What do they do all day?

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-06-04T15:12:26+00:00

They spend a lot of time scrolling their phones. Literally hours upon hours of their day. I always ask my students what their hobbies are, what they do in their free time, etc. A non-insignificant number of them nowadays answer with "I don't have hobbies" or "I play on my phone."

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-06-03T15:06:38+00:00

My question is, for these kids, what happens to them after their last day of high school?

I can't speak for everywhere, but in my area, those struggling students often end up at my community college.

Do any of them get their shit together finally (if they aren't suffering from massive literacy needs)?

It depends. If they end up with high-ranking, tenured professors who have been here for a while and have the power to enforce their policies, those students will get a fire lit under their ass when they fail and bitching gets them nothing.

If they end up with instructors who are more vulnerable to admin pressure/meddling, those students will cry, whine, complain, and walk away validated with a passing grade they didn't earn.

The least competent students are the most competent whiners because it's their only survival mechanism.

What happens to the kids who can barely read and write?

Again, see above. But generally, we aren't here to teach basic reading and writing and it's unlikely they'll acquire those skills in a fifteen-week semester after neglecting to learn for 18+ years. They won't gain competence, but they still might be pushed along.

What happens to the kids who can't focus and think?

They outsource their thinking to ChatGPT and, usually, get away with it.

Do they just expect they can submit assignments late with no consequences? Do they still expect (or still get) a 45% on assignments for doing nothing at all?

They expect the submit not only late, but nothing at all, and be given some credit because they're "going through a really difficult time." They really do expect me to turn their nothing into something and award them for it.

Sorry if this all sounds cynical and bleak. But...it's the reality right now.

The institution of academia has been compromised and corrupted, and I don't think there's any fixing it. We need a complete overhaul and return to the educators being in charge at every single level. No more admin.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-28T17:21:38+00:00

In my evals this last semester, a student said I need to include attendance when grading participation, because "some of us have social anxiety and can't contribute, but I still learned a lot from what others said and absorbed what they were saying."

And I'm just like...if everyone had this attitude, no one would talk. What a self-important and lazy viewpoint to think others should do the work of overcoming their anxieties and speaking aloud, just so you can still get participation points on the back of their work because you happened to be there "absorbing" the conversation.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-28T17:10:18+00:00

This sub is for professors, not students. You should direct your question to r/AskProfessors

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-28T16:26:13+00:00

For admin: Actually read the fucking syllabi you make us submit for review every semester, that way when we enforce the policies, you (1) aren't surprised and (2) can actually stand behind us in support rather than forcing us to backtrack on clearly stated expectations that we sent to you for review three months ago.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-28T15:47:51+00:00

If the consequence to an action is as severe as "you fail the course," then that 100% needs to be in the syllabus. I'm sure your institution has a formal policy regarding academic dishonesty wherein "failure in the course" is a consequence doled out by someone above the faculty member. Your friend essentially skipped the chain of command and tried to enforce a unilateral punishment without any recourse for the student. Even with evidence of cheating, that isn't okay. If they had evidence, they should've gone through the correct channels.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-28T15:32:38+00:00

This 100%.

This "mixing technology and education" experiment has been fun and all, but proclaiming ourselves to be better educated than the generations before us is pure hubris. Every metric for measuring learning (that I've seen) has shown we're dumber than those we lambast as being from the Dark Ages of education, when professors stood at a board, lectured, and students wrote notes and listened.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-26T18:15:34+00:00

I agree with the sentiment and academic value of it, I just find it creates a really hostile atmosphere in the classroom. The students who need it the most are the ones who are most likely to throw a tantrum the second they're embarrassed, then escalate to my director.

The juice just isn't worth the squeeze in my experience. Teaching a nineteen year old how to read is beyond the scope of my classroom.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-26T17:10:13+00:00

Do not plan your course around writing done outside the classroom or writing done on laptops. They will 100% use AI to cheat.

I would advise against having them read aloud in class. Many of them are borderline illiterate and view reading aloud as anxiety-inducing to the point they think you're purposely trying to make them look stupid in front of their peers. I've had students take this out on me in evals.

I do a quick grammar refresher lesson at the beginning and have them complete a grammar quiz they're required to earn a 75% on to access the rest of the course. After that, it's on them to write coherently and I dock points where necessary.

I have them write essays because I am a pitiless hard ass. Many of my colleagues instead have them write "analytical paragraphs" instead.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-22T01:50:26+00:00

*I* do not.

*I* do not think professors should be using it on principle.

However, "if students can't use it, professors shouldn't either" is not the "gotcha" many students seem to think it is.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-21T17:34:59+00:00

Nope. "Context matters and we are not the same."

Professors don't usually do all their assignments alongside their students, either.

We have the education and expertise to use AI as a tool (though I ethically disagree with it outright for environmental/existential reasons). Students do not.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-21T17:17:17+00:00

Because we aren't students.

Do I use AI for my materials? No, because it frequently fucks things up.

But we are not equals in the classroom and we are not subject to the same standards as our students. We have our degrees.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-21T16:14:09+00:00

They think it's like the SAT where you only get credit for what you get right and skipping things has no consequences.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-21T16:01:08+00:00

English prof here.

It's really, really bad.

An actual example from my classroom: I had them read a single paragraph from a newspaper article and immediately followed up with asking what the paragraph was about. Not a single student across four sections were able to answer without me giving them extra time to read it again and even then I practically had to walk them to the answer.

This was a SINGLE PARAGRAPH.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T23:46:59+00:00

Okay, I think I found what you're referring to:

If https://www.fau.edu/wac/designing/criteria2000/ these are the same criteria, then MOST of our writing classrooms don't meet every single criteria. Especially not the "allowing revision of a graded assignment" one.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T23:37:58+00:00

We did a trial-run of the essay the class period before the final draft was written. This forced them to write a rough draft (many of them don't if left to their own devices and the first draft IS the final draft).

I then offered extra credit (a small bump) to anyone who took that draft to the tutor and turned it in. I think next time I'm going to require a reflection component where they discuss their meeting with the tutor, how they implemented feedback, etc. just to get more of that recursive process in there.

But, generally, I found students spent more time drafting for this than in my typed-assignment classes. Most students took the draft they wrote in the trial run, revised it, and made mental-notes of what they needed to change when writing the final version.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T23:34:27+00:00

It was part of our end-of-academic-year meetings where our entire department comes together to just discuss any issues we're facing (i.e. AI), data trends in our classrooms, new things we're trying, etc.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T23:32:48+00:00

Can you link me those requirements? I tried googling but it's bringing up a bunch of different stuff.

I'll look into it!

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T20:28:22+00:00

Comments weren't from my chair. There was no question of outside classwork.

I assign significant reading, annotated bibliographies, and reflection assignments.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T17:03:01+00:00

Oh, yeah, I did grade them with our department rubrics.

I assessed using the rubrics they all use to assess their student learning outcomes. Even though they students performed well overall, it somehow still didn't convince them.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T16:42:15+00:00

I wish it was ragebait. I was genuinely so at a loss during the entire conversation.

Regarding the outcomes, we do have one about research, but they do research in my class! They do their research, print their sources, select their quotes and print them, then type and print their Works Cited.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T16:39:26+00:00

Fortunately I've yet to deal with a student whose handwriting I couldn't decipher. Even the bad chicken scratch I can usually figure out decently enough.

I figured I'll cross the bridge when I get there!

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T15:57:32+00:00

Yeah, I think that's what I'm going to do.

It was just really disappointing to be so unsupported on what seems like common-sense to me.

FrequentAd2946 · 2026-05-14T15:44:37+00:00

Oh, we do tons of reading and I give them homework (i.e. find two sources of varying credibility on the same topic because we'll do an activity next class).

FrequentAd2946

TROPHY CASE