“Why Are We Learning This?” Is a Fair Question

An unflinching take on relevance, respect, and why students aren’t wrong for pushing back.

There’s a moment almost every teacher dreads. You're in the middle of a lesson you’ve prepped for hours, and a student raises their hand and asks,

“Why are we even learning this?”

It’s easy to read that as defiance. But what if it’s actually something else?

What if it’s curiosity—masked by frustration? Or a quiet demand for relevance?

Either way, one thing’s clear: it’s a fair question. And we need to start treating it like one.

Relevance Is the Real Engagement Strategy

We talk a lot about student engagement.

We run PD on it.

We throw tech at it.

We incentivize it.

But rarely do we pause to ask: Is the content itself relevant to these students?

Because when students zone out, it’s not always a focus problem.

Sometimes, it’s a meaning problem. When they ask why they’re learning something, what they’re really asking is:

• How does this connect to my life?

• Will this help me later?

• Do you, as my teacher, see me enough to explain why this matters?

That’s not disrespect. That’s a search for purpose.

Students Deserve Transparency

Imagine sitting through hours of training for a job, but no one will tell you what the job is. That’s what school can feel like for students when content is taught in isolation, detached from real-world context.

We don’t need to force every lesson into a career tie-in or a life lesson.

But we do owe students clarity.

• What’s the goal of this unit?

• How might this skill show up beyond a test?

• Why was this even chosen to be part of the curriculum in the first place?

The best educators already do this naturally. They frame content, invite conversation, and connect the dots. They don’t teach just to cover material—they teach so students want to care.

It’s Time to Respect the Pushback

There’s a difference between being off-task and being disengaged because you feel disrespected by the material.

When we ignore the “why,” we risk reinforcing the idea that school is about compliance, not curiosity. That students are just containers for content, not people with valid questions and lived experiences.

If the goal is to raise critical thinkers, we have to be okay with them questioning the system they’re inside. That includes questioning us.

Educational AI—like ryco.io’s rybot—gives educators the ability to:

• Reframe lessons in real time to better align with student interests

• Offer examples that are culturally and contextually relevant

• Generate extension activities with real-world applications

• Translate abstract concepts into stories, visuals, and analogies that resonate

It’s not about replacing the teacher—it’s about giving them backup when students ask the hard questions.

Final Thought: The “Why” Is a Window, not a Wall

When students push back, they’re not being difficult. They’re being honest. And the best thing we can do is meet that honesty with transparency, respect, and design that makes room for relevance.

“Why are we learning this?” isn’t a challenge to authority. It’s an invitation to teach with more intention.

Let’s not shut it down. Let’s build from it.