Some Students Say Having To Speak in Front of the Class is an Unreasonable Burden For Those With Anxiety and Are Requesting Alternative Options (theatlantic.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: For many middle and high school students, giving an in-class presentation was a rite of passage. Teachers would call up students, one by one, to present their work in front of the class and, though it was often nerve wracking, many people claim it helped turn them into more confident public speakers. "Coming from somebody with severe anxiety, having somebody force me to do a public presentation was the best idea to happen in my life," one woman recently tweeted. According to a recent survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, oral communication is one of the most sought-after skills in the workplace, with over 90 percent of hiring managers saying it's important. Some educators also credit in-class presentations with building essential leadership skills, and increasing students' confidence and understanding of material.

But in the past few years, students have started calling out in-class presentations as discriminatory to those with anxiety, demanding that teachers offer alternative options. This week, a tweet posted by 15-year-old high school student declaring "Stop forcing students to present in front of the class and give them a choice not to" garnered over 130,000 retweets and nearly half a million likes. A similar sentiment tweeted in January also racked up thousands of likes and retweets. And teachers are listening.

Comments

Re:Bravery

[hambone142]

Agreed. It wasn't my favorite thing to do but that's life.

These crybabies need to grow up.

It's fine

[PopeRatzo]

I know it really upsets you anti-SJW people, but the truth is it's not that hard to make accommodations for students who are made up a little differently from the rest of us. Some of our most brilliant authors, scientists, mathematicians, etc were people who had crushing social anxiety and it would be a damn shame to penalize them so early in the game because of it.

Yes, there will be lazy-ass bonespur children who just use this as an excuse to get out of a difficult assignment, but chances are they're not going to amount to much anyway unless they inherit some money, so I'd rather see ten of them skate than to lose one really talented student.

I'm coming at this from the point of view of a lifelong teacher in higher education (and elsewhere). It's your job to help out the students, not to crush their souls under your Jordan Peterson-esque boot heel.

Re:It's fine

[PopeRatzo]

I say this as an asshole who was always really good at math, science, not quite as good at language

If you had me as your teacher, maybe you'd also be really good at language, and maybe you wouldn't be such an "asshole".

Buddy of mine had the opposite

[rsilvergun]

his teachers dumped all over him. He wasn't a very likable kid (not his fault, Autism and whatnot). This kind of crap didn't stop until Columbine. The kids were still bullying but at least the teachers stopped. I guess my point is don't rely on teachers, who are overworked and prone to the same human defects as your average bully, to take care of the kids. They crap teachers didn't stop shitting on kids they don't like because they suddenly got compassion. They were afraid of being murdered.

Honestly, if you've got to your Junior year in high school and still hate public speaking then you're going to hate it for life. If a big enough carrot is dangled (or a stick) you might get over it, but rather than spending time hoping for a carrot that might never come the kid's time is probably better spent being left the fuck alone to study.

Re:Death metal helps

[Anonymous Coward]

Everybody has their own fucking "disability" requiring some type of at large remediation. They use their "disability" to claim their rights are being violated and they want the world around them to accommodate their phobias, anxieties, and fears. The vast majority of people get nervous when speaking in front of the class is NORMAL. What are these people going to do when they have to talk to numerous people when interviewing for a job? Almost every job interview I have conducted or personally experienced requires you to present yourself in front of a group of people.

So these people should take their meds and grow a fucking spine and join the rest of us in that magical place often referred to as reality.