Slackers

An article in today's Washington Post discusses today's work ethic (and the lack of it among the younger generation). They interviewed a manager of a local pizza place, who complained that one worker is always using the Internet to place bets, another is always on the phone to his girlfriend, and another simply doesn't want to work. At a local Hertz car rental place, one new hire spent his time watching TV on his iPod, smiling and laughing while the customers tried to figure out what was going on.

Sounds a lot like my students.

Another characteristic the newspaper comments on was the new workers' assumption that they don't have to put in long, patient hours to build a career.

All of this reminds me of my students, but I don't think the fault is entirely theirs. We told them these things. We (older guys) didn't fail them when they decided not to submit the homework. We told them that all they need to do is occupy a chair in the classroom, and eventually we'll give them a great job (where they can continue to slack off). It links up to several other things I get grumpy about. Why aren't there any American products for sale? Nobody feels like doing the work to develop and make them. Why did Wall Street crash? (And why will it crash again quite soon?) People think that by simply shuffling money around, they can get rich. The Ponzi scheme was the most obvious, of course, but generally big banking is built on the idea that nobody has to actually work for wealth—we can get there by finding a cool loophole.

So I'm off for the weekend. When I return, I'll ask for the papers that are due (6 to 8 pages). Many of my students won't have them. They hope that somehow the paper fairy will put a paper under their pillows while they sleep. In another class, I'll watch my students dozing and dreaming while I attempt to conduct class. (I gave a quiz there the other day and one guy didn't even bother to submit a sheet full of guesses.)

The message from the coaches is clear: If you have big muscles and an abrasive attitude, you can get rich.

The message from adult culture is clear: If you find the right loophole, you don't have to actually do the work.

My mother asked me if I am a tough teacher. I'm getting tougher.