Frustrated Teacher Says Less Than Half of His Students Turned in a Simple English Assignment
"Needless to say, I am truly disappointed in the apathy that students are continuing to display."
Published Nov. 27 2025, 9:11 a.m. ET
An English teacher took to TikTok to talk about the fact that almost all of the students in his classes failed to turn in a short poetry assignment that he gave them for homework.
After outlining the instructions for the project, @lamarjust218 explained, "They had this project due, less than half of my students turned in the project on time. Of the ones that turned it in, I can honestly probably say maybe two of them did some quality work."
He said he even gave them a few extra days to turn it in, and was incredibly disappointed and at a loss for what to do. He sent out a letter to their families explaining the situation. Here's what he said.
He read the email he sent out to the students families.
He says, "On Monday, we launched our poetry project, where students were asked to write their own Villanelle, then write an eight-sentence analysis on the very poem they created. In addition, they were asked to color and decorate the paper that they wrote their poem on."
The TikToker goes on to explain that the assignment was originally due by the end of the day on Wednesday. Many students did not complete the assignment, so he "extended grace" and pushed the assignment to the day he posted the video.
He broke down the low ratio of students who actually turned the project in.
In first period, three of the 22 students turned in the project. One of those was incomplete. In second period, five out of 23 students turned it in, and in third period, ten out of 22 students turned in the project. Many of those were also incomplete.
"I encourage you to ask your child what they did with their time ... it is unacceptable for students to not have a poem and a paragraph with some colors done within four days."
Expectations for students to be involved in high-level classes, sports, and other extracurricular activities in order to look good on college applications are higher than ever. But it's unclear what exactly the reasons are that many of Lamar's students failed to turn in their assignments.
"Needless to say, I am truly disappointed in the apathy that students are continuing to display," Lamar said. He then encouraged parents to speak with their kids about the importance of meeting deadlines and taking ownership of their education.
He goes on to say how frustrated he is that he gave his students the materials they needed for the project and extra time to complete it, and yet many of them still did not take responsibility for the assignment and complete the work.
Lamar admitted the incident is making him rethink his career.
"I'm so frustrated," he said, "This is why I'm leaning towards getting out of education, especially teaching English."
"Teaching English is so hard and so boring," he mused.
In a follow-up video, Lamar explains that he only got one emailed response from parents. However, many of them signed up to meet during parent-teacher conferences. "So I am looking forward to that day," he said.
In the comments, many TikTok users agreed with Lamar that kids aren't as interested in completing work as they should be, or as the commenters were when they were in school.
One comment says, "The bar is literally on the floor. When I was in high school, this would've been a one-period assignment, and d--n near every kid would've had it done in the 45 minutes we had."
These days, kids have a lot more distractions, having phones and social media at their disposal. But let's be honest: This issue is not particularly new. Learning to take responsibility is a lesson every student has had to learn at least once.