You know, back in the day, we had to walk for many miles to
get the information we wanted, but today, Jack, it is a Google Search away. But
here’s the big question I want to ask you. Have students become lazy because
of the conveniences around them, or has the way we learn simply
changed? I have a son who is a student, and to be honest with you, sometimes, I
just have to take his phone from him because instead of using the textbook, he
would rather choose to use the phone. I did not meet it that way, honestly, but I
still feel it is not right. You can leave me your thoughts.
Before we start this conversation, I want you to know
that the conversation about students' motivation has been there for a long
time, but from my own perspective and analysis of what I am witnessing, it has
become worse, I guess. I did not just wake up to put something here for you
to read, but this new behavior from students has got everyone talking. Parents
complain, teachers worry, employers are feeling bitter and regretting employing
some graduates, but before we judge, let's have this discussion.
This is How Education Has Changed
Some years back, I would have had to walk many miles from my home
to the library to read a lot of books to acquire the information I
wanted. You may have had the same experience before, but the surprising thing now
is, students of today don’t even need to walk. From the comfort of their
homes, they just Google it. Studies and research have now moved from Libraries
to smartphones and personal computers. Students do not have to go through books
for hours before getting answers to questions.
When I was in the university, and I felt so hungry, in my years,
I would have to climb down the stairs, walk to the roadside to buy my food. But
do you know what is happening now? University and College Students no longer
have to walk for a few hours to buy food. With just an app like Glovo, Uber, or Bolt
on their phone, they could order food right to their doorsteps.
It does not end over there, in my ears in Junior High and
Senior High, I would have to open tons of books to finish my homework, but
today, Gemini, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity AI, and all that is to
come, and available ones are the access points to students' question
answering. Should we then accept that easy access to everything is killing
our students' hunger to work hard? And if you were a teacher, how would you
tackle this?
Reading Pew’s Research (2022) even revealed clearly that students of the 21st Century spend over 7 hours a day online, and 68 percent of them admitted that technology makes their life easier, but also makes them procrastinate.
The Real Reason Behind ‘Laziness’
Guess what, I once asked one of my classes to summarize a
chapter, and you can’t imagine it, most of them Googled Summaries instead of
reading the books.
What is making the students of this new age Lazy? I am going
to answer the question with another question, and that is, when AI does your
homework, and Grammarly checks your Grammatical Errors while Qulibot helps you
to paraphrase them, why bother learning? Why stress yourself when there is an easier way to go about the work and score better grades? Students now see their
assignments and quizzes to be overloads, and do you know what, they resort to
easy means to get the work done.
How It Used to Be
Imagine the 90s, where my old man’s TV would be like 60
kilometers from the wall because of its long back, and my old woman’s
smartphone was one without an internet connection. There was nothing like TikTok,
YouTube, or AI. In those years, if you wanted to pass your exams, you had to read the
textbook from cover to cover. Some of us had to stay back in class after
school ended to finish the notes we had to learn. Compare that to today.
Students have access to YouTube tutorials, AI tutors, and instant answers from Google's
AI integrated into search results. Everything now seems to be available online,
and there is an idea for everything you research.
What can we do as Experienced Teachers, Parents, and Guardians?
I have only one suggestion: you can add more in the comment
session, so I can also learn from you. To help our students, we must engage them
and teach them the value of hard work and reasonable ways to use the materials
available to them.
Let’s Talk – Are Students Really Lazy?
Maybe, to say Lazy is the wrong word to use. The 21st
Century has its own demands and will demand different efforts and approaches to
the ways of doing things. As everything around us evolves, so will our
students' education also evolve. We have to prepare our students for the world
they live in, but not the one we grew up in. Ours had no civilization, but theirs
have.
My Final Thoughts
If you have read this far, I want you to pause and think: Have
students become truly lazy, or have the world created systems that make them
lazy?
What are your thoughts? Drop your thoughts in the comments. Do you see students as lazy or just different? Let’s talk.
