Here are some of the ways you can ensure your student body is apathetic.
- Ignore student voices in important decisions in your schools.
- Put up work on the walls students have done for teachers instead of student messages.
- Ask for input from students, but make the process nearly impossible or highly exclusive.
- Decide that some students have a voice (perhaps because they have a good GPA) but that others don’t.
- Blame the students (or their parents) when they are having difficulty learning your course material.
- Require students to learn stuff about which they have either no, or limited, choices.
If you watch the video below from TEDxToronto, you’ll see that these very practices are at play in our political spectrum as well.
Mylene says:
Solicit input. Make a big deal about how responsive and interested you are. Ensure that this input is merely “advisory” and carries no actual power. Then do the opposite of what is requested. Bonus points if you make publicity materials showcasing your “consultation” process. Works for politics too.
April 13, 2011 — 1:19 am
David Wees says:
Hah! Yes, definitely. This will most definitely help make your students more apathetic.
April 13, 2011 — 6:11 am