33 Disturbing Stories Told By Educators Exposing Alpha Gens’ Total Lack Of Basic Life Skills

Meh. I work with people from all generations who can’t think. Some of the smartest people I’ve worked with recently are brand new grads, not super ahead of Alpha gen. Until someone shows me data, I’m thinking this is just typical human bias/frustration.

The oldest members of Gen Alpha are 14... so like... your freshman class has disappointed you already? Because the kids you've taught for the last nine years are the tail end of Gen Z.

If so many kids are severely delayed, there's something wrong that's been going on for a long time we haven't pinpointed yet. I'm talking 20+ years been happening. I've definitely noticed we're much more aware of learning disabilities. Whereas when I was young and in school in the 90s, parents and teachers took students to the resource room for extra study time and homework catch up, and the teachers were on you to pay attention. I remember a half my class was put in the resource catch-up class, in place of French class, for struggling to keep up. Back then, the main culprit was too much homework in too many classes all at once, and confusing/speedy lesson styles.

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Or that they can't think for themselves because all their life a computer or a smartphone has done it for them.

It's so weird, but it's like the traditional computer is becoming outdated, old-fashioned and the kids have moved onto other technology that is unfixable, so they just don't bother learning how.

I thought young people were meant to be good for that sort of thing! What are you good for, then, Gen A? /s

GenX may be the only generation that can work a PC AND program a VCR. We'll just have to see if the former stays more relevant than the latter ended up.

Linux Mint is a good tutor for learning. You look up a couple things on installing software, and then use the terminal with a command or two to handle installing.

Yep, for some reason adults in charge of curriculum making saw how children could quickly learn to navigate a UI and assumed it meant they also were picking up the rest of the knowledge of how computers work. So they stopped teaching children computer science. Now we have a generation of new adults who can use apps but don't understand where thier files are being saved.

My daughter has Tourette's Syndrome. Her tics are incredibly distracting for her when she is studying and learning something new. Joining the chorus class in high school helped her to calm down and focus.

This is a tiny ray of sunshine. Hope it carries over.

The school where I work takes it a step further. Students must bring a fully charged laptop with them each day (the laptop and charger are provided by the school). They are not allowed to bring the chargers to school as there's not enough outlets in the classrooms and too many chargers make a tripping hazard. The school finally conceded this year and have installed one charger at the back of each classroom. The lack of providing a way to charge laptops during the school day is to make the students realise and act on having to charge their laptops at home. Responsibility.

That's the inability to think beyond taking your next breath.

Now go to a first year Contracts class in any law school where everyone uses a laptop and this never happens. Why? It takes a minimum amount of self-discipline to complete an u-grad degree and get into a law school. That's all it is: the presence of absence of self-discipline.

Is this new though? Like kids 50 years ago were all excellent problem solvers and pivoters?

Or they just don't like what you're teaching.

You're lucky with the cheating student that your principal backed you up. I caught two cheating students last year, gave them zeros, and made the mistake of asking my principal for advice. One of the students was on probation and very close to being expelled. I liked her - she was a nice girl with some personal problems to work through and I wanted to help her do better. My principal responded to my question by writing me up for disciplinary action, which can lead to me getting fired next year, and forced me to give both girls credit for their assignment. Poor girl was then expelled. I learned my lesson, and now I hide everything going on in the classroom from him.

It's really true that when you teach school you become a therapist to the parents too

Number one reason that teachers quit is the parents. In the US, 40-50% quit in the first 5 years.

Good for you. A person that can label children " garbage" children should not be a teacher.

But why are the kids getting the blame for something they've not be taught by adults - I have distinct memories of being taught how to rule a straight line, measuring, finger placement, the whole enchilada

I have to add lessons to my freshmen math class that includes using a ruler and using a calculator.

We learned what a ruler was for about age 5. If you didn't learn then, you learned that it could rap knuckles too. ( Yes, I'm a boomer, but we learned to learn, and thusbavoid knuckle raps - just the possibility was enough)

I see this quite regularly.

It was supposed to be funny… not reality! Blackadder: Right Baldrick, let's try again shall we? This is called adding. If I have two beans, and then I add two more beans, what do I have? Baldrick: Some beans. Blackadder: Yes... and no. Let's try again shall we? I have two beans, then I add two more beans. What does that make? Baldrick: A very small casserole. Blackadder: Baldrick, the ape creatures of the Indus have mastered this. Now try again. One, two, three, four. So how many are there? Baldrick: Three. Blackadder: What? Baldrick: ...and that one. Blackadder: Three and that one. So if I add that one to the three what will I have? Baldrick: Oh. Some beans. Blackadder: Yes. To you Baldrick, the Renaissance was just something that happened to other people, wasn't it?

If you have one bucket with 2 gallons and one bucket with 5 gallons, how many buckets do you have?

I just read an article that many high school seniors have a 7th grade reading skill.

I cannot comprehend that! These are just arithmetic questions, not even maths!

Don't worry. They're plenty of students that know this stuff, even earlier than they are supposed to. They will go on to graduate, go to college and professional schools; or to trade schools where they will join the economy with an upward trajectory. The students you're talking about will drop out, become low-wage clerks and laborers and every 4 years will vote for the rich guy in hopes (unfounded and unrealized) that they themselves will become rich. The successful will "own" those you describe in a land that abolished slavery 160 years before.

It's against the law in the state I live in for students to have phones with them during the school day. They either leave it at home or hand it into secure storage. A student looking at Chat GPT during class would have their phone confiscated.

Undergrad... in college... definitely not Gen Alpha, that's for d**n sure

At this point, it’s about time to eliminate phones and tablets altogether in school. Kids need to be able to think for themselves.