Movement Forming to Stop Oral Presentations if Students Are Scared

Just when we thought we couldn’t make the younger generation softer, there is now a movement to allow students to skip giving presentations in school if they are scared.

Many of us were raised with a “no excuses” approach. Now, any excuse can be used for a free pass. Just saying you’re scared might be enough to get you an A. It’s amazing that these people are descended from the Greatest Generation that saved us during the Great Depression and World War II.

Being able to speak in front of people is an important skill to have. Just like anything, it can come with practice so allowing students to skip this terrific learning experience isn’t doing them any favors. Instead, it is causing them harm and keeping them from realizing their full potential. The world is not going to bend to their fears or every outspoken opinion they have.

The tweet below is a good example of how popular this movement is becoming. The demand to allow students to skip giving presentations got over 400,000 retweets.

https://twitter.com/softedhearts/status/1038376186894790658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1038376186894790658&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Feducation%2Farchive%2F2018%2F09%2Fteens-think-they-shouldnt-have-to-speak-in-front-of-the-class%2F570061%2F

A student named Hayley completely rebutted this nonsense. She has severe anxiety and was terrified to present. But, guess what? She got over it as she practiced and is now more comfortable. She recognizes this is a skill that she needs to have and that it is learned by experience.

Hi, coming from sombody with severe anxiety, having somebody force me to do a public presentation was the best idea to happen in my life. I’ll never regret having my first anxiety attack in front of a classroom of students. Because it’ll happen and that’s life.

— hayley ☀️ (@hayleyrainn) September 10, 2018

No of course anxiety attack suck, TRUST ME I KNOW. Yes of course everybody is different, but that shouldn’t stop people who have anxiety to learn one of life’s most important skill. There are so many jobs that require you have public speaking skills.

— hayley ☀️ (@hayleyrainn) September 10, 2018

If you don’t want to do it, then don’t, explain to your teacher before hand as to why. But that shouldn’t take away from the fact that public speaking should be taught to everybody.

— hayley ☀️ (@hayleyrainn) September 10, 2018

Allowing students to skip giving presentations is harming them in the long run and will limit their ability to get jobs. The real world doesn’t make such frivolous concessions to fearful people. They are better suited to face the fear in a controlled environment like school than stumbling in their 20s or 30s when they finally try to present for the first time. It’s easier to learn this as a student than as an adult. Coddling them by giving them a pass to skip out is actually doing them harm.