More than 80% of teachers and 65% of school administrators say students have become less independent in recent years, according to an EdWeek study released earlier this year.
I have been an educator for 10 years now, and I have seen public school students slowly but surely decline in their social and interpersonal skills as well as their ability to learn independently and effectively employ critical thinking skills, one teacher said, anonymously, in response to an open-ended survey question.
The question of where to assign blame for this state of affairs is a complicated question. So is the question of how to resolve it. However, it seems clear that students exposed to educational programs that incentivize (or require) self-directed, independent learning are better positioned to succeed in an ever more competitive global economy…