Are Students REALLY Lazy?

An interesting conversation on "lazy students" went down on Edweek over the last few weeks, y'all.

It started with this post from Kyle Coppes, who makes an argument that resonates with me: Once we believe that students are lazy, we stop asking questions to try an explain the other potential reasons for their actions and behaviors in our classrooms.

That means while we will end up right about the small percentage of students who really did "take the day off" in our classes, we will never dig deeply enough to understand all of the other reasons that students don't fully invest in the work that we are asking them to invest in.

And let's be honest: There are TONS of other reasons why student might not fully invest in the work we are asking them to do. Here are some examples:

• They might not understand why the work matters.
• They may not see a connection between the work we are asking them to do and the future work that they want to do.
• They might have outside issues on their minds that we just don't know about -- things like mental health issues or family challenges.
• They might not believe they can even be successful, so why bother trying.

If we just jump to the immediate conclusion that all of these students are "lazy," we will never create the conditions necessary to help these students fully invest our learning. On the other hand, if we stop thinking of students as lazy first, we can begin to take specific actions to address the unique needs of each of these groups of kids.

Now, don't get me wrong: I know -- and you know -- that there are days where EVERYONE is lazy. Heck, most kids will tell you directly when they just don't have the mental energy for whatever you are asking them to do. And most teachers -- if they are honest -- would admit to days when they put on a movie or assigned a silent reading activity just because they didn't have the energy to fully invest in instruction.

It happens.

But Coppes' argument (and I think he is right) is that we jump to laziness as an explanation all too quickly -- and that has consequences because we never work to create conditions that would more effectively address the reasons that kids are struggling to invest in our rooms.

Ed Week then posted a follow-up to Coppes' article that shared some of the reactions that they got to his piece in social media. You can see that here.

While there were some progressive thoughts on laziness shared, what I was most troubled by were the comments under "Do principals understand what teachers face?" and "True laziness can be a factor, some teachers insist."

The statements there are the kinds of things that I've heard again and again in conversations about laziness -- and they really do highlight an unwillingness on the part of practitioners to consider how OUR choices are having an impact on student motivation.

It's like some of our colleagues have gotten to the point where they believe that no matter what, kids should come into school fired up and ready to go. We as teachers don't need to make any attempt, in their minds, to actually light that fire. Instead of asking, "Why are kids in my class lazy and what can I do to change that?" we would rather not ask any questions -- especially if they might lead to a discovery that our practices might need to change.

This conversation matters to me because my own kid is often described as lazy by teachers. In fact, at one point in seventh grade, she had 23 zeros on her interim reports. When I asked her about it, she shared the thought at the top of this article. She wasn't doing work because she didn't see value in it.

What does that mean for her teachers? Intentionally build relevance -- point out why learning matters without waiting for kids to ask -- and my kid is more likely to invest. That's not only a reasonable expectation for a learner to have, but it is reasonable for learners to disengage if they don't see the "why" in a lesson. We do it during faculty meetings and PD that we don't value, right?

Anyways -- Just wanted to get these articles in front of you. What do you think about student laziness and motivation -- and how are those beliefs influencing your choices?