The first part of your comment really hit home with me- I was a volunteer head coach for a decade for the high school gymnastics team in my school district (tiny northern wisconsin town) but not affiliated with the school otherwise. I watched it happen…

The first year, students/athletes rarely came to me with simple fix questions about drills and skills bc they took the initiative and found their own solution.

By the 10th year, I had a student break down in tears bc she couldn’t take take that next step on her own… I had to stop her from possibly injuring herself (overexertion doing a particular skill) and give her that solution.

It was not an isolated incident. Some of the questions were the same exact ones my gymnasts had encountered a decade earlier and yet now could not figure out on their own.

For a good part of their day, students today operate under the model of being given their every next step. How does one learn to think critically that way?