He’s Been A Teacher For More Than 20 Years, But Kids Need So Much Handholding These Days, He’s Been Forced To Change His Teaching Style
This man has spent more than two decades as a teacher, and he has always taught middle school students in a particular subject.
For the majority of his career, he’s used a specific teaching style that he’s made up on his own, and it’s been extremely effective.
He will tell the kids what their lesson of the day is, work with all his students for a bit, and then allow them 10 or 15 minutes to do work on their own. When they’re done, they go over everything together.
In the time the students have to themselves, he either plans their upcoming lessons, answers emails from parents, or grades homework.
“I teach at a small school in an affluent area,” he explained. “The students are all well-behaved and motivated to learn.”
“I don’t have to constantly wander the room to make sure they stay on task. It’s an easy environment to teach in.”
But over the last three years, kids have required so much handholding that he’s been forced to change his teaching style.
He no longer can take those 10 or 15 minutes, have his kids work autonomously, and catch up on his own tasks.
From the moment his kids have to start working alone, their hands shoot up to ask questions, or they begin to line up at his desk, seeking help.
speed300 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“And they’re not even asking good questions,” he said. “It would be one thing if they had good questions about things I hadn’t already covered. But no.”
“They’re only looking for reassurance because they are so helpless. They genuinely struggle with doing anything on their own.”
“They hit the first small bump in the lesson, and they cannot navigate around it. Sometimes, they don’t even hit a bump. They just can’t navigate themselves through anything at all.”
For instance, one question his kids ask over and over again is if they can get up to sharpen their pencils.
He always tells them they don’t have to raise their hand and ask; they are allowed to get up and do it on their own.
It’s gotten so crazy he’s had to write them a memo on the board outlining that they don’t have to ask; they can go do it, but they still fail to understand.
They will also stop to question him about what book they need to use for a lesson, when they only have one single book for their class.
This past weekend, he had to take papers home to grade. His wife hasn’t witnessed him doing this in years, working outside of class hours, since it used to be possible for him to get everything done at school.
Those days are over, as he can’t last 30 seconds without one of his kids needing him to be there to support them through simple things.
Now, his wife manages a department within a major corporation and oversees between 80 and 120 people annually.
“They’re all college graduates. They all began at $85k+, and most make six figures within two years,” he added.
What’s curious is that his wife’s company is no longer trying to recruit kids fresh out of college since they need as much handholding as his middle schoolers.
“Her company has started focusing their recruiting away from colleges and more towards poaching people from other companies because all of the department managers, including my wife, complain so much about the absolute helplessness and difficulty with common adult tasks in the under-25 crowd,” he continued.
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You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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