October 16, 2008
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Learned Helplessness
Typically, class today went something like this:
I explained in great detail the way ionic compounds are formed from the atoms in the periodic table. Now, this is not a difficult concept to understand; in fact, in years gone by it was routinely taught in junior high, and students could easily master it. Today however, a significant number of my students were not successful, and they told me in no uncertain terms that they could not understand what I was teaching.
What is happening here? Are the students less intelligent than those of previous generations? Has my teaching become vague and unclear? The answer to these is, “no”.
What has happened is that students have learned to be helpless. What I mean by this is they have a psychological condition that I call, “Learned Helplessness”.
“Johnny, it seems you’re not doing your assignment. What is wrong?”
“Well, Mr. S., I don’t understand how to do it.”
“Well, O.K., let’s start at the beginning. Where in my instruction did I lose you?”
“The whole thing, Mr. S. I can’t understand the way you teach.”
“That’s strange, during my presentation you did not ask a single question. Why didn’t you stop me and ask me to clarify what I was telling you?”
(No response from the student.)
“Johnny, I did notice that when I was speaking your attention did not seem to be focused on my instruction. In fact, I think it safe to say that you were daydreaming and not present at all. So, it’s no surprise to me that you cant’ understand the way I teach if you are not present enough to hear a word I am saying.”
“Johnny, tell me the truth, when I was teaching were you reliving the past, or anticipating the future, perhaps you were looking forward to school being out today, and grabbing some food from the fridge, or maybe you have a date tonight that is on your mind? Hmmm? Because your attention was certainly not in the instruction. No one can teach you unless you are present in the felt moment of immediate experience.
“Johnny, do you see how you are attempting to transfer the responsibility of learning away from yourself and blaming me for your lack of attention?”
“Huh? I don’t understand what you mean! I was doing my work Mr.”
“Johnny, your true work is to visualize what I am telling you and integrate that permanently into your own world model. In our world of information today, this is the only true power education can give you.”
“Mr. S., I can’t do that because I can’t understand anything you say.”
“Well, did you understand what I just told you?”
“No. It didn’t make any sense at all”
“Was I speaking in English? Did I use words you are unfamiliar with? Or, are you just in denial, of your own behavior?”
“What? Leave me alone, Mr. S. You are crazy!!
I just want to do my work.”
O.k. let’s talk about what’s going on here. Johnny has a typical and common case of “Learned Helplessness”. He has discovered the power in claiming to not understand something. He then is no longer responsible for learning and transfers the blame to the teacher.
And he has also learned that this strategy works. Teachers are helpless to combat this syndrome because they don’t understand the fundamental principles and significance of present moment consciousness. Our society today does not have a good grasp on this model. Because our culture doesn’t accept and embrace this reality, students then take over the classroom and many, many teachers lose their jobs. The majority of administrators take the path of least resistance and support insane claims of the students.
This isn’t just a high school classroom phenomenon, it carries over into higher education and the workplace. Recently, the top official responsible for recruitment to the U.S. armed services stated that they can no longer find enough qualified recruits to train as competent soldiers, and officers.
But no one had a clue as to what to do about it!
A fire Chief I know reiterated the same lament, explaining that after training firemen for decades, he suddenly can’t find anyone now whom he trusts to learn the job.
Learned helplessness is so pervasive it is undermining our entire society, and the root of the problem is a lack of present moment consciousness.
Comments (10)
Well, you speak true. Then again, we have become a culture of mediocrity, sensory overload and disconnect. When one tries to rise above these conditions, it becomes like playing chess on the same board with someone who is thinking checkers.
Peace~
~How very true…Excellent Post!!!
Wishing you a fantastic & fanciful Friday…(((Angel Hugs & Love…)))
~The Island Concierge~.
Try speaking to them only in German and see how they like that!:lol: Karol
We live in a society where the children have learned mediocre generica is the way to success. Did I mention I’m glad you are blogging again Doug?
Hello, and thank you.
there can be many reasons this particular student is doing this. either he’s one of those smart alecs and thinks this is funny (was there other people watching this conversation?), it could be that he really doesn’t understand and when you started asking so many questions he became defensive and shut down on you because he might not have understood the words you were using (this would be my guess).
if it’s the first he is just showing off to friends and ragging on the teacher
if it’s the second then he might just need private tutoring
i think i might actually remember learning about the elements on the periodic table. it’s been a while…
like 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen makes water (is that what you were teaching stuff like that?) in that case he might have completely skipped math when he was in another grade and that might be the problem
Nightly dreams …thanks for your comment and your make some valid observations…
I should have explained myself a bit better.
Yes he did not understand…not because he lacked the ability to understand but because he never intended to learn what I was teaching.
His defensive reaction was predictable, automatic..and a classic denial of his primary responsibility as a student.
Was I “hard” on him to point this out?
No, If I dont wake these kids up now….they will grow into adult puppets who will have no recourse but to be cared for by the state.
Unfortunatly this is exactly the plan.
:spinning:
you’ve aged well Dos good to see ur face my neighbor & friend Austin teaches as a sustitute she goes into a war zone everyday & comes out frazzled she was very upbeat & set out to change the world thru children now she just survives to find one or two with whom she can influence have a good one beck
Having taught for a number of years I have had this identical conversation dozens of times with students of varying backgrounds in different states. It’s become a game for some to see if they can get a teacher fired. They don’t pay any attention, and then claim that they can’t learn from the teacher. Administrators do not care about the consequences to a teacher’s life as long as the students are happy…then their parents don’t complain. Sadly, parents should be complaining most about this! Have we forgotten that absolute power corrupts absolutely? Do we really want to give all this power to our teenagers? I thought the adults were supposed to be in control.
When I have suggested to a parent that a child’s attention (presence) in the moment of instruction is the most important requisite for learning, they easily get the point!
I always had trouble learning at home.
My strenght was listening what my teacher was teaching and learning in the class.