<p>As a freshman in college, I’ve noticed trends in student apathy from preschool to private high school to college. My conclusion is that students’ carelessness in the classroom is a reflection of the lack of motivation in their parents. I’m sure many parents on here agree, you being on here to support your children and their college success. </p>
<p>If you have any other ideas about student apathy or parenting, please share them as a comment on the blog. I am always curious about what others think about this situation.</p>
<p>I agree that parental apathy will most likely create student apathy. It’s been proven besides. You might be interested in the book “Beyond the Classroom” by Laurence Steinberg. He is a social scientist and this book discusses exactly what you’re proposing. </p>
<p>I can’t help but think that this is only half the story.</p>
<p>In high school, the greatest obstacle to my focus wasn’t apathy, it was boredom. I have never once had a class that I would consider challenging in the least. Even my AP classes were so ridiculously easy as to bore me to the point of sleeping through them.</p>
<p>I agree that parental apathy toward education contributes to study apathy for many students. But it doesn’t explain the breadth of student failures. Some kids are naturally apathetic. Some kids are gifted socially but not academically. Some kids have learning issues. Some suffered traumatic events in childhood.</p>
<p>That said, it’s always sad when a kid fails mostly because parents didn’t tell the kid how important school/learning is to their future. One of the smartest persons I know dropped out HS due to boredom. He’s a hard and proficient worker, and has done OK with his life. But he’s been marginalized his whole working life due to his lack of educational background.</p>
<p>Why should students work hard? Our society is all about instant gratification. When I look at students who are receiving “free/reduced price” lunch they always seem to have a brand new i-pod. The middle class kids have nice cars, i-phones, and great family vacations. They see no link between school work and a better life, because they already have it all. Interestingly, the more wealthy parents seem to do the best job at teaching their kids the value of an education–unfortunately they are also the most likely ones to teach their kids that the end justifies the means.</p>
<p>I feel this deep recession is the first step towards waking people up. When its not so easy to get the latest must have item, parents might encourage their kids to work harder in school than they did. When we become a completely global economy, our students will need to face the reality that they are not competitive.</p>
<p>I say all of this with a grain of salt because I do think our very top students are much better than those from any generation before them–there’s just not enough of them (maybe enough for HYPMS) but there are plenty of other amazing colleges out there.</p>
I agree. It’s a far cry from the mentality that was once dominant.</p>
<p>
I’d be surprised to see this (it certainly isn’t true for me). Though I suppose it could go in the same pot as people living in rundown houses with cars that are more expensive than the houses.</p>
<p>
A more accurate statement would be to say that wealthy parents have the means to ensure that their children have a good education.</p>
<p>What MtnMomma says may be true, but it’s also irrelevant to any one parent’s responsibility to his/her child. I’ve also seen individuals holding their iPod in one hand while paying with Food Stamps in the other. I agree it looks bad … and indeed it may be bad. But it doesn’t help (or hurt) the next parent in line. Take care of your own. It starts with that.</p>
<p>I agree with the OP that this is one of the factors - parents need to stimulate the intellectual development of their kids - starting in infancy!
But, the peer group also has influence, as does the teaching and learning environment.</p>
<p>What’s with the no iPod for low-income people thing? Aren’t iPods relatively cheap these days and don’t you think low-income kids ever get birthday or Christmas gifts? I don’t think a $200 “luxury” is going to really make or break a family and mom/dad may have worked overtime to give their kid something he/she really wanted for a change…just saying. A brand new car and food stamps would give me pause though!</p>
<p>“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”</p>
<p>In other words, there’s a very fine line between (fiscal) happiness and (fiscal) misery … and Dickens was NOT referring to the bit of cash as the difference … but rather the choice a person makes.</p>
<p>Would you rather we go back to the poor having to beg for alms? Then you’d be able to spot them right away and they’d be living as you seem to think they should.</p>
<p>Are people poor because they lack the intelligence to do better? No.
Are people poor because they lack opportunity in America? No.
Are people poor because they get subtle messages that “It’s OK?” Hmmm.</p>
Anyone else see a contradiction here? H works upwards of 70 hours a week, and doesn’t take much of an interest in furthering the literary or cultural interests of the children. There are a lot of words I might use to describe him, but lazy, selfish, and irresponsible would not be among them.</p>
<p>Methinks perhaps OP has never held down two jobs and tried to raise a family…</p>
<p>On the question posed by the OP, I think parents have a great responsibility here, but so do schools. Of course parents who have the ability to choose their schools also need to choose the right schools with the right atmosphere. When I go to parent conferences for my younger (elementary and middle school) kids, I’m always very focused on how we (parents, teachers, school staff) can all work together to keep the kids engaged and viewing school as something positive in their lives. I really think this is more important than having great academics (assuming that the school is at least competent in academics). If kids become apathetic about school in the elementary years, you’ve probably lost them for good.</p>
<p>New Hope, idk where you got the idea that being poor but intelligent gives one the same educational opportunities but it is not true. Do they lack other opportunites because of that? Obviously, yes. I’m not sure about the subtle messages part…because I don’t know what you’re referring to. The vast majority of low-income people that I work with do not like being poor and work very hard to try to get out of the situation they are in. But they face overwhelming odds sometimes and it’s difficult to prioritize education when you’re trying to figure out how to pay the rent, feed the kids, and whether you’ll have enough left over to for heat and lights. In other words, it’s just not that simple…if it were, there would be hardly any poor people.</p>