Teens are losing interest in school, and say they hear about college ‘a lot’
Cory Turner
August 29, 2024
This is not your standard back-to-school story, about school supplies or first-day butterflies.
It’s about how school-aged members of Gen Z — that’s 12- to 18-year-olds — are feeling about school and the future. And according to a new national survey, those feelings are a little worrying.
School engagement is down. The middle- and high-schoolers surveyed find school less interesting than they did just last year, and only about half believe they’re being challenged “in a good way.” The problem is especially acute for teens who say they don’t want to go to college right out of high school.
Here are five takeaways from the new survey, a joint effort between Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation, about Gen Zers’ school attitudes. (Quick disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation is a funder of NPR.)
