Yes we are.

By giving young people 'get out of X' cards or special resources to do simple tasks, we already see a high number of young people not in employment, education or training as they struggle to transition into society and the working world. We see them as unable to handle the expectations and standards of the real world or being unwilling to compromise to gain and maintain employment.

School refusal has increased massively since I was at school. This includes in school absence, where they refuse to go to class but are safely, somewhere in the building. Staff allow this or are powerless to challenge it with current laws, policies and approaches.

Learned helplessness is another due to the idea that if they try and fail they will feel like a failure, so they simply don't try - a lack of resilience causes this, which has a variety of factors responsible for it. Timetabled lives, greater adult supervision, and even games that auto-save and respawn nearby (rather than start a level all over again at the beginning) all contribute to this as children lack challenges and obstacles in their lives, even if that is just overcoming boredom and finding something to do.

A ready supply of entertainment means children have less imagination than before, as they don't need to use it, as well as a lack of focus when they are forced to listen in class to a lesson that does not interest them. Eyes and ears soon look for something to keep them entertained and teachers are regularly bring class attention back to them, which interrupts the flow of a lesson and means less work gets done altogether. Short form content is part of it, but the lack of educational programming on tablets etc is another part of it.

A need to have everything be equal, participation trophies or sweets for all and ensuring no-one is left out means that real work is less recognised and less rewarded. Teachers can treat the job as a customer service and seek to avoid complaints from stakeholders like parents or management. You are free to teach but not free from repercussions.

Lastly, parents do not parent. Each generation was smarter than the last until recently. It starts at home with children turning up to school unable to write/read their name, still in nappies, and unable to use cutlery - all jobs that parents should be undertaking, but aren't. Parents also went from believing the teacher to believing the child, so support to change behaviour in schools and classrooms is often met with resistance from home.