Watching Twilight, sleeping, snapchatting friends, and taking quizzes on Buzzfeed, is what the people in my last period class were doing instead of paying attention to the teacher’s PowerPoint. Who really stays engaged in class anymore? Even being in GT and AP classes, I’d say attention rates are at an all-time low.

With the new grading system putting the most emphasis on tests scores, students only really buckle down in class when an exam is coming up. Otherwise, on any normal day, students will take a class where they’re supposed to watch a video or listen to a teacher’s lecture, and use it as an opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

Try to look someone in the eyes and tell them you don’t fit into this category of slackers; you can’t. I think we’ve all fallen into this hole recently and it’s pretty hard to dig yourself out of when there’s really no incentive to pay attention to the constant busy work and boring lectures.

That girl who was watching Twilight in my last class, she’s a straight-A student. Obviously, something is wrong about this situation. But really, is this our fault? I’m sorry, but I don’t think even a fourth of the kids in my English class have actually read a whole novel so far this year. Is anyone failing out of the class? No, of course not, because with resources like Sparknotes and Shmoop everywhere you look, there’s really no need to.

It’s the 21^st century, learning should be personalized for the many different types of students at our school; it should be interactive and focus on group work and social skills. Maybe people would apply themselves a little bit more if learning was fun.

I know this sounds childish, but didn’t everyone el