By Patrick Welsh Wed Mar 8, 7:08 AM ET

Failure in the classroom is often tied to lack offunding, poor teachersor other ills. Here's athought: Maybe it's thefailed work ethic of todays kids. That's what I'm seeing in my school. Until reformers see thisreality, little will change.
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Last month, as I averaged the second-quarter grades for my senior English classes at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., the same familiar pattern leapt out at me.

Kids who had emigrated from foreign countries - such as Shewit Giovanni from Ethiopia, Farah Ali from Guyana and Edgar Awumey from Ghana - often aced every test, while many of their U.S.-born classmates from upper-class homes with highly educated parents had a string of C's and D's.

As one would expect, the middle-class American kids usually had higher SAT verbal scores than did their immigrant classmates, many of whom had only been speaking English for a few years.

What many of the American kids I taught did not have was the motivation, self-discipline or work ethic of the foreign-born kids.

Politicians and education bureaucrats can talk all they want about reform, but until the work ethic of U.S. students changes, until they are willing to put in the time and effort to master their subjects, little will change.

A study released in December by University of Pennsylvania researchers Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman suggests that the reason so many U.S. students are "falling short of their intellectual potential" is not "inadequate teachers, boring textbooks and large class sizes" and the rest of the usual litany cited by the so-called reformers - but "their failure to exercise self-discipline."

The sad fact is that in the USA, hard work on the part of students is no longer seen as a key factor in academic success. The groundbreaking work of Harold Stevenson and a multinational team at the University of Michigan comparing attitudes of Asian and American students sounded the alarm more than a decade ago.

Asian vs. U.S. students

When asked to identify the most important factors in their performance in math, the percentage of Japanese and Taiwanese students who answered "studying hard" was twice that of American students.

American students named native intelligence, and some said the home environment. But a clear majority of U.S. students put the responsibility on their teachers. A good teacher, they said, was the determining factor in how well they did in math.

"Kids have convinced parents that it is the teacher or the system that is the problem, not their own lack of effort," says Dave Roscher, a chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams in this Washington suburb. "In my day, parents didn't listen when kids complained about teachers. We are supposed to miraculously make kids learn even though they are not working."

As my colleague Ed Cannon puts it: "Today, the teacher is supposed to be responsible for motivating the kid. If they don't learn it is supposed to be our problem, not theirs."

And, of course, busy parents guilt-ridden over the little time they spend with their kids are big subscribers to this theory.

Maybe every generation of kids has wanted to take it easy, but until the past few decades students were not allowed to get away with it. "Nowadays, it's the kids who have the power. When they don't do the work and get lower grades, they scream and yell. Parents side with the kids who pressure teachers to lower standards," says Joel Kaplan, another chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams.

Every year, I have had parents come in to argue about the grades I have given in my AP English classes. To me, my grades are far too generous; to middle-class parents, they are often an affront to their sense of entitlement. If their kids do a modicum of work, many parents expect them to get at least a B. When I have given C's or D's to bright middle-class kids who have done poor or mediocre work, some parents have accused me of destroying their children's futures.

It is not only parents, however, who are siding with students in their attempts to get out of hard work.

Blame schools, too

"Schools play into it," says psychiatrist Lawrence Brain, who counsels affluent teenagers throughout the Washington metropolitan area. "I've been amazed to see how easy it is for kids in public schools to manipulate guidance counselors to get them out of classes they don't like. They have been sent a message that they don't have to struggle to achieve if things are not perfect."

Neither the high-stakes state exams, such as Virginia's Standards of Learning, nor the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act have succeeded in changing that message; both have turned into minimum-competency requirements aimed at the lowest in our school.

Colleges keep complaining that students are coming to them unprepared. Instead of raising admissions standards, however, they keep accepting mediocre students lest cuts have to be made in faculty and administration.

As a teacher, I don't object to the heightened standards required of educators in the No Child Left Behind law. Who among us would say we couldn't do a little better? Nonetheless, teachers have no control over student motivation and ambition, which have to come from the home - and from within each student.

Perhaps the best lesson I can pass along to my upper- and middle-class students is to merely point them in the direction of their foreign-born classmates, who can remind us all that education in America is still more a privilege than a right.

Patrick Welsh is an English teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., and a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.

In high school I fell into the category of smart-but-not-motivated. I didn't have to study to earn B's in AP classes, so why should I even bother?

Excellent post!

In high school I fell into the category of smart-but-not-motivated. I didn't have to study to earn B's in AP classes, so why should I even bother? It wasn't until I got to college, when the parent that had been supporting me died, that I realized how stupid I had been. It was also about that time my politics began swinging to the right.

It's hypocritical of me to fault today's students for their failings... but come on. The SAT is much easier. Grade inflation is everywhere. These kids have it easy.

On a side note my Uncle teachers @ the Georgetown University, where some of the brightest (and wealthiest) kids we have go to learn. His experience would back up this article. Wealth white and black kids have a sense of entitlement and don't care so long as they get an A. Asian kids tend to be more interested in master subject matter than just getting the grades. The same is true for the rich/poor division. Poor kids realize the opportunity they have and take advantage. Rich kids know daddy will keep writing checks.

I think it is time to stop blaming the teachers and start blaming the parents. Teachers live in constant fear of violence or lawsuits. When we empower kids, we end up with powerful children. I don't think that's what we really want as a society.

I do think that teachers could do a better job trying to "connect" the kids with learning. Try to find some way to make them enjoy learning what they are learning. That is what the best teachers I had did. I would actually like to be a teacher someday, unfortunately it doesn't pay what a job in corporate america pays.

how would they "connect" the students with learning? who would teach them how to do this, or would this be some innate ability that all teachers should/must have? i am not trying to rag on you, just trying to understand how this would happen. i consider myself an intelligent person (as we almost all do), but i have no idea how i could do this for just one person, let alone a classroom full of different kids every year.

the motivation to learn has to start from within, a good/great teacher can draw that out and focus it on particular subject matter, but i don't feel that truly apathetic kids can become interested only because of good teachers--or that teachers should be held responsible for such apathetic kids.

when i screw up at school, i blame myself. if i succeed, i credit myself. people can give me a push in the right direction, but ultimately it always comes down to what i desire.

i found myself whole-heartedly agreeing with the author of the article and relating to how easily i could have become one of the underachieving students he mentions. i didn't/haven't done so, but i can see how the blame game can allow lazy kids to continue their ways without ever facing the music (until they graduate from college and enter the "real world").

This started to happen to me my senior year, and I'm having a rough time with college.

Maybe it's thefailed work ethic of todays kids.

Impossible. No way.

At what point does it become a societal problem? I mean, one student fails, sure, blame that kid. All the students fail ... well, there's another factor at play.