Let’s Blame the Learners

“We have met the enemy, and they are us.” – Cartoonist Walt Kelly, Creator of “Pogo”

If there was one belief that drove me crazy inside public schools, more than a hundred others, was when the system blamed the kids for academic under-performance.

And it’s still happening.

Last month, EducationWeek posted an article titled “Students’ Lack of Focus Is the Top Barrier to Learning, School Leaders Say.” The article begins,

“A lack of student attentiveness and focus is causing disruption in public schools across the nation as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic linger, new data says.”

“Twenty-six percent of public school leaders reported that ‘a lack of focus or inattention from students’ had a ‘severe negative impact’ on learning during the 2023-24 school year, according to new National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data. This number spiked to 75 percent when school leaders were asked if students’ lack of focus or inattention had either a ‘moderate’ or ‘severe’ negative impact on learning.”

“When asked in the survey, ‘to what extent, if any, have the following student behaviors negatively impacted learning at your school this year?,’ school leaders indicated that several of the listed student behaviors had a severe negative impact on learning.”

“Other than a lack of focus or inattention, school leaders selected the following as having a severe negative impact on learning:

• Students being academically unprepared for school (e.g., not doing homework, not bringing necessary supplies) (21 percent)
• Students being disruptive in the classroom (e.g., calling out, talking to others during instruction, getting out of a seat when not allowed, leaving the classroom) (19 percent)
• Students not doing individual work (19 percent)
• Students being physically unprepared for school (e.g., lack of sleep, not eating before school) (18 percent)
• Use of cellphones, computers, and other electronic devices when not permitted (16 percent)”

…

So here’s a question:

When kids aren’t learning to their potential, who’s to blame?

The student?

The parent?

The teacher?

All of the above?

I’m sure doctors, who meet up with a life-long smoker who now has lung cancer, would love to “blame the patient,” but they don’t – at least publicly.

I’m sure defense attorneys, who meet up with a defendant who has a record of petty burglaries, would like to lighten their workload by persuading their client to just plead guilty, but they don’t – at least publicly.

I’m sure financial planners, who meet a family living in perennial debt, would love to blame mom and dad for making careless financial decisions that eventually put themselves and their kids in harm’s way, but they don’t – at least publicly.

So why is it that public school educators are so quick to “blame the student?” And, to make matters worse, they aren’t afraid to call them out in public, for all to see.

If teachers are truly professionals, like doctors, lawyers, and financial experts, then isn’t it the responsibility of public school leaders to take ownership of the current condition of their “patients” or their “clients” or their “customers,” whatever you want to call young people currently seated in our public school classrooms?

As I see it, this is a major shortfall of our current teaching and learning system – not taking responsibility for what should be considered their end product – a smart and strong learner. Why aren’t they doing everything possible to make every young learner smarter and stronger?

The blame for lack of learning shouldn’t be aimed at the learner. It should be aimed at the adult learning leaders. If not, then we are just fooling ourselves and making excuses.

Til tomorrow. SVB