LoC
The anti-work ethic mentality is largely rooted in misguided compassion, the desire not to punish those who skip school, disrupt the classroom, or are unwilling to work hard for good grades.President Trump’s plan to reindustrialize American will invariably focus on education. After all, it is impossible to imagine building things with an innumerate and illiterate workforce. Equally predictably, this reinvigorated focus will be on easily measured educational outcomes such as test scores and graduation rates. Unfortunately, this “investing in our children,” will not improve our workforce. A recent NY Post headline told an all-too-familiar story — “Some NYC schools spending massive amounts of money on per pupil budgets — but show dismal results.” In many schools, the diploma has become a participation trophy signifying nothing.
More relevant is reinvigorating a strong work ethic, and the familiar metrics to assessing educational accomplishment ignore this vital trait. Everybody knows of youngsters who ace their tests but nevertheless prefer lethargy and thus make terrible workers. The really bad news is that American schools undermine the work ethic. We spend billions to create lazy, illiterate, innumerate workers.
While there is no precise definition of “work ethic,” employers can easily recognize a “good worker.” He or she always shows up, they are conscientious, highly motivated to get the job done and correctly so, they display initiative, pride in their works and are goal oriented. “Good workers” follow the rules, manage their time well, cooperate with fellow employees and adhere to social norms, for example, they do not steal or act disorderly. They also learn the language necessary to their work, particularly English. These “soft skills” exist apart from traits typically measured by possessing a diploma or passing a test.
Consider one key element of this ethic: just showing up. Alas, many American schools are promoting chronic school absenteeism, and seem powerless to reverse it. Specifically, prior to COVID, 15% of students were chronically absent (they missed 10% or more of all school days). Post-COVID, however, chronic absenteeism has skyrocketed, even doubling in some areas, including school districts with the highest academically performing schools. Equally important, while chronic absenteeism was once a largely high school problem, it now occurs at the grade school level.
Soaring absenteeism exists despite compulsory education laws. For over a hundred years, parents who failed to send junior to school could be punished with fines, incarceration or even having their children removed from the home. Now, as with decriminalization more generally, breaking the law is nearly cost-free. Instead, educators favor such tactics as ”…mentoring, social-emotional learning, home visits, and helping students build stronger peer relationships.” According to one expert, “I think kids can learn and they can catch up, but they have to feel connected and motivated and supported by schools for that to happen.” Even the idea of paying youngsters to attend school is now being taken seriously and we can imagine a day when children refuse to learn unless their “salaries” are increased. No wonder many workers now reject showing up at the office; they learned this habit at school.
Today’s schools also tolerate disruptive behavior, so that children no longer learn self-control or suppressing disruptive urges that make learning nearly impossible. One group of educators estimated that disorderly behavior had recently increased by 50%. Particularly notable is the rise in physical violence, even hitting teachers. Significantly, in the 2019-2020 school year, for example, 77% of all public schools reported one or more criminal incidents sufficiently serious to be reported to law enforcement. No wonder that metal detectors and uniformed officers are now commonplace in American schools.
<img alt captext="LoC” class=”post-image-right” src=”https://conservativenewsbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/how-american-education-promotes-sloth.jpg” width=”450″>Even illegal behavior is often tolerated. During this 2019-2020 period, some 22% of all students admitted to using marijuana at least once during the past 30 days while 22% said that illegal drugs had been made available to them on school property. Ironically, while the number of reported violent incidents has declined somewhat in recent years, this is deceptive. According to one expert analysis, “…it is much more likely that the number of threats received has not actually declined, but rather that threats are considered commonplace and therefore less likely to be reported in the media, which means they would not be included in the research totals.”
Finally, from K-12 to elite universities, sloth is often the official policy. Social promotion is often standard. Western Oregon University is eliminating “D” and “F” grades and replacing them with “no credit” so as not to discourage struggling students. Why even strive for the degree, since 45% of major U.S. corporations, including IBM and Walmart, are seriously considering eliminating the BA requirement altogether? According to the CEO of a top consulting firm, “’A person’s educational credentials are not the only indicators of success, so we advanced our approach to hiring to focus on skills, experiences, and potential.” Add the push to eliminate professional certification tests. New Jersey, for example, with scarcely any opposition, dropped its required certification test for teachers since the test created “barriers” to those wanting careers in education. Then there are states eliminating proficiency exams for high school graduates.
A particularly obvious example of this anti-work ethic mentality is grade inflation. Regardless of whether the school is private or public, from grade school to the Ivy League, grades have soared, and even mediocre students now graduate with honors. When you add the proliferation “gut” majors such as Gender Studies, it is no wonder that many employers fail to take the BA degree seriously. Since many college classes no longer even require merely showing up, it has become nearly impossible to separate hard workers from the indolent.
Given how American education rewards sloth, just “investing more in our children” will not reinvigorate the American economy. No reform will succeed if students skip school or spend hours smoking joints in the schoolyard. It is no accident that many firms simply cannot find decent workers. In fact, in some states there are a mere 36 job seekers per 100 jobs. And the situation has deteriorated since COVID as millions of workers have dropped out of the labor force.
Sadly, efforts to inculcate a strong work ethic are likely doomed for the simple but unspeakable reason that they will be politically unpopular. Imagine the outrage if truant officers rounded up children and forced them to attend school? The obstacles to enforcing tougher school discipline are also probably insurmountable. This is particularly true for black students since disproportionately suspending or expelling them is politically unthinkable. Parents demanding traditional orderly, safe schools just relocate or rely on private schools rather than demand school boards impose strict discipline. And good luck to professors who begin failing students and demanding that everyone attend the lectures. How many students would enroll in such classes?
This anti-work ethic mentality is largely rooted in misguided compassion, the desire not to punish those who skip school, disrupt the classroom, or are unwilling to work hard for good grades. This is the “helping” mentality run amok, an unvoiced celebration of sloth, and despite noble intentions, the overall impact will be to undermine any educational reform. Hard to build a strong economy with workers who have breezed through an educational system where attendance was optional, bad behavior was not punished, and diplomas were handed out as participation trophies. The decline of the work ethic has entered our cultural DNA, and spending hundreds of billions to raise test scores or graduate more youngsters will not be the cure.
Image: Library of Congress
