One in five educators rate their current students’ ability to make eye contact as “poor,” according to a recent survey by the EdWeek Research Center, as reported in Education Week.
Sixty-two percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders surveyed say the average student’s ability to make and maintain eye contact has gotten worse compared with 10 years ago. A quarter of educators described the issue as “much worse.”
Making eye contact is critical to show respect, engagement, trustworthiness, and confidence—and to build relationships. Poor eye contact is undermining students’ relationships with their teachers and their peers, say educators.
“Students are less socially advanced than in years past. They do not look you in the eye when speaking to you,” says an elementary school teacher in North Carolina. “Students do not know how to respond to classmates in social situations either. It is concerning to see the lack of social skills in our school.”
Educators say students’ deteriorating eye contact is a symptom of the overall atrophying of kids’ social skills.
What’s causing kids’ growing inability to look adults and peers in the eyes?
Social media overuse is a prime culprit. Messaging apps dominate youth communication, and many students haven’t learned how to have face-to-face conversations, says Candace Peyton Wofford, an instructional coach and, up until recently, a social-emotional learning teacher in a middle school in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Educators can help students by giving them phone-free time in school and making a concerted effort to make eye contact with each student when greeting kids at the door to the classroom or school, according to Wofford. This creates at least one brief interaction with students fully engaging with their teacher or principal.
“It’s on the teacher to set that expectation of their classroom,” Wofford says. “Like, you’re coming in my room, you’re looking me in the eye, your phone’s not around, and let’s have a great class.”
Education Week
