Learned helplessness and reading: A review of the literature

Teachers have long seen apathy and disinterest in some of their students. Poor students with little apparent ability also seem to be the ones who try the least. Teachers have usually accepted this as the status quo and have put forth little effort to change lethargic students. Often, if efforts have been made to motivate the student, the efforts have been misguided, albeit, genuine. Very little has been generally understood about the passive students and how they think, are motivated, and perceive themselves. Such students are present in nearly every classroom, yet most commonly they are given less attention. It is easy and might even seem appropriate to focus little attention on these individuals because they offer little or no effort themselves and usually show no interest in school work