Teens are losing interest in school, and say they hear about college 'a lot'

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This is not your standard back-to-school story, about school supplies or first-day butterflies.

It’s about how school-aged members of Gen Z — that’s 12- to 18-year-olds — are feeling about school and the future. And according to a new national survey, those feelings are a little worrying.

School engagement is down. The middle- and high-schoolers surveyed find school less interesting than they did just last year, and only about half believe they’re being challenged “in a good way.” The problem is especially acute for teens who say they don’t want to go to college right out of high school.

Here are five takeaways from the new survey, a joint effort between Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation, about Gen Zers’ school attitudes. (Quick disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation is a funder of NPR.)

1. Students say they don’t feel challenged in school

When asked whether “my schoolwork challenges me in a good way,” just under half of middle and high school students agree, with only 14% agreeing strongly.

Many middle- and high-schoolers feel disconnected from what they’re being taught in the classroom. Just 46% agree that “at school, I get to do what I do best every day.”

Sure, lots of students won’t love learning fundamental math concepts or how to conceive a well-reasoned argument, but they need to learn them anyway, hopefully with the help of a good teacher. What’s concerning is that students say they feel much less engaged in school than they did just last year, compared to Gallup’s 2023 Gen Z survey.

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One of the greatest differences between this year and last came in response to the prompt: “In the last seven days, I have learned something interesting at school.” In 2023, 68% said they had. This year, though, among the same students, that number dropped a full 10 points, to 58%.

2. There’s a college-bound engagement gap

In trying to gauge students’ feelings around classroom engagement (or disconnection), schools are especially struggling to engage students who don’t have college plans.

When asked if they feel challenged by their school work “in a good way,” more than half of students with higher education plans, 55%, agree. But only 41% of middle and high schoolers with no college plans say they feel challenged in a good way.

That’s just one of many warning signs.

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Just over a third of Gen Z students without college plans believe that “at school, I get to do what I do best every day” — compared to more than half of students with college hopes.

Non-college-bound students are also less likely to say they have a teacher who makes them excited about the future or an adult at school who encourages them to pursue their dreams.

These are big gaps that affect lots of students, considering only about half of middle- and high-school respondents say they plan to enroll in a 4-year college right out of high school.

3. Schools spend a lot of time talking about college

While only about half of Gen Z students say they plan to go to college, their K-12 schools spend a lot of time talking about it — way more than they talk about alternatives.

Sixty-eight percent of high-school respondents say they’ve heard “a lot” about college.

By comparison, just 23% of high-schoolers say they’ve heard “a lot” about apprenticeships, certificates and vocational programs. And only 19% say they hear a lot about jobs that don’t require college.

“The conversations that [K-12 schools are] having with middle-schoolers and high-schoolers are predominantly about college,” says Zach Hrynowski, a senior education researcher at Gallup. “Even the kids who are like, ‘I don't want to go to college,’ what are they hearing the most about? College. We're not talking to them about apprenticeships, internships, starting a business, entrepreneurial aspirations or jobs that don't require a college degree.”

This mismatch was born of good intentions. In the name of educational equity, to make sure they’re not limiting children, schools today have doubled down on the idea that college can be for everyone. That’s not inherently bad. What’s bad is that students who don’t want to go to college say their schools aren’t listening or talking with them about anything else.

4. What makes a good teacher? Caring

We know that good teaching can make a big difference to student engagement, but what is good teaching? Better yet, how does Gen Z define good teaching?

As part of the survey, students were asked to think about the best middle or high school teacher they’ve ever had and what attributes made them the best.

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The most popular teacher attribute, with 73%, was “they cared about you as a person.”

Being able to make the material “easy to understand” finished a distant second, with 62%.

“Care about me as a person,” Gallup’s Hrynowski says. That’s what teens value most in teachers. “Know who I am, know what's important to me, know what my goals and dreams are, and help me understand what I have to do to reach them.”

5. Young Gen Zers feel optimistic about the future, especially the college-bound

A remarkable 86% of Gen Z students with plans to go to a four-year college say they have a great future ahead, and according to Gallup that optimism is reflected in Gen Z more broadly.

“I think one of the prevailing narratives around Gen Z has been that they're nihilistic. They don't care. They're pessimists. And we have never found that,” Hrynowski says.

But there are signs that pessimism may be creeping in at the edges.

Non-college-bound students feel considerably less rosy about their prospects – a warning to schools that they need to be more proactive and creative about helping teens dream big without simply saying, “Go to college.”