Are The Lazy Students The Real Problem in Public Education (Part 1)

Over the past few years teachers have borne the brunt of the blame for the challenges facing the nation's public schools.But in a scathing op-ed in Salt Lake City's Deseret News, Teresa Talbot, a veteran of Utah's public schools who's about to enter her 25th year in the classroom, claims "The main problem with our education system today is not what is thought, where it is thought, by whom it is thought or how it is thought." Instead, says Talbot, the issue is students who refuse to put in the work required to earn a good grade.

As evidence, Talbot sites several examples of teachers having to scale back assignments or needing to give students time in class to complete work they didn't finish at home. Talbot's own math students balked at doing multiple step problems. "I'm not doing that; it's too much work", her students complained. Talbot also says students frequently ace the homework but end up failing tests on the same concepts, " because they are not the ones who actually did the work they turned in".

Talbot's op-ed is'nt the first time a teacher's frustrations about unmotivated students have sparked debate. In 2012 Philadelphia English teacher Natalie Munroe had to fight to keep her job after blog entries, in which she described her students as "rude, disengaged, lazy whiners" who "curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades," and "complain about everything," went public.

TBC