An elementary school teacher took to Reddit to share her frustrations with her students, but she actually thinks all of the problems come from their unrealistic career aspirations.
She argued that she and her husband, a high school teacher, can barely get their students to engage with their schoolwork because they simply think they don’t need to learn. Instead, they all believe they’ll become streamers or influencers and never need academic knowledge again, which has left her wondering why she’s even doing her job anymore.
The teacher said that ‘influencer culture [is] destroying children.’
“I teach elementary and my husband teaches high school,” she said in her post on the r/Teachers subreddit. Apparently, the age difference doesn’t affect students’ interest at all. “In both schools, it’s a fight to get children to read or pay attention.”
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A question her husband posed got her thinking. “On Friday, my husband asked a group of students (16-year-olds) who refuse to do any work and are failing, what are they going to do when they leave high school?” she continued. “Four of them said, ‘YouTuber or make money on Instagram. You don’t need to do boring stuff. Just say funny things on videos.’”
The teacher feels the same is true for her younger students. She said, “Even my students (elementary) will tell me they don’t need school because they can play Roblox and upload the recording to YouTube. One even showed me a screenshot of their parent making money off [Facebook] dancing and singing.”
The teacher said she felt like ‘the system no longer values education,’ and quite a few commenters agreed.
Several commenters stressed the importance of encouraging students to dream big, but to also have a backup plan. One said he was a great football player, but was taken out by a knee injury. “I tell my students this story when they say they’re going to be YouTubers when they grow up,” he explained. “Then I tell them you might want to have a backup plan.”
Others said this was “old news,” as kids have always grown up wanting to be professional athletes, musicians, models, or actors. “It’s a fantasy to think you can make lots of money with no idea how challenging it really is,” one commented.
Some Redditors seemed to really get to the heart of the issue, though. “As a parent of (very young) kids, I think some of the issue might be that education does not seem to be paying off financially as much as it used to,” one said. Another shared, “Essentially, the problem is that skill and ability is no longer rewarded highly in our society.”
It’s pretty understandable that kids don’t want to work traditional nine-to-five jobs when they’ve watched the adults in their lives struggle.
The dream of easily acquiring fame and wealth is a tempting one. It’s just not very realistic, unfortunately. According to a NeoReach survey, 48.1% of people who have tried their hand at content creation make less than $15,000 a year doing so, per CNBC. That’s hardly enough to live off.
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It’s not surprising that people just don’t find much value in education anymore. An Indeed Hiring Lab survey found that 51% of Gen Z did not think their college degree was worth the money it cost. Respondents pointed to student debt, a troubled job market, increased emphasis on technical skills, and the rise of AI as reasons they feel this way.
Of course, even if you don’t want to pursue higher education, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to ignore academics altogether. Everyone needs basic skills in subjects like reading and math to just get through day-to-day life. While it makes sense that not everyone would want to go to college, that doesn’t mean we should place such little value on education in general.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
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