Annoying Honor Students and the Intellectual Curiosity Crisis

2026.03.02

Saw a post about how the students who ask, "Why do we need to learn about this?" grow up to be adults who say, "We should've learned this in school." Many of the comments have expressed a sore lack of intellectual curiosity among students, which I will agree is a pressing issue that will only get worse due to generative AI. However, what I disagree with is the framing of this as a moral failure among students; an issue individualistic in nature, rather than a symptom of something bigger.

(For the sake of brevity, I will refrain from going on a spiel about the evils of late-stage capitalism; that'll be another entry for another time.)

Annoying ex-honor students are annoying. What else is new?

Even though questions about direct relevance and immediate practicality come from students who are inclined to disregard their academics anyway, they are still valid questions. When we fail to entertain the one critical inquiry these otherwise disinterested students ask, we teach these students that formal education is an institution of obedience first and foremost rather than a space for intellectual curiosity and discussion. We should be embarrased by our hypocrisy.

Most of us can now say in retrospect that the lessons in school were intended to be exercises in skill-building: the specific content being studied isn't nearly as important as the manner in which we process the content. After all, hindsight is always 20/20. But many kids don't have that insight while they're in school - and I think it's odd to believe in the importance of education for all and then give up on these students who show an initial resistance to it. While we can't force these students into enjoying school, we can at least be upfront with our intentions. Maybe then we'll be able to convince at least one of these students to take their studies seriously.

I need to delete social media off my phone; I am so easily ragebaited.