“University academics are increasingly concerned about the performance of some Leaving Cert students who are ‘spoon-fed’ in school and expect the same in college, the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, Tom Boland said yesterday. In a key address, he also pointed to increasing evidence that the quality and employability of Irish graduates was declining, when compared to other developed states …” (more)
[Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 13 June]
Forget university, we’re having this problem in US elementary schools! I teach 5th grade (10 and 11 year-olds), and they expect me to do things like get their books or papers, or give them a new pen every time they lose one, or give them lots of hints or a private lesson during a test… It’s ridiculous! And the parents make it worse. They do everything for their kids at home so that I can’t get their kid to do a simple task like “put your book away” because Mommy is his personal maid. I tell them, “I’m not your maid, and I’m not your mother. I’m your teacher. Now (do whatever).” Parents (and some teachers) need to stop coddling these kids so they can grow up.