Newsweek: Gen Z Teacher Quits, Reveals Why She Thinks High School Students Are Doomed

[Dennis Donovan]

Last edited Tue May 13, 2025, 09:35 AM - Edit history (2)

Newsweek - Gen Z Teacher Quits, Reveals Why She Thinks High School Students Are Doomed

Published May 13, 2025 at 7:55 AM EDT
Marni Rose McFall

A Gen-Z teacher has shared why she left the profession in a social media video that has been viewed millions of times. Hannah Maria, who taught tenth-grade English, sounded the alarm on the impact of technology on kids in a nine-minute video.

Why It Matters
As of 2024, 21 percent of adults in the U.S. were found to be illiterate, with 54 percent of adults having a literacy rate below a sixth-grade level, according to the National Literacy Institute. Low literacy costs the country up to $2.2 trillion a year, according to the NLI.

A report released in January 2025 from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that the reading and math skills of fourth and eighth grade students have declined in multiple states to below the national average.

What To Know
At the time of reporting, the video has been reshared to X where it has been viewed 4.3 million times. The TikTok account where the original video was posted has been set to private.

Filming in a classroom shortly ahead of her last day teaching, Hannah Maria said that "technology is ruining education."

"School boards and superintendents and people who actually can make this true difference in their school districts aren't listening," she says in the video.

She shared that she teaches in a district where each student is given an iPad from sixth to twelfth grade.

/snip

On edit: tweet w/ video:

Wall Street Apes
@WallStreetApes
This woman teaches 10th grade high school in America

She’s leaving the profession. She says kids can no longer read proficiently, they won’t pay attention, won’t listen to authority, they don’t think the Declaration of Independence is important, they’re writing their papers with ai like ChatGPT, they don’t know math, they don’t care about history

This videos goes over exactly what’s going on in high school classrooms in America

“It's just been a really poor experience. This generation is really tough. And I will admit that I'm just not cut out for it. Anyone who starts now and will be a teacher from here on out with the generation that we're teaching right now. I commend you”

10:02 AM · May 12, 2025

[LiberalArkie]

1. She needs to move to Thailand and teach at an international school.

[marble falls]

2. It's not the computers they're given, it's the way the computer is used to educate.

[Botany]

3. Why we have Trump

As of 2024, 21 percent of adults in the U.S. were found to be illiterate, with 54 percent of adults having a literacy rate below a sixth-grade level, according to the National Literacy Institute. Low literacy costs the country up to $2.2 trillion a year, according to the NLI.

[exboyfil]

9. Lots of educated folks voted for Trump

I was surrounded by them at my old job and current job.

[Lonestarblue]

4. So true. Computers were first introduced in schools not to solve a problem but to increase sales.

Apple, Microsoft, and Tandy Corporation (TRS-80 computers) convinced schools that all students needed to learn to use computers in school. It’s my belief that the loss in learning far outweighs the gain in computer literacy for most kids.

I can look at my own use of technology and see learning loss. For example, prior to smart phones, I could remember all the phone numbers of people I called regularly. Now I remember few numbers because I push a button for the call.

The internet facilitates finding information and creating reports or projects for school work, but much of the information kids find is inaccurate or biased and they are not necessarily taught the difference. I think no computers should be allowed in elementary school except for programs that assist developmentally challenged kids. Some kids can learn well from computers, but there is value in learning from books and from discussions in class with fellow students instead of working alone at computers.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Newsweek article has howler error: when teaching to "handwrite, students don't corporate"

"corporate"?

I think you can make a case that "teaching to handwrite" is okay, but I would have written "teaching handwriting".

[hlthe2b]

7. Yes. No editors anywhere online, it would appear...

Oh, the cursive handwriting... Don't get me started.

But this has been going on for a while. I wrote a few weeks ago about how I have had to cease mentoring master's degree students writing (attempting to write) their theses. I used to enjoy the students, but they simply cannot write. No matter how much time I spend discussing and all but rewriting their entire draft, the revised version I get back is no better than the first. I used to find it shocking, but now just deeply depressing. AI is not going to help the situation; it will merely take over the jobs they might ordinarily have been seeking.

[Johonny]

6. Not one kid in the class could use a buggy whip!

[kysrsoze]

8. "The education system is broken, so i quit." Thanks... very noble of you.

It's not like she couldn't try to get into a better school district... or actually work to help students get past it.

Does she realize she's a poster child for Gen Z - quitting her job and spending her time uploading videos to TikTok and YouTube? I guess the real career path for us all is influencer.

[exboyfil]

10. At what they pay her

I can understand looking out for number one first. My very liberal high school friend gave up teaching in the Chicago public schools years ago.