Does anyone else get the feeling that some students are operating their brains in a way that is technically 'functional' but realistically just 'empty'?
Several times a day now, I see students completing assignments at such a whimsically slow, haphazard, and frankly dense pace that it makes me cringe internally, to the point of physical discomfort! During these assignments (test proctoring), part of the slowdowns is also due to the frequency of questions that punctuate the blank wall stares. These questions generally show their cognition is poor (one might guess the student is half asleep at times if you did not know better).
Anyway, I was thinking about this today, and a question bugged me. Do you think they know? Talking about the average (non-IEP/special needs) gen. alpha student. Do they look up from going at "their own pace" and realize that everyone else has already finished the marathon?
Or I suppose the blunt way to put this is, if they are genuinely dumb about some things (or most things), do they perceive their own dumbness?