High-Achieving Students More Fearful of Uncertainty Than Previous Generations, Professor Observes

What was said

"It does seem that they are more fearful about uncertainty, about not knowing, about sitting in the space where they really don't know what the answer is going to be. They really don't know what's going to come out of their mouths. That's very uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable by nature, but it's particularly uncomfortable for these young people."

Hitz observes that today's young people display heightened discomfort with uncertainty and not knowing answers compared to previous generations. She attributes this to relentless achievement culture where any mistake feels like sudden death, and to the internet teaching students to view learning as information retrieval rather than an open-ended process of discovery.