Studying = Failing.....

So I was in a Writing/English 8th grade class today and one student decided to write what seemed to be a mathematical equation.  If you can explain this to me, I would be much obliged because I don't get it!

No Study = Fail

Study = No fail

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No Study + Study = Fail + No Fail

(No + 1) study = (No+1) fail

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Study = Fail

This is a pretty common theme with middle schoolers these days; they try to give logical arguments to teachers why studying is a bad thing.  In the first five minutes the teacher decided to indulge the class and allow them to prove to him why this equation could be true.  A plethora of arguments were thrown out there, most of which consisted of ridiculous claims and poor use of the English language.  However, one student did say something which made some sense...

"Teachers give us so much homework and we become too tired to finish it.  I think teachers think that we just do homework all the time and not get tired."

While this argument makes sense, Students these days whine and complain about having way too much homework to do.  At the middle school I work at, most students have two daily classes, mainly English and Math, while having two periods that only run every other day.  The homework in the "every other day" classes are due on the day of class, which means they have homework due on Thursday, and have 5 days to complete the homework due for the following Tuesday.  These classes consist of Geography and/or History.  However, on the days they don't have those two academic courses, they have either art, band, technology, or computer class, depending on what the student wanted to take for that specific quarter.  These electives typically have little or no homework as everything is done in class.  So, to be honest, they only have homework in their two daily classes that is due everyday...if that.

However, homework in these two everyday classes consist of worksheets that are no more than 10 to 15 problems and/or questions.  Yeah, they get writing assignments, but the English teachers typically only ask for no more than two paragraphs (4 - 8 sentences per paragraph) for each assignment.  For the most part, teachers will give examples to help guide their students in the writing process when working at home and most likely allow them to start the assignment before the period is over.  Needless to say, this is NOT A LOT and it is NOT DEMANDING!

In the English class I was in today, the 8th graders were learning about Pathos, Logos, and Ethos.  After explaining these concepts with examples and instructions, the teacher allowed the students to grab some magazines and look for ads using one of these three rhetorical concepts.  You'd think they would be all about looking through magazines and ripping up pages, but no!  Every single students complained because it was "too much work" and they "didn't get it."  Conversations are great with these kids as they seem to enjoy talking about issues like abortion and how "people who have abortions should receive the death penalty", but when you ask them to think on their own, everything goes to Hell.  It's sad and disheartening, but so very true.