A little late to the party because I was on spring break, but this is a case of a broken clock being right twice a day. Way too many students, HS and MS, have no attention span, no retention, no initiative, and no reason to pay attention in class. They are shuffled onto the next grade level regardless of performance to keep the school's numbers looking good, and treated like geniuses for providing 1st grade level work in HS and MS. There have been many articles and reports about how colleges are having to provide remedial courses on almost everything, especially reading and math, because HS graduates don't have the knowledge and skills to do college level work, despite the diploma many of them can't read.
No, many of them have no clue how to listen to or follow directions, largely because of the way they are spoon fed almost everything, and the lack of consequences when they aren't working up to par.
