The Young and the Clueless

I have been substitute teaching for the past two months in order to earn some additional income.  So far I have worked at every level, elementary, middle school and high school.  Today I subbed for 8th grade Science.  The analysis below is a generalization; there are exceptions that I have observed.

What I have learned so far is this.  There are problems at every level, but the problems are different.  For the very young kids it is mostly the kinds of things you would expect:  too much energy, lack of focus, lack of impulse control.  Nothing really surprising to me there.  They are the most exhausting however.

Now on to Middle School (or what in my day was called Junior High).  The problems with these kids are mostly behavioral and attitudinal.  They love to flaunt authority; they don't respect their teachers nor do they care about the consequences of their actions.  They are unconcerned that they may be missing the opportunity to learn skills to aid them in making a decent future for themselves.  They live only in the present and only for their self gratification.  Lack of maturity may be a part of the problem but it is hard to know for sure at that level because maturity is an individual characteristic.

In High School the problems are very similar to those in Middle School.  The difference, at least as I see it, is the high schoolers don't have the maturity excuse.  These young people (not children) know what the right path is, they just choose not to follow it.  Instead, life in high school is just something to get through so they can graduate and then go on to screw up their lives.  I know I am painting with a wide brush here, but this is what I am seeing. 

At both the Middle School and High School levels I see only a handful of students doing their work diligently, asking intelligent questions, and appearing to care about getting a good education.  The rest are just various sizes and shapes of human protoplasm taking up space. I know I sound harsh here.  I have only my own experiences growing up to guide me.  There were kids in my school that had behavior and attitude problems, but they were by far in the minority.  What I saw today and have seen in the last two months has been quite an eye-opener. 

What is it that accounts for such a dramatic difference?  Is it the parents of these kids?  Is it the school system?  Is it popular culture influences?  Is it all of the above?  I don't know.  But what I do know is that these kids are the future of this country and I am not liking the future one bit.  Something needs to be fixed and fixed yesterday.  I am not kidding.  These kids are scary.