Simple answer-—> Immigration and cell phones, and if I had to chose one, it would be the latter. I teach in an upper middle class school. This year’s freshman class is so painfully inept and cell phone addicted it’s become just about impossible to teach them. Students retain nothing, want everything spoonfed to them, and are not curious about the world. It’s quite sad, really. Interesting side note, the ones that don’t fall into the mold above actually read books in their spare minutes in between classes and are not on the phones.
Yes, I think i-phones dumb down society, kids and adults. My 7th grader reads incessantly, and has no cell phone.
“This year’s freshman class” is so painfully inept and cell phone addicted it’s become just about impossible to teach them.
While I agree with your position about their ineptness, you mislabeled them, they are now to be called “First year students” in lieu of “freshmen”....Political correctness and all you know. Merry Christmas!
PS, you have my sympathy trying to teach those brats.
In principle, I completely agree with you.
Off topic but I need to tell you a cell phone in school story. My son is a college senior studying aerospace engineering. He had to take a psychology class last semester. He and a buddy spent the entire class playing solitaire and recording games played and win/loss ratio. It was several hundred games each.
They both got A’s.