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Labeling students who don鈥檛 do their work and seem unmotivated as 鈥渓azy鈥� has transcended generations in the classroom. As time has gone on, and social science research has gotten more advanced, it鈥檚 clear that there鈥檚 many factors at play. Technological advancement, a pandemic, and an educational system under stress have only further complicated the question of what drives student apathy.

In a recent EdWeek Opinion piece, Kyle Coppes, a secondary school principal at an international school in Germany, wrote about the nuances of 鈥渟tudent laziness.鈥� In response to the article, many teachers felt inspired to share their own opinions on the topic. Some agreed that what seems like laziness is often a symptom of another problem; others insist that sometimes, students just don鈥檛 put in the effort that鈥檚 needed.

Here鈥檚 a collection of the most popular themes from what they had to say.

The success of classrooms reflects the system ...

鈥淎s an educational psychologist, I strongly agree! But it is not the fault of the teacher. Schools are a mirror of society.鈥�

鈥淭he education system鈥攐r at least where I teach鈥攊s primarily responsible for creating the lazy child. Maybe lazy isn鈥檛 the word we need to be looking at, but rather the unmotivated child.鈥�

鈥淚 appreciate the philosophy brought into the argument. Furthermore, I very much want to believe the idea here, but this requires a much more practical follow-up question: If the reason students appear lazy, but are not, is that educators are not addressing other issues, how are administrators, school boards, and others in charge of school policy going to change to allow students to get their needs met?鈥�

鈥淲hat if this apathy is a result of the school system itself?鈥�

The issue is nuanced

鈥淚 can understand my students are avoiding the content by doing many of the things they are doing. I can understand why they are avoiding the content, because they avoided the content during COVID and now can鈥檛 handle the content before them.鈥�

鈥淚 agree there鈥檚 usually reasons behind behaviors that appear to be 鈥渓aziness.鈥� Unfortunately, many of the times the classroom teacher has little to no control over many of the factors contributing to that ... family issues, lack of food at home, student mental health problems, etc. This is why student support in terms of counselors, psychologists, and social workers are needed.鈥�

鈥淵ou only have to listen, as students tend to know it鈥檚 self-inflicted sleep deprivation from texting, surfing, online games, and chats. They start their homework after midnight鈥�2 a.m., and then have to get up at 7-8 a.m. to make it to school. All this from a group that needs more quality sleep than almost any other age bracket.鈥�

鈥淎LWAYS look further into what is going on with your students. Don鈥檛 ever just label them lazy and move on鈥攋ust like I always try and look when the behavior is defiant鈥�99% of the time the kid is crying for help, attention, love, etc. ... I am not doing my students justice to just label them defiant and move on鈥攈owever鈥攊n this case, there is still that 1 percent that is just downright defiant because they want to be 鈥�. 鈥�

鈥淚 totally agree with this. And honestly the first person to tell you kids are lazy are the kids themselves. It鈥檚 the only 4 letter word totally banned in my classroom. There is a reason behind their lack of motivation. Uncover the reason, address the problem, work gets done. I have spent a lot of my career with kids with school anxiety and avoidance. A lot of teachers just don鈥檛 get it.鈥�

鈥淚t is true that knowing one鈥檚 students, truly knowing them, helps immensely. But there are some factors at work right now that are totally student laziness.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not about blame鈥攎indset is the invisible aspect of teaching practice that guides how we respond to students and how they see us. When we label, even subconsciously, a student, they know it 鈥攚hen we bypass the inactions and speak to the 鈥榝unction of their behavior鈥� we can actually move mountains.鈥�

Do principals understand what teachers face?

鈥淚鈥檓 curious how long this principal was a teacher. We are seeing less and less time in the classroom from administrators. Experience doesn鈥檛 mean expertise but it is one of the requirements for it.鈥�

鈥淭his person has clearly been out of the classroom for the past 40 years and most likely spends all of their days in their office hiding from actual responsibility.鈥�

鈥淲ell, I鈥攍ike most teachers鈥攁gree that we educators can suss out the reasons that a student appears 鈥渓azy鈥� and provide formative support ... I would have been more impressed if Kyle talked about how, as principal, he supports teachers in this endeavor ....鈥�

鈥淭his principal will struggle to keep a fully staffed building.鈥�

鈥淚 like the overall tone of this but I鈥檓 guessing that this administrator has not had to spend much time guiding classrooms lately. There are some systemic things that have been put in place in many school districts where a student can almost never fail ... And then there鈥檚 the added element of how something can look like laziness but it鈥檚 masquerading a much deeper issue. That鈥檚 its own special consideration.鈥�

鈥淎s long as perspectives like this continue placing 100% of the responsibility & accountability for learning on teachers, there will continue to be high burnout and turnover rates. Another disconnected administrator missing the mark.鈥�

鈥淜ids tell me they don鈥檛 care. They Google the answers right in front of me instead of trying to do the work. He needs to get into the classroom.鈥�

True laziness can be a factor, some teachers insist

鈥淪ome students find anything that requires any effort nearly impossible to do.鈥�

鈥淚 think a better way to put it is don鈥檛 assume laziness is the issue right off the bat. Explore other reasons why students are avoiding work. But, sometimes, students will admit to me they just feel lazy ... it can happen.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 a teacher and sometimes I鈥檓 lazy, too. I鈥檓 human.鈥�