Confession Time.

The final installment of The Haberek.

Chris Weagel

Chris Weagel writes about the intersection of technology and parenting for Wired Magazine. No he doesn't. He can't stand that shit.

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  • Some vague responses…
    the apathy could just come from
    the uncertainty of the times…a who knows whats
    going to happen with the world kinda angst.
    But, I think a lot of what Haberek is struggling
    with stems from the parental units. Not enough
    responsibility being placed there.

  • bottomunion, I’m not so sure the responsibility lays entirely, or even mostly, with the parents. My parents were quite strict, especially concerning academics, and halfway through high school I just gave out. Up until then, I had received nearly straight A’s; my junior year, I failed two classes; my senior year, three. I’ve now been suspended from the local university for poor academic performance.

    It’s not so much that I don’t care – it’s more that I lack any motivation whatsoever; my care for academic performance only manifests itself as worry and not action. This seems to be the case with many of my friends as well.

  • Andrew, you are exactly what I’m up against everyday.

    “It’s not so much that I don’t care – it’s more that I lack any motivation whatsoever.” This illogical statement sums things up quite nicely. Students want good grades, but can’t be bothered with trying or effort or motivaiton. In short, they don’t care. They’ve been so conditioned to live in the moment, the future and the past have little or no meaning.

    This is not universally true. As you move up the course schedule you see more and more self-motivated students. But even then, the focus is on the grade not the subject matter.

    And then there’s all the problems with labor strife in my district. Please don’t get me started, we’ll keep Chris busy filming me babble for months.

    Haberek

  • Haberek, I care in the sense that I worry about academics and waste time fretting over what to do, but I’m stuck being passive and end up not doing anything.

  • I think the struggle to find out why this failure is happening is worthy and heroic. I would like to see more interviews on this; perhaps of the students if that can work out.

  • Apathy will soon join the ranks of other diagnosable diseases, up there with depression, ADD, ADHD, Asthma…whatever…The apathetic will be heavily dosed with medication so that they will become productive citizens again, and if you don’t want to take the medicine…it’ll be in the water.

    Andrew, the word apathetic is so suiting to its kind, just separate the word a little and you get “A pathetic.”

  • I think this:

    gets to it. As attention spans became shorter, so did the reach of the teacher into the mind of the student.

    Is it possible to teach trig with hip-hop videos? Or memorize the Bill of Rights by watching commercials for it?

  • My quote got screwed up…here it is.

    I think this:

    They’ve been so conditioned to live in the moment, the future and the past have little or no meaning.

    gets to it.

    As attention spans became shorter, so did the reach of the teacher into the mind of the student.

    Is it possible to teach trig with hip-hop videos? Or memorize the Bill of Rights by watching commercials for it?

    Fucking kids. In my day, we listened to good music and we cared about the world.

  • Hey Chris, my parents and I did watch the first 4 Haberek parts and we enjoyed it. And heeey, the video ipod. Chris, your time has come!

  • This series of videos makes me think! Thanks for that! I’m sure it takes time to produce what you’re doing at such good quality.

  • I think he’s absolutely right, to have an education is a privilege. “You have to be well educated, not you deserve to be well educated. Once people think that way, it cheapens it.”

    I think Mr. Haberek needs to work at a magnet school. The parents of magnet school kids believe and pursue a good education for their kids future.

  • He needs the boost of a positive work environment. I think he could enjoy his job again.

    Some teachers can teach anyone, they have skills that other teachers do not. But not all teachers are that way, and it is up to the kids to want to learn. This comes from their parents. Public school teachers can’t punish the kids like parents can, and without enforcement, change is almost impossible.

  • Good post. You make some great points that most people do not fully understand.

    “This is not universally true. As you move up the course schedule you see more and more self-motivated students. But even then, the focus is on the grade not the subject matter.

    And then there’s all the problems with labor strife in my district. Please don’t get me started, we’ll keep Chris busy filming me babble for months. ”

    I like how you explained that, Haberek. Very helpful. Thanks.