators
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
I don't think the students are less intelligent or capable of intelligence. I think students are more distracted and have more opportunities to ignore or coast through school than they did 10 or 20 years ago. When I was going to school teachers didn't have to compete will the internet and cell phones all day long, and I do feel that parents were tougher on non participation and other bs from their kids.
I think intelligence and knowledge of the content are different things. I don't feel they are less intelligent, but I definitely feel like their skills coming in are lower and lower every year. This is a trend that started pre-covid, but I think has been exacerbated since. They also seem to not be good at persevering through challenging problems. They seem to give up as soon as they do not understand something right away instead of struggling through to gain understanding.
Not less smart, but less knowledgeable.
Lots of reasons for this. One is dumbing down--teaching to the slowest student. Another is, as mentioned above, a shortening of the attention span due to more high-stimulus activities outside school. Another is an emphasis away from core subjects in an effort to "round the student."
Personally, I think technology itself has made each generation less smart.
I feel there is a raise in special needs students. Students are being diagnosed with disabilities too late, making the gap even bigger.
I agree that the internet and quick access has enabled kids. They are not as motivated as they once were. Districts are also catering to their parents constant requests. Parents do not interact with toddlers/children as they once did. They use technology to babysit and also enable them. Parents have already forgotten how hard it is to teach nowadays. I guess they don't realize the gap in their academics. Pushing them through was a disservice. The rise in special education and teacher shortages are also not helping. We need to take back our schools to teach and parents need to parent / be held accountable.
I think it comes down to the student. You will have some who apply themselves and want to learn no matter the distractions around them. And you will have some who want to do something else, whether that’s talking to their neighbor, passing notes, or playing on their phone. There have always been distractions.
I do think that students have access to a lot more technology and learning opportunities. I teach a mini circuit unit to give students real world examples of complex numbers. Ten years ago, no one knew why neodymium magnets slowly float down a conductor but not magnetic copper pipe. Within the last three years, students on our growing robotics team have started talking about eddy currents and explaining the opposing fields with no help from me. So I think technology has opened up venues of knowledge that were previously inaccessible.
I don’t think less smart but honestly even though these kids have the whole internet there’s a defeatist culture that they stop when they don’t know and don’t use resources like textbooks and google to search for an answer.
Students are just as intelligent as always. However, students have less accountability. Even parents expect the students to be passed on regardless of effort or learning.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/09/study-suggests-iq-scores-in-the-us-have-fallen/
Yep and less fact fluency!
YES and NO. I think they might be as smart, but what I see is they don't work as hard and are just given grades. At my high school grades are very inflated. Our current junior class has a class average of a 3.3 GPA. We can not challenge students to the same standards as we used to, so will they have the same knowledge and work ethic as before NO!!! Are they capable of being as smart, and in some ways know how to do things previous students couldn't YES.