I love my students–I surely do. But there is no way I would want to be one of them, or part of what’s now being called “Generation Z.” They’re stepping into the arena grossly underequipped to fight: no sword, no shield, no strategy. I would arm them better if I could.
When I begin to think about my students, two words come to mind. One is “success.” The other is “performance.” …From the time they stepped into preschool, the great majority of my students have been primed for success. What does success mean? The answer to that question is rather distressingly simple. Success means getting into a top-tier college. My school, the University of Virginia, isn’t among the topmost, but it qualifies. To “get in,” one needs to do certain things: generate A’s, participate in activities, become a “leader,” win the support of influential adults in one’s life.
The A’s come first. It is important to get as many as possible and to do so in what are ostensibly the most challenging courses. You must excel. But (and here is the important point) you need to excel numerically. You need good grades. That does not mean that you need to learn much. You may learn calculus and chemistry. Given the rigor of the testing in those subjects, there is probably no other choice. But for other subjects, learning is not necessary. History, English, social sciences–those rely on writing and reading, and here you have multiple options. You can read all the books, you can do your writing yourself. You can learn and grow and develop as a writer and thinker. You can assess your strengths and weaknesses; consult with your teacher; get together with friends to talk, compare notes, and improve your powers.
But if you do that, you take a risk. It takes a lot of time. And without that time, you’re in trouble. How do you show up for your activities? How do you make it daily to lacrosse practice? How do you make it to prom committee? Tutoring kids downtown: that takes time, but the admissions office wants to see service…The problem is this: with all the time that it takes to succeed in current terms, there is little left for the actual, arduous, often pleasurable work of learning. Learning takes time, but time is not readily be had. So one turns to Spark Notes and something called Shmoop to get an angle on Shakespeare. All of one’s difficult reading can get jobbed off in one way or another. If you are reasonably adroit, knowing the plot and the characters is often enough to get you your A. But you do not learn anything. You will succeed, but you will probably not grow, except in developing tactics for success.
It is too early for us to tabulate the result of developing a class of young people who, smart, energetic, and charming as they may be, have not developed a true taste for reading…
Mark Edmundson, The Age of Guilt The Super-Ego in the Online World, 62-63