Most educators say the students in their schools are less independent than they were a decade ago. And educators point out that students’ declining ability to direct their own learning and advocate for themselves could hurt academic achievement and employability—as well as teachers’ job satisfaction.
But how bad the problem is depends on who you ask. A significantly higher percentage of teachers than district leaders report that current students are less independent than those from a decade ago, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of 1,268 teachers, principals, and district leaders in February.
Eighty-two percent of teachers said students have become less independent over the years, compared with 68 percent of school leaders and 55 percent of district leaders.
“I make a point of teaching students to be more independent and self-driven, this is frequently in direct opposition to parents. Parents want their student to have things done for them,” said a middle school science teacher from Washington state in response to an open-ended question on the EdWeek Research Center Survey.
“I have been an educator for 10 years now, and I have seen public school students slowly but surely decline in their social and interpersonal skills as well as their ability to learn independently and effectively employ critical thinking skills,” said a middle school fine-arts teacher from Nebraska on the same survey. “Much of this was exacerbated by the pandemic. Teachers love their jobs but the student body and their inability to focus, stay engaged, be interested in learning, as well as the negative influences of social media and difficult home situations makes it disheartening and difficult to stay in the position long term.”
An elementary school teacher from North Carolina said: “In elementary school, students are being pushed to learn too much, too fast, and at a level that is not appropriate for how their brains work and learn. We need to slow down elementary school and allow students to learn at their appropriate developmental abilities. Then push them in middle and high school when they are actually capable of that level of critical thinking and independent work.”
Why students might be less independent and what educators can do about it
There are a few potential reasons behind students’ declining levels of independence. Some observations from teachers include:
- Parents these days are more likely to fight their kids’ battles;
- The pandemic stunted students’ social-emotional development;
- Spending more and more time on screens means kids are losing out on important opportunities to solve problems and conflicts through play.
But there isn’t any definitive research on whether kids are less independent than they were a decade ago—let alone what the causes may be.
There is also another phenomenon that could be shaping educators’ perceptions of kids’ lack of independence. People tend to perceive each generation as morally worse than their own, an idea explored extensively in a 2023 article, “The Illusion of Moral Decline,” by psychologists Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert. Just because adults perceive students to be less independent than previous generations doesn’t mean they actually are.
Whether real or perceived, encouraging independence in students and helping them develop the skills to direct their learning and advocate for themselves are all important to their success in school and life.
Goal-setting, delayed gratification, and self-management of emotions are among the social-emotional skills that students need to develop greater independence. They need to know how to persist even with difficult tasks, and know when they need to ask for help.
One way to help develop these skills, say experts, is through giving students more responsibility and control over how their schools are run, such as including students in the development of classroom rules or allowing students to propose and vote on ideas on how to spend money for school improvement projects.
“When we’re talking about independence, we’re trying to teach students what learning feels like,” said David Adams, the CEO of the Urban Assembly, in a recent Education Week special report. The assembly is a nonprofit school support organization that focuses on social-emotional learning, or SEL. “And learning is often frustrating.”
