Why Students Are Not Learning and What We Can Do About It

For more than two decades as a college professor, I had a reputation for academic rigor, and I took pride in it. My students received an education rich in knowledge and skills, worth far more than the tuition they paid. But everything changed when in-person classes resumed in 2022 after two years of Zoom learning at home.

From the outset, I was stunned. My once bustling classrooms were now a third to a half empty. Students frequently skipped classes, often claiming to be sick, sometimes without even bothering to email an excuse. Those who did attend were often glued to their cell phones. The tried-and-true methods I had relied on to gauge student performance—quizzes, exams, homework, independent projects—no longer seemed effective. Consequently, an unprecedented number of my students received low marks. My teaching ratings plummeted to the lowest point in my career. It was agonizing to read the students’ feedback. One student labeled me “rude” for requesting a doctor’s note for absences as if the school’s policies on academic honesty and integrity had become obsolete.

Something was wrong, very wrong
I couldn’t blame my students because that wouldn’t solve the problem. Instead, I embarked on a soul-searching mission: How could I turn my own low grades in teaching back into an A? I spent the summer of 2023 consulting with fellow teachers and diving into newspapers, magazines, internet websites, and academic papers. What I found was surprising: Far from being an isolated issue, this pattern was global, affecting educators both at home and abroad.

Many faculty members had experiences far worse than mine. Among the most notable was NYU professor Maitland Jones. Author of a leading textbook in organic chemistry, he taught his spring 2022 class of 350 students the same rigorous way he had since 2007, before the pandemic lockdown. But this time, many students failed or withdrew from the class. Eighty-two of them filed a petition, complaining that Dr. Jones’s class was too difficult and that they disliked his teaching style. Unyielding in his commitment to academic rigor, Dr. Jones was fired.

While this incident led to NYU (and other schools) being lambasted by critics for loosening academic standards and lowering the quality of education, I found that the students also had legitimate reasons based on recent studies on the ills of pandemic isolation.

For instance, researchers in Ohio surveyed children aged 6 to 17 and compared their anxiety levels before and after the pandemic lockdown and online learning environment. They found that anxiety levels had quadrupled due to social isolation, with younger children experiencing the worst impact (1). Other studies confirmed that disruptions to normal social life and loneliness from prolonged homestays led to considerable numbers of school children and adults suffering from a range of psychological and psychiatric disorders (2). Symptoms observed in many other countries that also experienced various forms and lengths of lockdown included anxiety, stress, mood swings, depression, and in rare cases, suicide. Anxiety alone was reported to affect 33 percent of children (3). The mental health problem was both real and widespread, a public health crisis unseen in our memories for most of us.

The mental health issues were even more acute and prevalent among international students, who were separated from their established social networks in their home countries. They faced a multitude of problems, including language barriers, cultural shocks, lack of social bonding, and overt or covert prejudice and discrimination. Some also experienced financial difficulties, unhelpful school policies, and unsympathetic professors (4). These issues are major roadblocks, preventing students from staying healthy, let alone developing their intellectual capacities.

The good news is that humans are resilient. We tend to bounce back after disasters. Here’s a case study from the University of Heidelberg in Germany regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over time: In an email survey of 2,318 university students, the percentage of students reporting unhappiness (measured by a standardized well-being index) dropped significantly, from 72.52 percent to 53.96 percent, nine months after the end of social restrictions (5). While the rate remained far higher than desirable, it demonstrated human resilience and provided hope for improvement.

The pressing issue
Could we professors readapt our teaching to meet the needs of this generation of students in this new era? This challenge forced me to go back to ground zero of college education in search of a new path in pedagogy.

As my previous essay shows, mental health issues can often be alleviated with a supportive social environment. Learning is fundamentally a social process. Could it too be improved through enhanced social activities? Drawing on my knowledge of psychology, I reworked my courses to incorporate as many elements of social learning as possible: active class participation, team-based quizzes, collaborative exercises, competitive internet knowledge explorations, information finding and sharing, peer help sessions, and hands-on activities throughout my lectures and labs during the academic year of 2023-2024. The response from students was quick and positive: my classrooms were full again and often bursting with laughter.

What about the quality, you may ask? I tested it by using similar questions to those from before the pandemic in examinations. To my great relief and delight, students performed even better than in pre-pandemic years. The academic rigor was maintained and improved.

Although I was rewarded with unexpectedly high ratings for my teaching, I remain conscious that a couple of students still did not respond to my pedagogical overhaul. They continued to be absent regularly and performed poorly. I know I have not completely cracked the hard nut yet. I need to do more research and implement more changes.

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While I recount my own experiences, I eagerly invite you to share your triumphs with me. Together, we can exorcize the lingering specter of the pandemic and dismantle every obstacle impeding the education of our younger generations.