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My sister is a high school Math teacher and she’s been one for 25 years. So she likes to tell me about how kids today are different than 10 years ago, 20 years ago, etc.
And that’s just the way it goes, ya know?
So let’s hear from AskReddit users about the differences in school today compared to years past.
1. Sucks.
“I can not get my kids to join a hobby/sport.
Ever since the pandemic they have so much anxiety, they just want to be home.
It breaks my heart.”
2. Race to the bottom.
“Writing has suffered as well.
The villain in this is search algorithms. If a search algorithm rewards according to its programming, everyone will start conforming content to match. This inevitably leads to a lowest common denominator output.
I hate the writing I read on the web anymore. You can see how SEO algo gaming has driven everything into the ground with keyword density and content aimed at a fifth grade reading level. Most informative articles on the web are cringe-inducing in their blandness.
There’s a reason some believe AI will be writing everything in the future, because algorithms have already sent the quality of human writing into the gutter, where an AI can easily replicate its blandness.
If this is all kids see, then they will mimic what they see. And you get this race to the bottom.”
3. It shows…
“My honest answer is now that many students just don’t want to do all the f**king hard video/photo/art tasks (even the simplest bascics) because of how much time and effort it takes.
With all the tiktok hype and so on it clearly shows…”
4. That’s not good.
“I’ve been a teacher for 27 years and teach students from 12 to 18. I’ve noticed that they’re becoming less mature with time.
Seventh graders are more childish, 10th graders are now what 9th graders were about 20 years ago and so on. Kids are less independent and rely more on adults to help them (for example, when looking up information that matters to them). I also notice that they live more in the present.
A lot of them don’t know what public holidays there are, and are often surprised when we tell them that school will be out on a certain day. (When I was a student we were well aware of all public holidays and when school would be out.)
Finally, since smartphones have become a thing and everyone has one, they have become quieter but less attentive. Instead of talking to each other in class, a lot of them are trying to be on their phone. If you left them alone in class 15 years ago, even older kids would be really noisy. Now they will be mostly quiet and on their phones.”
5. Less creative.
“I’ve taught middle school technology and video journalism for the last 13 years. Kids have gotten way less creative in terms of shooting and editing video.
The TikTok/YouTube generation of thelast 5+ years has led to more “point and shoot” filming with little else. No creativity in terms of shot composition, writing a script, trying cool editing techniques.
Just lazy and uninspired efforts and little drive to learn anything new or try anything that steps outside of their comfort zones. This goes to other artistic/coding projects too we do in Tech, not just videography.”
6. The parents.
“Parents are the ones who changed the most.
Used to be if a kid was struggling you’d talk to the parents about and the parents would listen to your suggestions.
Now if a kid struggles the parents blame you for failing and assume you’re a clueless moron.”
7. Too sheltered.
“Just started my 34th year.
An inability to handle failure. Many will have complete meltdowns if someone doesn’t immediately swoop in to “save” them.
They’ve been so sheltered by helicoptering, bulldozing, and snowplowing, they don’t realize it’s okay to fail and learn from mistakes.”
8. The decline.
“This is my 13th year teaching as a college art instructor. For me there have been lots of changes, but far and away the biggest is a huge decline in creativity, work ethic, and sense of exploration.
There used to be a culture of “studio rats” that would be excited about trying whatever technique they recently learned and would spend countless hours in the studios making all sorts of things. Now? If someone is on the studio, you can bet they are glued to their phone.
The big moment that really made me realize the times were different was I had a student watch me working on a piece and blurted out “I could never do that.” I reassured them they could, I did it! You just have to start somewhere and gradually build up experience and learn techniques. (Etc). Nope.
They were convinced they were totally incapable of making something. Heartbreaking really. They just seem so quick to give up, so quick as to never start. They allegedly WANT to be artists, and several have dreams of working for Apple or Pixar, but refuse to make anything. I try as I can to encourage them, but they seem pretty content to just coast into apathy while waiting for Pixar to knock on their door.
Also, I have noticed that socially they are much different as well. I used to have to reign in my classes several times a session as they were excessively talkative. Now, I’m prying conversations out of them, asking questions about current events while they are working on their projects.”
9. Wow…
“I’ve been an elementary music teacher for 25 years.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that children have less and less ability to regulate their emotions: more tantrums, more destructive rage, more crying when challenged.
We used to send disruptive kids to the office. Now when a child goes on a destructive rampage, we evacuate the rest of the class while he/she destroys the classroom. And the rest of the kids generally take it in stride.”
10. Falling behind.
“Daycare/preschool teacher.
Kids are not being challenged enough. The gentle parenting trend, while a great idea, normally leads to permissive parenting. In other words, not telling your child “no”. God forbid I tell a child they can’t bite another child.
Full blown meltdown. Which isn’t the worst part. I’m used to 3 year olds having meltdowns. It’s when the parents complain to my director about it.
We’re also seeing very easy to hit milestones falling behind. Look I think most milestones are bullshit anyway, a kid will get it eventually. The issue becomes when our 4s room has to install a changing table because most of the kids are still in diapers.”
11. Good and bad.
“I’ve been a teacher for 25 years now – in middle school that entire time. In the last few years, the changes have become really noticeable – really since COVID.
Students no longer want to try to learn. They want the answers to be given to them for memorization only. Completely risk averse. Last year the lack of social skills was shocking too – things I would expect in preschool that 7th graders were doing (cutting other people’s hair, knocking over water bottles on purpose, damaging clothing or other personal items, etc.)
I really think the attention span is nil as well. Constant input, little to no creativity, attention span of only a few minutes. Not wanting to think – I had kids asking me how to answer multiple choice questions because you can’t draw lines on the answer sheet.
BUT – I also have kids that are more accepting of differences. R**ism has decreased so much. We have girls on the football (American) team and boys in cheer. Kids will come up and talk to me about how Joe broke up with his boyfriend Steve and not be wigged out about it. Kindness is actually more than norm than it was 25 years ago and ‘gay’ is no longer a slur.
I’ve worked with two teachers who were married that were both female and my vice principal was openly gay. Kids had no issues with that! We still have some mean kids, but a larger percentage are kind and the mean ones are not as popular as they once were.”
12. The future is bleak.
“Each year I do an exercise where the kids predict what they think will be invented in the next 100 years.
They used to predict things like flying cars, space travel, cancer cures etc. Now they predict nuclear weapons, guns and biological warfare…and they’re ELEVEN.”
What do you think about this?
Let us know in the comments.
Thanks, friends!
