Student Apathy

Why high schoolers don't care

Dropping SAT scores and school violence have been making headlines, but a more insidious malady has been infecting high schools everywhere: apathy. Teachers are regarded as adversaries; students work below capacity to avoid being seen as teachers' pets. Why? Ellen Glanz, 28, a popular social sciences teacher at the 1,700-student Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in suburban Boston, decided to try to find out.

For 18 weeks last semester, Glanz gave up her keys to the teachers' lounge, traded in her office for a locker, and started going to classes. Students did not see her as a threat. "I wasn't 17, I wasn't out looking for a boyfriend, and I wasn't trying to get into college," she explained.

During the semester, Glanz divided her time among competitive, college-oriented students, average students and turned-off, unmotivated youngsters in an intensive study program. She watched half her fellow students cheat on tests and even found herself panicking when her homework was not done. As it turned out, she was one of the few who did worry. "Even the bright kids manipulated the system and didn't do any more work than they actually had to," she said. "Most of them want to go to good colleges, but they don't seem to really want to learn more than is required." She found that many students came to class unprepared, ready only to absorb the teacher's monologue.

Glanz discovered one reason for the "incredible passivity" among students: many simply save little energy for schooling. Nearly half hold after-school jobs even though they generally come from upper-income homes. "Some are saving for college," she said, and besides, "it costs a lot to be a kid these days." To many of the students, she said, high school and college are archaic prerequisites for gainful employment. What really counts, they think, is contacts and good luck. Moreover, she observed, "not studying is a way of asserting oneself. There is a slave mentality of committing small sabotages to subvert the system."

The solution? "Students must experience responsibility where others are really depending on them," Glanz argued. She advocated counting homework as a significant part of grades, failing students when they deserve it, and assigning students to lead class discussions. Some 700 copies of her 43-page report were distributed to teachers, students and parents. So far, there have been some student criticisms. But on the whole, Glanz says, "they're glad someone finally said some of the things I said."

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