The points you bring up are very true and very frustrating. The thing is, you can tell students over and over again how important it is for them to make the effort to improve their lives, make an effort, etc but they aren't going to see it that way until they are older and look back...

The one thing you can do to help them, though, is get them interested in you as a teacher and hope that it will help them show some interest in the class. Tell them about yourself, get them to laugh (even if it means doing some foolish things to get them to do so), do fun things in class such as games with competition with the idea that they'll start playing and actually learn without realizing it.

That's what I do, I teach with games and my students look forward to coming to my class because they have fun. They learn through the fun, though, and that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Kind regards,
Shelley
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