Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
33 Disturbing Stories Told By Educators Exposing Alpha Gens’ Total Lack Of Basic Life Skills
Representatives of the so-called Alpha generation—that is, in fact, modern youth—have only quite recently received their generally accepted nickname and have already been honored with a whole range of opinions about themselves, with points of view ranging from enthusiastic to condescending and even sometimes dismissive.
Some people say that this is the most creative and talented generation in the entire history of observations, while others are rather horrified that they simply dramatically lack the most ordinary and necessary knowledge and skills. So our selection today is based precisely on the opinions of the second category.
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I've taught 9-12th for the last 9 years. The scariest thing for me is they can't THINK. Problem solving, trouble shooting, reasoning... there are so many kids who have little processing power, and it seems to be getting rapidly worse in the last couple of years.
I think it's Tiktok; they don't even have time to think about the bite-size piece of media they just consumed before the next one is up.
Börje Strömming 2 days ago
Idiocracy is closing in, 2505 like in the movie is a stretch. Perhaps year 2105.
RELATED:
#2
Teacher friend told me that for years she's been seeing ability to interact with technology decline. She says a lot of her students now basically have the same ability to solve problems on a computer that you'd expect from your grandparents. I suspect growing up in the very curated world of tablets and apps has allowed them to skip all the trouble shooting lessons millennials had to learn on old computers and the early internet.
Lost Panda 5 days ago (edited)
In my house it's: Want help with social media related things, ask my oldest. Want help fixing something, come to me.
#3
A friend is a music teacher in high school. He said that he hasn't observed gen-alpha brain rot in his students. He thinks it's specifically because music is an antidote for brain rot -- it encourages patience and attentiveness.
Just a couple of days ago, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, where the topic starter, the user u/MineTech5000, asked school teachers and educators in general: "What are your most terrifying 'Gen Alpha Can't Read/Behave/Etc.' horror stories?"
It should be noted that in just three days, the thread has already managed to collect over 3.1K upvotes and almost 3K various comments—so we can say right away that there are lots of stories, and the discussion of these stories turned out to be incredibly lively, and sometimes even with heated debates.
So we, Bored Panda, now suggest a selection of the most interesting—in our opinion—stories and viewpoints.
#4
Almost weekly occurrence in my High School teacher friend's classroom:
Teacher: Hey, _______ where's your laptop?
Student: It's in my bag.
Teacher: Why isn't it out?
Student: It's dead
Teacher: Where's your charger?
Student: At home, I think?
Teacher: Perhaps one of the other 20 students in this room have a charger you can borrow?
Student: Maybe? *Stares blankly for 5 seconds*
Teacher: Well are you going to ask someone?
Student: Oh, right, can I borrow a charger?
My buddy says it's like they have no ability to pivot to
Plan B when Plan A fails.
#5
I wanted to be a teacher and student taught in an area where mommy and daddy felt like their little monsters were always right. I had one parent call up the board to get me dismissed - all 7 members - because her child didn’t feel challenged enough in class. My students were freshman and as an introductory exercise to The House on Mango Street, I asked the kids to illustrate what their ideal home would look like. That was it. That was what was so offensive to the child that the parent called for my immediate removal. She never called me directly to discuss that she was upset. I had to hear it from the principal since she hung up on me when I called to ask her what I had done wrong. When I told her kid I had no problem giving him more challenging assignments, he balked stating he wasn’t interested in working harder. I asked him then what his intention was in getting me fired? He shut up and didn’t complain ever again after that.
I had another kid who cheated. I caught her and told her she needed to take her zero and wished her good luck in summer school. The parents insisted I provide a make up opportunity and I refused. She got the principal and assistant principal involved. Kid ended up failing the class and going to summer school.
I finished my student teaching successfully and bowed out. If this was a glimpse into my professional life, it wasn’t for me. The pay isn’t enough to raise other people’s garbage children.
Anthony Elmore 4 days ago
To be fair, it doesn't sound like the first kid did anything wrong. I highly doubt he was the one behind the idea to get them fired. Seems more likely the kid lightly complained about the assignment and the parent ran with it.
#6
My partner is a teacher and has come home several telling me about 10 and 11 year old kids who can't use a ruler.
A f*****g ruler.
They can't use it to measure a straight line. They can't use it to draw a straight line. They can't use it to draw a like to connect two points. They just don't know how to use it. At 10+ years old.
Let me remind you right away that Generation Alpha includes children born from the beginning to middle of the 2010s, that is, the first generation born entirely in the 21st century. These are mainly the kids of millennials and partly of Gen-Zs.
It is widely believed that the author of the very term "Generation Alpha" is Mark McCrindle, the founder of the Australian consulting agency McCrindle Research, and author of the book 'The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations,' published in 2009.
"It just made sense as it is in keeping with the scientific nomenclature of using the Greek alphabet in lieu of the Latin and it didn't make sense to go back to A," McCrindle told the New York Times in an interview dated in 2015. "After all they are the first generation wholly born in the 21st Century and so they are the start of something new not a return to the old."
#7
I teach highschool math. I’ve encountered many students who were operating at maybe a 2nd grade level of math.
Seniors who couldn’t do 2x3 in their heads.
Juniors who didn’t know what a square root was.
Seniors who couldn’t solve for x in x + 1 = 8.
Freshmen who couldn’t ADD OR SUBTRACT
I had one sophomore this year who could not wrap her mind around “20 more than” in a certain type of problem. I tried for a few minutes before saying “let’s say you and I go into a store. I’m going to buy some number of apples and you plan on buying 20 more apples than what I buy. If I buy 5 apples, how many would you buy?” ….”20?”.
Tucker Cahooter 5 days ago
Maybe the person was taught with reference to watermelons or mangoes and can't extrapolate the scenario to apples
#8
I asked an undergraduate student for their opinion on a text, they pulled out their phone, typed my question into ChatGPT and then read aloud the answer it gave.
#9
Currently studying to be a teacher. In one of my in-school placements, I had students come up to me and ask what time it was. I would always look at the clock on the wall, that they had clear view of, and tell them the time. None of the kids (12-14 year olds) knew how to read a clock. I even explained how to read it to a few of them and they looked at me like I had two heads.
The last kids of Generation Alpha are thought to be born around 2029 or 2030, but teachers are already flooding the Internet with dramatic stories about how these children have trouble reading or writing, are poorly acquainted with basic mathematical concepts and operations, and are sometimes unable to perform the most basic actions in the world around them.
The reason for this is usually given as the widespread use of smartphones and high-speed Internet—as a result, unlike Z-Gens, modern kids grew up not just with gadgets in their hands, but with gadgets that are fundamentally different in their capabilities from the smartphones and tablets of the '00s.
#10
I had a pre-k student whose speech was unintelligible. He could not communicate. So I told his mom he needed to be tested for speech therapy and she replied,"Awww, so he wont baby talk anymore? I'm gonna miss hearing that!".
#11
High school student asked me what it means to "put it in his own words" instead of copying and pasting. .
#12
My friend teaches 5th grade. He's just now getting the kids that were learning to read when covid happened.
He said several of them can't tell time. On a digital clock.
According to modern sociologists, parents are also partly to blame for this, as they were so overprotective of their offspring that they actually deprived them of the need to develop all of the skills that previous generations were so famous for. Why read something if you can watch a video? Why write if you have voice typing? Why, finally, think—if you can ask ChatGPT about literally everything?
#13
Not a teacher, but I was a counselor at a summer camp. On the second day, the boys told me to convince one kid (age 12) to shower because he refused to. After I resorted to dragging him into the bathroom, he looked at the shower head and asked: "What do I do?" so I had to tell him how to take a shower. Eventually he did while I stood outside and waited. He's 12 years old and his parents still bathe him.
rainy_days (fae/faer) 4 days ago (edited)
I'm not that surprised. In my formation to work at summer camp, we were taught exactly what to do in these situations, that's how not rare it is
#14
One of my fourth graders was provisionally promoted from third grade in the middle of the school year. He was reading at a first grade level when he arrived in my class. He hit his 14-day suspension cap quickly because he was constantly fighting with other kids instead of actually trying to learn. The guidance counselor pulled him out to do a therapeutic art project one afternoon. That's how we discovered that he doesn't know his shapes either. It was one of the worst cases of educational neglect that I've seen. Of course, the parent was upset that her kid was not on honor roll and demanded to know why he was failing every subject. Oh yeah, the regional superintendent overruled us and promoted him to fifth grade.
#15
They’re not good at problem solving or self reflection. And they struggle to pay attention. You ask them a question, and they look at you like you’re going to spoon feed them the answers. There’s no initiative. No drive. No curiosity.
Gabriel Camomescro 1 day ago
Because too many in society DO spoon-feed the answers and these same people think anyone that doesn't is cruel.
On the other hand, what could the kids themselves do about it? Or is it rather a problem of a society that literally overnight (one decade in historical terms is a very short period of time) faced a fundamentally new technological order, while the social and mental order remained largely the same.
It's quite possible that in the future we'll have to change this entire system—either adapt to the demands of new generations, or try to teach them all these skills at a relatively mature age.
It is not for nothing that the first startups are already appearing in Europe and the USA—the courses where young people learn basic skills for independent living. Who knows, maybe this is the next 'blue ocean' of the economy?
#16
Elementary PE teacher here. The amount of children biting when angry is terrifying. I have several that will chase a kid down after they’ve been wronged, grab their arm, and bite them like a dog. So far they’re all under 7, but I’m up to four in different classes. That’s a specific problem, I’ll add that in general we are doomed.
Hellcaste's Wife 4 days ago
My son went through a biting phase when he was about 3.5 (diagnosed ADHD). We couldn't stop him, until his psychiatrist asked, "Have you tried doing it to him?" Um, excuse me, what? Finally, I'd had a rough day and he bit the c**p out of me. I turned around, grabbed his arm and bit him back. Not hard, but the shock broke through his tantrum and he looked at me like I lost my mind. I calmly said, "See? You didn't like it either. WE. DON'T. BITE!" Never bit anyone again.
#17
In the last year alone, I can think of three students off the top of my head who got caught touching themselves in class--while making eye contact with another student.
We had a kid running a full d**g operation out of the boy's bathroom. Vapes, w**d, cigarettes, a burner phone to do the transactions... the whole nine.
When I try to tell them their written work is completely unintelligible due to incoherent grammar and lack of basic sentence structure, I am met with, "I said what I said. If you can't understand it, then that is your problem."
Commas are too hard of a concept.
Yay middle school.
#18
My mom and her sister worked in education for a long time. They both retired around ten years ago, but as they were getting closer to retirement, every year they'd say, "The kids and parents are worse every year." I believe that. I spent a brief time working in adult probation - a lot of kids with parents who enable them end up there. I dealt with so many parents of young adults who would call and try to schedule probation appointments for their "kid". They'd be furious when we told them no, their kid needed to do it themselves. They'd try to come to probation appointments with them. They'd say stuff like "you mean their ALLEGED crime" and I'd correct them and say, "It's not alleged once you're convicted." You'd meet or talk to these parents and feel sort of sorry for these people. Their kids had no chance with parents like that.
So many parents today only want their kid to be "happy" but in reality, they have no idea what it takes to make a person happy. They says these younger people are all anxious and depressed...clearly being poorly educated, unable to solve basic problems, or understanding how to function successfully in an already hard world doesn't make a person happy! But parents insist that they send their kid to school in bubble wrap to make sure no one pops and of their bubbles and send them back exactly the same. Their kids are miserable, emotionally stunted, and totally unprepared for reality as a result. But no one wants to seriously talk about the fact that is 100% the parents who are the problem. You can have all the school funding on earth but if you are serving parents who want a nannies and not educators you end up where we are.
Xenia Harley 1 day ago
Okay, I am retired nearly 9 years, taught for 30+ years. Parents when I started teaching were coddling kids, as in they could do no wrong, and those children are now parents themselves. They probably have no idea how to parent without giving in to every whim and doing everything for their kids. Remember helicopter parents? Now the children of the helicopter parents are parents themselves.
Be that as it may, here and now we have millions of children, many of whom read worse than their older siblings and parents, who have great difficulty concentrating, and whose thinking process simply works differently. So if, after reading this selection of tales you want to either tell a similar story or suggest an idea of what to do about it all, please do so in the comments!
#19
More hilarious than terrifying. My good friend is a high school teacher, usually teaching Seniors. One day she gave a research assignment about the Legend of Sleepy Hallow. One of the papers she had gotten back really confused her because it started going off about mysteries and time travel. Then it hit her, this student had done the old "Look up the Wikipedia article and write about that" but had accidentally pulled up the 2013 show.
#20
I was an elementary school sub for many years. Phonics is no longer taught in our district, and they don't do math drills in class - it's all supposed to be done at home by the parents, and that doesn't happen. So the kids don't have the muscle-memories in place with the basics, which prevents them from being able to think through the rest of the problem. Plus, our district bought into this concept of "spiral" math, where the kids are introduced to high math concepts (like negative numbers) each year starting in first grade, but they don't go into depth with the basics. They see the same concept again the next year, and they still don't get it. And so on until middle school. By then they've decided math is a mysterious black hole, they hate it, and they're going to avoid it whenever possible. It made teaching so frustrating, and it was awful to see the sheer dread and confusion on their faces whenever math was taught. We can do better.
Lost Panda 5 days ago
Okay, I'm going to start by saying yes parents should help children at home with their studies, but I am going to add that a school district should NOT expect everything to be done at home with the parents help. I'm not saying that all parents are not going to have interest (and I know there are some), but in today's world it can sometimes be near impossible to work, do routine house care (meals, dishes, laundry, etc.) and help with homework while ensuring the child gets fed, bathed, and in bed at an appropriate time. Yes, we should help our children, but no the basic fundamentals of it should still be taught at school with the parents acting as reinforcement.
#21
During a project week we had a first grader who could barely speak our national language, barely his mother tongue but he spoke in memes like a pro.
#22
One of my ex's had an 11 year old daughter that couldn't read. I was flabbergasted when she went to the bathroom then asked which was the hand sanitizer and which was the hand soap. They were both in their original labeled bottles...
chris Cannon 1 day ago
How do you, as a parent, not know your child can't read? If you do know, how are you not outraged (assuming there's nothing developmentally wrong with your child). That's bad parenting.
#23
Only 27% of the incoming 6th graders at the local middle school are proficient in math skills. Also, next to zero problem solving skills or critical thinking skills, like a “do it for me” or “I’m just not doing that 🤷♀️” mindset for school work. You can turn in zero work for a class and get passed through. We don’t require motivation anymore. Edit to add: for reference on how disturbing the math percentage is: 6th grade math skills would include basic work with fractions, finding averages of a group of numbers, reading a graph or chart, basic decimal operations, finding percents, etc. We give multiplication charts now instead of memorizing your basic multiplication facts.
#24
I work for a school transportation department and when I'm not in the office, I'm a "permanent substitute" who fills in for absent bus drivers. Each bus is parked in the same "lane" at the schools every single day, regardless of who is driving. Most students walk up to the bus and if they see it isn't their regular driver, they look around in horror and start wandering around aimlessly. I tell them every time it will be in the same lane regardless of driver, but I can drive the same route once or twice every week and the same clueless kids will back up and wander around every time. If the rare observant kid doesn't intercept them and redirect, dismissal gets held up while administrators search for the right bus. It doesn't help that many of them don't know their address or subdivision. High school is the worst about it! I have done this for 11 years and it gets worse every single year - and I drive for some of the top academic schools in the state.
#25
Lack of critical thinking and reasoning skills is the big one for me. And a lack of curiosity in the world around them.
Parroting memes is the worst I think though. It seems to really k**l any imagination that kids used to have.
#26
I'm not a teacher but a former janitor, and all I can say is urine and feces EVERYWHERE!!!
#27
Gen Z + not a teacher
sometimes i'm absolutely baffled by the lack of reading comprehension, work ethic and critical thinking skill among my own peers. how in god's green earth is it getting worse?
#28
I teach college. The number of students that can't compose a basic research paper is depressing. I had one student research a company but the company's name changed a few years prior. Clearly she was plagiarising from an earlier student's paper. I told her over and over, company A is now called company B; by calling it company A it is clear that you have not even visited the company's current website (a requirement for the paper). She ignored me and stuck with calling it company A and failed.
Luke Branwen 4 days ago
Peeps, take a good care of your health because the current future doctors are graduating solely thanks to ChatGPT
#29
We had a kid who didn’t know that deserts were dry.
Also hardly any of them know the difference between vowels and consonants. Thanks, Lucy Calkins!
mandy the capibara 1 day ago
Well, antarctica is considered a desert, but it's covered in ice, which most people wouldn't call dry;) But maybe they should skip going on Countdown
#30
Not in my class but JUST YESTERDAY we were at a coffee shop and two of the girls didn’t recognize a quarter. One asked the other, “is this a nickel? Wait, is a nickel only 5 cents?” Then tried to flag us down for stiffing them and I said, “a quarter is 25 cents.” How did they get the job as cashiers? We’re doomed.
Ruth Watry 11 hours ago
I managed a fast food restaurant in the 90s, and part of the interview involved giving them a cash drawer, and going through transactions. The total is - this is what they gave you - figure out the change. If they could not do that, there is no way that I would have hired them (although now I guess everything in on credit and debit cards)
#31
I always think these stories are exaggerated, but I teach private piano lessons and had a 9/10yo girl a few months back who admitted that she couldn’t read her (very basic) beginner level music theory book, nor could she write very well. First time I’ve seen it in person after decades of teaching.
#32
Not a teacher but several people in my family are primary school teachers and teacher's assistants.
Most recent story i was told: for children's day, my cousin made bracelets to give to her 3rd grade class with a frase "happy children's day". A few of the kids couldn't read it.
She can't force the kids to learn bc the parents complain that she is abusing the kids by trying to teach them.
#33
Not a teacher but when I was at trade school for my electrical certification the amount of high schoolers who came straight into trade school and couldn't do basic math or read the provided work books and retain the most basic info was insane.
By the end of the first semester 50% of them couldn't tell you what voltage even was, and 80% couldn't calculate voltage and current or resistance (it's literally a formula V=IR that you just plug the numbers into and get the answer)
The second semester left us with a class of 3 high schoolers who had good heads on them and the rest were like me 25-40 year olds who were changing careers.
What do you think ?
Michal Pifko 4 days ago
BP is slowly changing into a "grumpy old man" website. I teach ocasionally and most students are fine. There are slow ones sure, but that was true when I was a student as well. The only thing I can confirm is they often can't tell time on an analog clock. But then again, I can't use punched cards or a spinning wheel. Some skills just get obsolete over time.
mandy the capibara 1 day ago
I tend to agree. The generational comparison is a lot of over-generalization and people wanting to feel superior based on their generation. There recently was a study in the Netherlands on many life-preserving skills people had that would save them if utilities would go down in a crisis ( such as repairing, navigating, growing food, fire-making, filtering water etc) and guess what: all generations scored equally bad. We just tend to judge our own generation by its best, and others by its worst examples to make us feel good about ourselves
Load More Replies...
Corwin 02 5 days ago
This all sounds very American to me, I am not aware of any European kid in any of the countries having these deficiencies
Nicole Weymann 4 days ago (edited)
Not this extreme, but there is a tendency towards "bulimic learning" that I've observed, where students cram the material for the next exam into their heads short-term, and "vomit" them on the paper. The problem is that they have no idea about the subject they "learned. Two weeks after the test it's all evaporated. Since we invented school to give people skills for life I find it alarming that a significant number of students seem to leave the school system with good marks and mostly blank hard drives. I do realise that not everything taught will actually be needed, but you'll never know WHICH bits are surplus until you need them, at which point it'll be a pain in the neck to fill the gap - likely using the tried and tested bulimia method. It's a theory that offers an explanation for the mind boggling number of nurses and doctors among the no vaxx scene. (BTW: I'm German)
Load More Replies...
greenideas 4 days ago (edited)
I'm a university instructor and some of this resonates. Overall, I notice a general lack of curiosity about the world, a lack of empathy and lack of basic manners. Not most people, but the number increases every year. A couple of months ago, we had an in-class writing assignment and a 19-year-old student with an IB degree came up to me confused that I expected him to write on a piece of paper, and with pen (!) He said he hadn't done it for 3 years. I was so shocked that I just managed to get out "Well, do your best". And yeah, some can't read analog clocks.
Michal Pifko 4 days ago
BP is slowly changing into a "grumpy old man" website. I teach ocasionally and most students are fine. There are slow ones sure, but that was true when I was a student as well. The only thing I can confirm is they often can't tell time on an analog clock. But then again, I can't use punched cards or a spinning wheel. Some skills just get obsolete over time.
mandy the capibara 1 day ago
I tend to agree. The generational comparison is a lot of over-generalization and people wanting to feel superior based on their generation. There recently was a study in the Netherlands on many life-preserving skills people had that would save them if utilities would go down in a crisis ( such as repairing, navigating, growing food, fire-making, filtering water etc) and guess what: all generations scored equally bad. We just tend to judge our own generation by its best, and others by its worst examples to make us feel good about ourselves
Load More Replies... Corwin 02 5 days ago
This all sounds very American to me, I am not aware of any European kid in any of the countries having these deficiencies
Nicole Weymann 4 days ago (edited)
Not this extreme, but there is a tendency towards "bulimic learning" that I've observed, where students cram the material for the next exam into their heads short-term, and "vomit" them on the paper. The problem is that they have no idea about the subject they "learned. Two weeks after the test it's all evaporated. Since we invented school to give people skills for life I find it alarming that a significant number of students seem to leave the school system with good marks and mostly blank hard drives. I do realise that not everything taught will actually be needed, but you'll never know WHICH bits are surplus until you need them, at which point it'll be a pain in the neck to fill the gap - likely using the tried and tested bulimia method. It's a theory that offers an explanation for the mind boggling number of nurses and doctors among the no vaxx scene. (BTW: I'm German)
Load More Replies... greenideas 4 days ago (edited)
I'm a university instructor and some of this resonates. Overall, I notice a general lack of curiosity about the world, a lack of empathy and lack of basic manners. Not most people, but the number increases every year. A couple of months ago, we had an in-class writing assignment and a 19-year-old student with an IB degree came up to me confused that I expected him to write on a piece of paper, and with pen (!) He said he hadn't done it for 3 years. I was so shocked that I just managed to get out "Well, do your best". And yeah, some can't read analog clocks.
You May Like “Tell Me Your Most Unhinged Teacher Hack”: 40 Tried And Tested Answers Teachers Online Share 30 Epic And Horrifying Results Of Letting Kids "Draw Anything" In Art Class 36 Life's Little Moments That Only Prove That Happiness Doesn't Have To Be Grand
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Monika Pašukonytė
Rūta Zumbrickaitė
Related on Bored Panda
