Which of these factors is responsible for the decline in NAEP? Looking at the list of possible contributors makes me wonder whether many might be symptoms, rather than causes.
What might make students lose stamina for their work, feel less engaged by it, seek escape in their phone for hours each day, and nevertheless feel anxious and depressed?
These sound to me like the actions of students who would like to care about the world around them, to be invested in the future, but have no faith that caring matters. It sounds like the actions of people suffering a crisis of confidence.
Why would students today think that the world is a place of threat, rather than one of opportunity? And why would they feel powerless to effect change?
Consider the messages that a typical student hears from the adults in their life. Members of the opposing political party are not merely wrong, they are evil, and actively working to destroy our way of life. Children are warned about school shootings. They are warned about scams and sexual predators online. They are told that the planet is doomed due to climate change, or that politicians and scientists—people we would hope should be respected—are perpetrating a hoax. College is unaffordable, and a college degree doesn’t help anyway. If another pandemic comes, they can rest assured it will not bring the country together, but will be an occasion for further conflict.
It’s not just that things are bad, children get the message that our problems are not fixable. Surveysshow that the adults around them don’t trust the institutions that are supposed to help us solve these problems. We do not trust Government. We don’t trust businesses. We don’t trust the media.