Ask experienced teachers how things have changed in the American classroom in the wake of the COVID years, and after they are done sighing, they are certain to note a diminished capacity in their students to engage in good old-fashioned studying.
Gone is the archetypal American student of yore, once defined by virtues like diligence, determination, and the expectation that learning and fun are rarely one in the same. In its place is the omnipresent and unapologetic expectation of ease: open-note tests, study guides that essentially give away the questions on a test, permissible cheat sheets. Add to this a ferocious increase in accommodations from assertive parents demanding a sprawling assortment of exceptions: more time, alternative questions, more breaks, assistive technology, the chance to retake exams.
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