Ask a Teacher: What Do You Do About The Students Who Just Don't Care?

Q: What do you do about the students who just don't care, or those who don't try at all?

A: Sophocles once wrote that "Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act." More recently (by which I mean in 1175 CE), a wit in the British Isles remarked that "Hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken," which you may be more familiar with as "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

Simply put, you can't drag someone across the finish line if they're not interested in completing the race. In education, like everything else in life, you just can't make a person care if that individual is dead set against doing so.

Now, that doesn't mean that a dedicated teacher can't and won't help people who are struggling—far from it. I have spent many a weary hour working with students who had a difficult time comprehending course material. But—and this is the important part—those people came to me. If my students show any initiative at all, I am prepared to expend any reasonable effort to help them grasp the concepts that they find elusive.

As I'm sure you've guessed by now, though, I can't instill that initiative in an unmotivated pupil. And, given the realities of our educational system, no teacher can accomplish that task. I'm not saying it's on the level of cleaning the Augean stables or killing the Nemean lion, but it's extremely difficult to make someone care when that person has decided not to.

So what does that mean? Do we just write off people who don't care or try? Well, no. We try as best as we can to reach those people. I have spent more time than I care to recall pleading, cajoling, and entreating students to do their best. In the final accounting, though, a teacher cannot motivate someone who does not want to be motivated.

As some of you may have gathered from my previous posts, I was once in the military. I attained the rank of sergeant there. And even with the (shall we say) greater leeway given to non-commissioned officers vis-a-vis civilian teachers, there were still individuals that just could not be compelled to put forth their best efforts. In a situation where a person has resolutely decided that external goals are inconsistent with that individual's desires, there just isn't anything that can be done in a civilized setting to change that person's mind.

As a teacher, it's a heck of a thing to encounter your first student who just does not care. It's actually an insult to a new teacher's vanity; one of the ideas most rookie teachers cling to is that they can reach any of their students if they try hard enough—running up against contrary evidence is a sobering and humbling experience. However, it becomes less of a personal affront over time. That said, it never gets easier to watch someone throw away an opportunity. But, as noted, hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken.

Have you ever had a teacher get frustrated by lazy students?

Mr. Toche taught statistics, sociology, and human sexuality to college students for four years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He saw, learned, and experienced more horrors than you can well imagine in that time.

Got a question for an English, science, math, writing, special ed, sociology, or PE teacher, or a specific question for Mr. Toche? Send it to contribute@sparknotes.com!

Related post: The Lazy Post