Recently, within the pages of the Acton Institute’s Religion and Liberty Online, Auguste Meyrat, a Texas high-school teacher, masterfully crafted the most precise depiction of education in the post-COVID era: vegetative education. As he eloquently states, “Teachers in past decades have been confronted with two options: either educating students with challenging material and regular grading or engaging them through fun projects and participation grades.” But what exactly is he referring to? What does modern classroom instruction look like these days? To put it simply, a great deal of it is far from satisfactory.

Unveiling the Hidden Costs of Vegetative Education

Understanding the Dilemma

We can take steps such as abolishing the federal Department of Education and paying lip service to enhancing parental rights and eliminating DEI policies. However, unless we confront the emptiness of conventional classroom instruction, none of these efforts will make a significant difference. A clear indication of this is the pathology of low expectations that our students, both for themselves and their teachers, have developed. Many experienced teachers I know have noticed something peculiar about their new students. They ask questions that expose an academic environment filled with mediocrity. Questions like “Are we doing anything today?” or “When do we get to have fun?” or “Hold on, I have to read at home?” Their desire for ease is not without reason. Instead of classrooms driven by lectures, note-taking, robust discussions, and frequent exams that demand actual studying, teachers are often encouraged to “meet students where they are.” As a result, American students frequently spend their time engaged in activities such as watching YouTube videos, endlessly gaming online, or being distracted without end. Assignments are far from academically challenging, consisting mainly of group work, making posters, and “class time” for longer projects. It’s no wonder that 58% of instructors observe that their students have “little to no interest” in actual learning. As an old-school colleague of mine pointed out, “Their brains have changed. They have been neurologically reconfigured, and not in a positive way.”

The Shift in Teaching Paradigms

Direct instruction, which has been proven to be the most effective form of teaching from Aristotle to the present day, is neither fashionable among wannabe “reformers” nor easy for classroom teachers. It has been replaced by a form of “corn-syrup instruction” that emphasizes more projects, less homework, and less memorization. Many of us who still believe in traditional classroom instruction and high expectations feel like outsiders in this new educational landscape. When I began teaching 26 years ago, I had a clear understanding of what was expected of me: mastery of my subject, adherence to a curriculum focused on imparting deep knowledge and valuable skill sets, robust classroom management where student defiance had real consequences, reasonable homework assignments with deadlines, and exams that required actual studying. But that is no longer the case. In a vegetative educational system, scholastic rigor is effectively euthanized.

The Impact on Core Subjects

Civics courses, which used to emphasize political culture and American constitutionalism, now encourage “activism” and the exploration of a wide range of “identities” instead. Language classes often focus on foreign cultures rather than dry linguistic conjugations. Learning grammar, once considered essential, is now seen as outdated, just like cursive. Students are even allowed to choose which books to read instead of being guided by classic works. Who needs Hemingway when John Green is available? These changes have not occurred in isolation. They have been implemented because the very concept of what a classroom should achieve and what teaching excellence truly looks like has been distorted by the significant challenges faced by many American students.

The Loss of Inspirational Moments

The real damage caused by vegetative education, a toll that cannot be measured by quantitative data or granular research, is that it is depriving young Americans of one of the most formative and fundamental experiences of the human condition: breathing in the pure air of unfettered inspiration. When teachers are at their best, the classroom becomes a purposeful gateway to learning about people, passions, and possibilities. It is a place where a young person can point to something they are learning and say, “I want to be like that person. I want to do what they do. I want to know what they know.” As a proud public-school teacher who has taught thousands of students over the past 25 years, I have witnessed this genuine magic time and time again. But if we continue to believe that teachers should never ask too much or push too hard, this magic will become increasingly difficult to find. We are currently asking very little of our children, and it should not surprise us when they give us little in return.Jeremy Adams is the author of the recently published “Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans.”