Struggling--A Paragraph a Day

I never expect my students to be perfect, to know everything that we've covered in class.  I do, however, expect them to learn and to be better at the topic at hand at the end of the year than they were at the beginning of the year.  I find, though, that many of my students struggle with certain topics, but even as they struggle, they're unwilling to give extra time of effort to learn it better.  They seem to have the idea that if they just show up to class, they'll learn the material without making any effort at all, and I can guarantee you that that is definitely not the case.  If we want to learn anything, it takes work.  I don't make my classes extremely difficult, as that would defeat the main purpose of being there (learning), but I do make them rigorous so that the students learn, but the only people who aren't going to pass the classes are those who don't put forth any effort.  And that's something that I strive constantly to teach the young people in my classes:  learning takes effort, and if we want to improve at something, we most definitely need to work at it.  It doesn't just happen, and we can't depend on someone to come along and take us under their wing and teach us everything we need to know.  When I struggle, I try to understand why it's happening and I try to figure out ways to take care of whatever the issue may be.  I just wish that I could teach more young people the importance of doing so.