Disturbing Phenomenon

by Ruth A. Sheets

I have noticed a troubling phenomenon among my students. Several of my best readers hate reading and tell me that they only read if they have to and then, they try to get away with reading the least possible.  Many of my good math students hate math and do just enough to get the grade they can live with.

What is going on here?  Why should highly intelligent young people dislike or even hate what they do well?  One would think that a person would be proud of what they do well and would want to do it often. 

I have not been able to find anything related to the psychology of this, but it doesn’t seem to be present just in young people in a disadvantaged community.  Our nation seems to be doing the same thing. 

Our government is really good at some things:  Social programs including medical care and research, protecting the environment, keeping food safe, regulating businesses that could get carried away with greed and speculation, moving mail.

Instead of allowing the government to do what it does well, we are trying to convince ourselves that we hate the social programs and want to end protective regulations.  We are being overwhelmed with advertising to convince us that what we are actually doing well doesn’t work and must be scrapped. 

What would these be replaced with?  Privatization, a totally free market, trickle down economics and other programs which have not proven successful are repeatedly proposed.  Why? What are we thinking?  

My students’ struggles will be much greater because they do not value what they do well.  I suspect that our nation’s struggles, too, will be more difficult because we choose not to value and fight for our government and give it the resources to do what it does well.