Teaching is one of the most important (and often thankless!) jobs in our society. Each day, educators set out to mold young minds and guide them into becoming knowledgeable and rounded citizens. From droves of screaming first-graders to packs of hormone-addled teens, they go above and beyond to help these little daredevils discover their identities, passions, and talents. So it’s unsurprising that by doing so, they amass troves of observations about the changes that occur in these chaotic classrooms.
“What’s the difference between the kids then vs. the kids now?” wondered user AlBen97 when they reached out to teachers of ‘Ask Reddit’ who boast over 20 years of experience. The thread immediately became a hit, inviting professionals to share their illuminating insights.
Whether it’s new challenges educators face today or changes (both lovely and not) in kids’ behavior, we have gathered some of the most notable shifts in students across the years. So continue scrolling to enjoy these examples, and be sure to let us know what you think of them in the comments! Then if you’re interested in even more illuminating teacher tales, check out our earlier piece on the same topic right over here.
#1
I’ve only been a teacher for a few years, but one very positive difference that I’ve noticed from when I was in school, is that the kids are a lot more understanding towards neuropsychiatric disorders than we were. When I was in school, kids with dyslexia were sometimes called “retards”, and kids with adhd were social outcasts.
My students on the other hand are super supportive and cool with their peers’ different disorders. No one ever questions when we accommodate the classroom for certain students, and everyone patiently helps out when they have to work with students with special needs. Very cool!
Image source: Bakingmuffin, Zhivko Minkov
#2
Kids today are more accepting. A decade ago, students who are gay or bi would hide it. Now, even in middle school, students feel safe enough to be open about who they like. Additionally, our school has had several students transition. NBD to other students.
Image source: Ignoble_profession, Josè Maria Sava
#3
I’ll be the one to point out the positive changes. I have been teaching for 18 years, and I’ve noticed a huge increase in empathy, tolerance and acceptance of differences. I have also noticed an increase in general awareness of the world and the people in it, and overall kids seem to get along better with each other. I feel really good about “kids these days”. Honestly.
Image source: anon
#4
Mental health.
Over the last 20 years I’ve seen a really significant increase in kids that seem very mentally unstable in regular classrooms – with very little support. What is really hard to handle is the number of kids who demonstrate very explosive anger at school. Trashing classrooms, screaming foul language, throwing objects, breaking things and harming themselves, classmates and teachers. This is a very common occurrence (weekly) in my experience and in the experience of ALL my teacher friends. I really fear for the mental health of all the kids who have to deal with this. I feel like they are being put into an abusive situation – always on edge that something might set these kids off.
I’m sorry if this came across as uncaring towards the students exhibiting violent, explosive behaviour. I have great deal of compassion for them and want them to get the appropriate care and attention they need. They need that support from someone other than a classroom teacher. I work hard to teach self regulation in my class and set kids up for success by having a calm down corner, alternative seating, body breaks, snack breaks. I try to teach each child ‘where they are at’ and work hard to get to know each and every child as an individual and make them feel cared for and that I believe in them. But I can’t be a psychiatrist and social worker and teach 20- 30 kids.
Image source: possiblyyourmum, RODNAE Productions
#5
I have been teaching at universities 4 decades. Lack of intellectual curiosity . Students have what is the minimum I need to do to get my ticket punched mentality. The number one question I get asked is what is on the exam. They are so grade focused that it is ruining education. I had a number of students complain that my class was too hard and a vice provost told me to dumb my class down (I refused, long story).
I see a number of folks commented on parents. We have parents calling up the president of the university to complain when a kid fails a class. I’ve dealt with parents and lawyers after giving a bad grade. I now must be so careful and not hurt anyone’s feelings (Thank God my university has banned the fake service dogs).
Image source: TheProfessorO, Kenny Eliason
#6
Teacher of 24 years – not much difference. Kids are kids. Bundles of joy, anxiety, achievement, fears, hopefulness, self loathing, energy, laziness, humour, sarcasm and, most importantly, their individual spark that makes each of them precious.
#7
My mum was a nursery (so kids 3-4 years old) teacher for 30+ years and her classroom had a computer in it. Most kids would be familiar with the screen/mouse/keyboard when they arrived even at their young age when she taught in the 2000s and it became normal for families to have a home computer. In the last few years before she retired she noticed a trend of kids coming in and not knowing ow to use the mouse or keyboard because they were so used to iPads and touch screens.
#8
20 years experience. I find the biggest difference is the inability to self regulate. Some kids struggle with the word “wait.” Some kids struggle when their emotions get too big- they don’t have coping mechanisms. Some kids aren’t able to interpret the emotions of others. However many kids are just fine.
I think it is related to changes in parenting and technology. The instant gratification of technology combined with parents who don’t create boundaries create kids who can’t self regulate.
However I also think that kids spend less time outside unsupervised. The natural processes of learning and social interactions is not happening for most kids.
Most kids are really pretty good. Every year I have kids that prove my faith in humanity. But that 10% who trash classroom, scream, and freak out are getting worse. The difference between the top and the bottom is only getting larger.
Image source: AmyCee20, Jess Zoerb
#9
My mom retired last year after teaching 30+ years. She had recently become a vice principal and had planned on working for another 5 years to really top up her pension… but she couldn’t handle the parents. Helicopter parents as they’re called. She said the parents just won’t let their kids take responsibility for their actions (come in screaming because their kid got detention for suckerpunching some kid on the yard – and admitting to it), or accept their grades (kid got a bad mark on a test, TEXTED his mom immediately, she drove in and lost her s**t. It doesn’t matter that she showed her the test where he got most of the answers wrong.)
Image source: MoonBoots69, Jerry Wang
#10
Reading. I teach in post-graduate professional school. They are kids at 22-26 years old. As a general statement, they do not know how to extract information from reading. They skim rather than read. Also, they claim to be visual or auditory learners rather than readers (thank you b******t education specialists).
Image source: porkly1, Tony Tran
#11
Anxiety is worse. I have multiple kids each year with diagnosed anxiety disorder IN KINDERGARTEN. now my school is trying to say we need to stress kids out MORE because they are not comfortable failing. We need to ” inoculate them against” stress with more stress. Maybe that’s the case with older kids, but if I put any more pressure on these kindergarten children they are going to break in a way that lasts a lifetime. Also what we do in kindergarten is very very different. There is no learning colors or playing. They are now writing books and reading books at 5. Like, books with 6 full pages of writing true stories from their lives. We don’t even let them write fiction. These poor kids. Ten years ago kids were singing songs about the color yellow. Now if they don’t know every letter sound and every letter by the end of October, they are sent to a special help group.
Image source: AKale, Annie Spratt
#12
Teacher for 17 years. School administrator for 5 or 12, depending on you want to define that role.
There is no difference between the kids of yesterday and today. None. Zero. If there are changes in how they interact with us and with each other, they are entirely the result of their coping with a world that we have created for them. This is not hard to figure out or understand.
#13
I have two.
The first is one I can not explain. I don’t know why it is happening, but it is definitely happening. Kids are less curious. School is not really about learning, it is about getting a grade. When I first started teaching a lecture would take 2-3 classes because of answering questions that the lecture brought up. Not clarification questions, curiosity questions. Now, even when I try to force it, the kids don’t ask questions. I could be lecturing about the most interesting topic in the world, and making overly–provocative statements and they still just sit there and numbly stare at me. When I ask why they don’t ask questions they tell me “because we understood it all.”
The second is one I think a lot of teachers don’t realize. They are in constant communication with one another. 24-7 they have a phone in hand and they are talking to each other. Something can happen in my 1st hour and 2nd hour walks in talking about it and have obviously been talking about it for a while. A horrible example of this is a death of a student. We had to beat it into our admins head that you can’t wait even a second to announce. The second it happened it started spreading through the town and school. There are whispers and tears spreading through my room before I even know about it. We have no time to prepare or handle things appropriately. A couple of times I have found out about things happening in neighboring towns within an hour of it happening from my students. And the implications of this constant communication is yet to be really understood by anyone. I don’t think any adult today can comprehend growing up in this hive-mind way.
Image source: pinktoady, National Cancer Institute
#14
I’ve been teaching high school since 1993. Kids are less much less homophobic, much heavier, more aware of things in the world (thanks, internet!), and as mentioned by another teacher here, more willing to say they are mentally ill, particularly depressed. Whether or not they actually *are* more mentally ill is another question, and I don’t have the answer. Also pessimism about the future is much more pronounced than 20 years ago.
Drug use is just as much of a problem as 20+ years ago but the types of drugs used these days are more dangerous.
There are have always been lovely, fun, and enjoyable students and that has not changed.
Image source: skinnerwatson, RODNAE Productions
#15
The level of bully violence seems to have gone way down since the 90s. You don’t see nearly as much clique activity, and it is no longer a thing where athletes pick on the nerds for example. Being mean to people seems to actually have a harmful effect on their popularity. Whereas the most popular kids seem to be those who are friends with everybody. You won’t lose points because one of your friends is in band, first example.
Image source: huckalew, Sam Balye
#16
SRO in a medium sized high school. Compared to kids in 2008, they are much nicer. 2008 – 2010 was the apex of bullying. MySpace and Facebook were fields of prey. Kids spent hours terrorizing others. They were nice individuals, and shitty, shitty as a group. Students don’t put up with that s**t anymore. But, more importantly, they don’t do it as much. I’m not saying that there aren’t issues, but I would say it’s gone down over 60%. Now the adults are doing it.
Image source: Parrothead1970
#17
Serving 15 years in a HS and counting…
They text with their thumbs more quickly than we type on keys.
They are more individualistic, but also more accepting of differences like race or orientation.
They were born after 9/11.
Basketball and soccer are the new baseball and football.
Everyone games.
Internet killed the TV star.
Image source: limbertimbre, Axville
#18
Schools are measured differently as well. Many teachers have to defend failing a student not only to parents, but also to higher ups because it affects the graduation rate. A colleague was harassed and finally started bringing a union rep to repeated questionings about failing a senior who was absent for two-thirds of the year.
Image source: redfrench369
#19
A little different here because I’m a dance teacher, but I’ve noticed big changes throughout the years (been teaching just about 20 years).
Anxiety. Kids are scared to try anything new. The pressure they feel from possibly failing is intense and really hard to break through. They are way more scared now to look foolish in front of everyone than ever before.
Parents. They are the worst. To clarify, I deal mostly with competitive dancers. As someone mentioned above, the children are never at fault, the parents will pretty much always back their child, and to top it off, they constantly try to tell me how I should be doing my job.
Drive. This is specific to competitive kids but I think it likely goes across to other fields. Competitions award everyone for being so awesome that kids now think they have reached the peak of their ability at age 13 or so. It’s incredible how quickly they start believing they are the greatest thing out there and disappointing when someone with a lot of talent is done pushing themselves.
Image source: Keelayna, ALEXANDRE DINAUT
#20
To me, technology has become the babysitter to many kids. Social media and unfiltered content is exposing kids to many things most current adults were never exposed to at their age. Parents either dont care and want the quiet an iPad or cell phone brings to their kids, or they’re working their asses off just to put food on the table, and dont have many options for babysitters.
Image source: Sweaty_Buttcheeks, stem.T4L
#21
Parents who can’t stand to see their child get their feeeeeeeelings hurt for any reason. Parents who label their kids with mental health issues but never get them diagnosed. “Oh, she has anxiiiiiiieeety.” It is actually an insult to the families who actually do have children with mental health issues to use it as an excuse to let your kid do NOTHING!
Image source: coswoofster, Jenna Christina
#22
The complete lack of interest in memorizing anything.
While the pedagogical value in, say, memorizing (for instance) times tables can be debated (and has been, over and over), kids these days not only won’t, but seemingly can’t. They’re so used to just looking up info (read: Googling / Asking Siri) when they need it, they don’t have anything “ready to go” in their heads so to speak.
Also, there’s been a loss of imagination and the ability to relate to events in, for instance a story. I blame helicopter parenting and the inability for students to form their own experiences for that.
Image source: mister_newbie, Jexo
#23
My mum’s been a kindergarten teacher for more than 20 years and she’s noticed a shift in the parents attitude.
She says there’s less investment from the parents and they completely disregard her rules and requests.
Kids are kids, but parents should know better.
Image source: ButtontheBunny, Tanaphong Toochinda
#24
As a student in high school that has a teacher that’s been teaching for 30+ years, he says the biggest change has been spelling and reading. Most students are unable to understand big words he uses and can’t spell for s**t. Even the simplest words are spelt incorrectly. He thinks this is because of autocorrect and students seeing words spelt incorrectly on social media.
Image source: RoseStar13, Jakob
#25
I teach in the United States at the high school level. The big thing I see is kids who have been helicoptered and catered to, who have all gotten trophies and goody bags, who have been given much with nothing expected in return, which is not how humans are wired. This has made students anxious and afraid of everything. They’ve never been allowed to fail, so they’ve never had the best opportunities to learn or figured out all they can do. They can not operate independently.
In addition to native speakers, I teach immigrant and refugee ELLs, and the vast majority of those kids are 100% happier, more secure, and far higher functioning in the world. They know how to navigate. They understand hard work. And they aren’t scared of every damn new thing they might face.
Ubiquitous electronic escapes don’t help.
Image source: MizM437
#26
Three of my four parents are teachers with 20+ years experience. Their most commonly cited differences include:
1) Way more kids who used to be in special classes or schools now integrated into regular classes, basically to give them more dignity, cause constant disruptions and require so much attention it drags high-performing students down.
2) Way less patience among students in general.
3) Parents take kids’ side way, way more often and look at the teacher as their personal employee, rather than as someone deserving of respect.
4) Kids obsession with screens–specifically how it mirrors their PARENTS’ obsession with screens. My stepmom was literally telling a story about how she was in a parent-teacher conference talking about how this kid needed a lot more time away from screens and was totally unable to focus, and then the kid’s mom looked up from her phone and goes “Sorry, what? I wasn’t paying attention.” IN THE CONFERENCE.
5) Kids just flat-out understanding that they have all the real power–they’re not going to get corporal punishment, they’re not going to get flunked and held back, and any bad behavior or academic failure on their part is going to be met with excuses, diagnosis, and special treatment.
Yeah, all three of my parents are glad they’re retiring soon, and all say they’d never get into teaching if they were graduating today.
Image source: SamuraiWisdom
#27
My wife’s a teacher, only for the past 6 years as well, but she says even in thay time she’s noticed massive differences in the kids and how they seem to be losing respect.
Seems to be their parents had low respect for authorities and they’ve taught their kids to be even worse.
The problem is, kids know how to exploit their rights these days, their parents teach them that noone can touch or hurt them no matter what they do, so they use that to their advantage to get away with anything… They basically walk all over the teachers unless the teacher is really stern, but even then some kids are really disrespectful.
It’s no wonder people don’t want to teach anymore tbh. Low salary, the work is piling up higher than ever because of the immense amounts of paperwork and the kids are disrespectful.
Image source: mrbadassmotherfucker, note thanun
#28
Changes in technology have made parents think the teacher is accessible at all times. these parents are, after all, digital natives.
My wife gets texts from parents during class, during dinner, at 11pm, etc and the parents are furious if she doesn’t respond within the hour.
Parents also expect to be able to see their child’s grade at all times – basically an assignment is turned in at the start of the day and they want to see the updated grades by end of day.
Kids are the same, it’s the parents who are so dramatically different.
Image source: swhertzberg
#29
My wife’s been a middle school teacher for 21 years. She says:
1. Parents are much more entitled and prone to complaining about their kids’ ‘rights’ in school, instead of their responsibilities.
2. Kids are way more privileged than in the 90s. They demand things that were unheard of 20+ years ago.
3. Cell phones are a critical issue. See #1 above–parents are often more of a problem on this one than kids. Some parents will yell, scream, threaten, and otherwise *demand* their child’s constant access to smartphones. It’s often frightening.
4. Sexuality: Thanks to hip hop and general culture, creepily overt sexuality is far more common. Not the frequency of sex necessarily, but the constant content of everything. Breaking up 13-year-old girls grinding their a*s on young boys at dances, etc. is now a common thing.
5. Social media: Social media is a constant, oppressive and emotional thing in kids’ lives. Overall, kids seem noticeably less happy and ‘kid like’ than 20+ years ago.
6. “Baby adult” syndrome: Kids are treated as baby adults (instead of kids), and their development shows it. The progression of development almost seems broken today. Conversely, the ‘never need to become an adult’ infantilization of grownups has a powerful effect on kids–adults forever role-playing life as ‘children’ in costume and behavior, rather than accepting and growing into adulthood and accepting responsibility for the world and those younger.
My wife gave a presentation a few years ago, and this is cribbed from it.
Image source: Okesa
#30
I have been a teacher for 22 years and the changes I see are :
– parental complaints from parents who want to be a friend to their child and unquestionably believe what their child says. Children have always gone home and slagged off their teachers but when I started I never had to deal with an enraged parent who had bought a child’s view of what happened. I am always happy to talk with a parent and I want any child I teach to be happy and comfortable in my classroom but this isn’t about helping a child. These parental rages are about protecting a child from learning and from consequences. I pity their children even when it is the child’s lies that led to the complaint.
– sexualisation of children – often a result of unfettered internet access. The amount of sexual abuse that children suffer and the perversion of how they see themselves and their sexuality is depressing. They imagine that they should approach the most extreme sexual practices without hesitation because they see so much porn. (I am pro porn and happy for any consenting adult to do any sex act they want – I just don’t want an 11 year old to think that’s what they have to do.)
– loneliness – I watch groups of kids sitting in silence on their phones everyday. Not a word exchanged. Lots of humour and group observations get missed that way – they can’t navigate their own world so effectively as they are trying to manage their online world.
– fear of the written word – large page of texts are never used. Everything is a paragraph and a picture – so we structure their thinking for them.
– sexual abuse – is more discussed. It still happens a lot but we have more systems to help the children now. When I first started I was given a child yo help who had been raped by her father and was pregnant as a result. Her mother was going to chuck her out if she had an abortion and had supported the father as he had raped both his daughters for years. I was 22 and clueless- no one else helped. If that happened today I would have at least three people in school who are trained and would help the girl (and her mother.)
I am so glad I am not a teenager today. I was a b***h about my teachers and I would have had no sense at all when given the world of the internet.
I love the kids I work with. I am so proud of them and think they will find a way through the quagmire. Things will get better.
Image source: sapphobear
#31
They used to actually read books.
The only ones who do still read mostly stick to the YA series of the moment, most of which are written at about a 5th grade level. My students are primarily 8th and 9th graders.
We have a well-stocked bookshelf at our after-school (and we used to keep stacks of current magazines as well). Students would regularly browse for something to read during break times and before and after class. Now, invariably, every single one of them is staring at a phone.
Image source: AquaGB, Hatice Yardım
#32
モンスターペアレント (monster parents)
at least that is what my Japanese uncle, who is a teacher, told me. Basically parents, who do not see the fault in their children but the teacher if the grades of the child are bad or something in the likes.
I wanted to hear some stories from him, but my uncle’s been very discreet about it, he just mentioned that there have been an increasing number over the years (although by far not the majority) and that is all I need to know.
Edit: Changed “discrete” to “discreet”.
Image source: L_Flavour, Jon Flobrant
#33
Accountability. Nothing is EVER their fault. There is always a reason or excuse. Why are you late? Because my locker is far from the class. Why were you using your phone? Well the bell hadn’t rang. Why haven’t you started to work? I don’t have a pen…
Image source: Wabbit_Snail
#34
An increase in helicopter parents
Image source: moshumishu, Steven Van Loy
#35
Not a teacher but everyone in my family is.
I had a teacher tells us kids learn differently now then before because of video games. (This was before Smartphones.) I called BS and said kids learn the same way they had years ago, it was teaching that was different. The teacher agreed and said they use to teacher in a spiral. Going over things over and over while teaching different subjects. Now, she said, they have to teach a subject and more on. If the kid didn’t get it, oh well. I called it the “Hit and Run” teaching style. Others call it “Teaching for the test.”
I know my kids not perfect. I had a principal call me into school because Jr. was failing math. Everyone was walking on egg shells because my darling was failing and they didn’tknow how to get him to pass. I said, “Let him fail, maybe then he will learn to turn in his homework!” I thought the teachers and principal were going to faint. “I wish more parents were like you.” he said. Sadly, most parents aren’t and it shows.
Advice from an older parent, parent like your grandparent or great grandparents.
Image source: 42Daft
#36
I have 13 years of teaching experience. What I have noticed most is that the current society is really starting to infect our students. The general angst and anxiety that is being experienced by the parents is trickling down to the students. There are more anxious kids that are having a lot of trouble controlling their bodies and emotions. Many more in number than there used to be. Even the general population overall is more on edge. They are a lot angrier and a lot sadder than they used to be. And I work with all ages from 4-18. The world is full of fear and anger, and it’s becoming a definite factor in the raising of these young people. It’s almost unbearably sad. But you do what you can to bring some light into their lives, and help them experience empathy for others because we all learn differently.
Image source: Musical_Jinn
#37
My mom has been a teacher for 18 years. Biggest difference I’ve noticed in her stories is that kids have gotten physically more violent. She thinks it is because parents let their kids do what ever they want to with little to no discipline.
Image source: mebeking16
#38
20 years ago when I was in high school, my freshmen English teacher who had been teaching for 30 years said, “The only difference I notice between kids today and kids from when I started teaching is that the kids today are a lot less optimistic about the world they are inheriting.”
I’ve been a teacher for 15 years, and the difference I notice is in what the kids like. You don’t realize how quickly pop-culture turns over until you find out a 4 year old reference is dated for kids.
Edit: Spelling
Image source: Coloradical27, Kevin Schmid
#39
My mum has been a teacher for over 30 years. The children’s span of attention has dropped significantly over the years. They don’t focus on one thing for too long, lose interest quickly and often seem like they don’t even hear what they are told.
Their writing style has also changed. Writing in short-hand has become common and they’re not as creative anymore.
Of course, that is a generalisation and some kids are still great.
Image source: pony-pie
#40
Respect and having support at home. So many kids these days have no support at home and it really shows.
Image source: shorrrrrr8
#41
Only been a teacher for 10 years, but I can tell a huge difference in just the last 5! Cell phones are the biggest problem. We can not get them out of their hands. As a school we tried to ban the phones all together, but it was the parents that fought it! I can only take the student’s phone for the lesson, not the full school day as we once did. On the playground, the kids check their phones, text, snap chat, play games – hardly talking to each other. I get bumped in to daily and sometimes knocked over because students do not look while waking- faces in their screens. Nothing phases them, I can call them up to my desk for a chat (if they misbehaved) and they casually glide up, smirking. 5 years ago, they would be rattled to be spoken to by the teacher. Parent support and involvement in school has gone down.
Image source: lordofthepotterfiles, McKaela Taylor
#42
10 years here, but I’d say the change is from the teachers. I was an energetic world changing super hero at the start. Now I’m just tired.
Also screens.
Image source: Teachjzy
#43
Kids are a lot better looking now, somehow?
I miss my snaggle-tooth awkward dorkmeisters from the early 2000s. These days, everyone’s got sleek hair and impeccable brows.
Image source: 10ksquibble, Charlein Gracia
#44
Smart phones have decreased a lot of desire. The phone is an amazing tool, I have my students use them in class for various things, but, I would say 20% of my students have a true blue-screen addiction. You can see the anxiety in their eyes when asked to put their phone away.
Image source: NeverDidLearn
#45
I’m a music teacher. They say “Can I restart?” instead of “Can I start again?” I blame/credit video games.
Image source: trumpetunicorn, Alex Haney
Follow Us
