We’re sorry, but Freepik doesn’t work properly without JavaScript enabled. FAQ Contact

  • Notifications
  • Go back Remove
  • No notifications to show yet You’ll see useful information here soon. Stay tuned!
  • Downloads 0/60 What is this?
  • My collections
  • My subscription

Find out what’s new on Freepik and get notified about the latest content updates and feature releases.

  • Do homework
  • School girl
  • Kids classroom
  • Kids studying
  • Kids homework
  • School kids
  • School friends
  • Student raising hand
  • Kids learning

Kid Doing Homework Vectors

Free vector a girl reading books on white background

  • Add to collection
  • Save to Pinterest

brgfx

  • Education cartoon
  • Girl cartoon
  • girl reading

Free vector student boy doing homework simple cartoon character

  • Cartoon drawing
  • Cartoon svg

Free vector a girl doing homework with books on white background

  • cute people
  • kids writing
  • kids alphabet

Free vector a girl doing homework with books on white background

  • Happy cartoon
  • Kids cartoon

Free vector kids studying from home concept illustration

  • Study cartoon
  • boy studying
  • boy reading

Vector cute smiling girl sitting on the chair and writing with a pencil

  • back to school study
  • study illustration

Free vector watercolor parents helping children with homework illustration

  • watercolor children
  • watercolor illustration

Free vector student boy simple cartoon character

  • child writing

Free vector a boy doing homework with books on white background

  • Cartoon boy

Free vector character student school icon isolated

  • do homework
  • home learning

Free vector a kid doing homework with speech bubble in the library

  • kids drawing

Free vector primary school education illustrations set happy little schoolchildren schoolmates studying chemistry geography and literature

  • primary school

Vector happy girl writing on a book

  • children reading

Free vector student girl simple cartoon character

  • girl drawing
  • girl clipart

Free vector funny education background

  • hand drawn school
  • school drawing
  • back to school blackboard

Free vector lovely educaction concept with flat design

  • back to school student
  • back to college

Free vector a girl read books on white background

  • english kids

Vector writing personal name isolated cartoon vector illustration

  • hand writing

Free vector a girl doing homework doodle cartoon character

  • preschool kids
  • kindergarten

Vector kid do homework concept

  • child sitting
  • school kids

Vector girl reading a book sitting at a desk. vector illustration concept in cartoon style

  • Book cartoon

Free vector a girl doing homework with books on white background

  • girl writing

Free vector a girl studying on desk

  • writing book

Free vector tired schoolgirl sleeps in class sleepy girl sitting at school desk boring lesson stress day at school study problems childhood elementary children education

  • tired student

Free vector a kid doing homework with speech bubble in the library

  • Book drawing

Free vector girl school blank frame

  • school border
  • children book

Free vector one happy boy doing homework on the desk

  • student clipart
  • boy clipart

Free vector a kid doing homework with speech bubble in the library

  • homeschooling
  • school house

Vector the male student sat on the table with books beside him he could not think of work causing a bad mood flat style cartoon illustration vector

  • people education
  • education illustration
  • storytelling

Free vector pack of children in a desk

  • kids learning

Free vector girl doing homework on table

  • book clipart

Free vector tired sad student having stress of study

  • school exam
  • exam preparation

Free vector hand drawn illustration family scenes

  • hand drawn family
  • family illustration

Free vector hand drawn children back to school

  • back to school kids

Free vector a kid doing homework with speech bubble in the library

  • family background
  • family kids

Free vector a kid doing homework with speech bubble in the library

  • child education
  • Collections
  • AI Generator

Premium Access

Custom content, media manager.

Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internet’s creators.

K-12 students learned a lot last year, but they're still missing too much school

Cory Turner - Square

Cory Turner

Headshot of Sequoia Carrillo

Sequoia Carrillo

student doing assignment clipart

From 2022-2023, chronic absenteeism declined in 33 of the 39 states AEI looked at. But it was still a persistent problem: In a handful of places, including Nevada, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 students – or more – were chronically absent. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

From 2022-2023, chronic absenteeism declined in 33 of the 39 states AEI looked at. But it was still a persistent problem: In a handful of places, including Nevada, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 students – or more – were chronically absent.

It's going to take aggressive interventions to repair the pandemic's destructive impact on kids' schooling.

That's the takeaway of two big new studies that look at how America's K-12 students are doing. There's some good news in this new research, to be sure – but there's still a lot of work to do on both student achievement and absenteeism. Here's what to know:

1. Students are starting to make up for missed learning

From spring 2022 to spring 2023, students made important learning gains, making up for about one-third of the learning they had missed in math and a quarter of the learning they had missed in reading during the pandemic.

That's according to the newly updated Education Recovery Scorecard , a co-production of Harvard University's Center for Education Policy Research and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University.

6 things we've learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning

6 things we've learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning

The report says, "Students learned 117 percent in math and 108 percent in reading of what they would typically have learned in a pre-pandemic school year."

In an interview with NPR's All Things Considered , Stanford professor Sean Reardon said that's surprisingly good news: "A third or a quarter might not sound like a lot, but you have to realize the losses from 2019 to 2022 were historically large."

When the same team of researchers did a similar review last year, they found that, by spring of 2022, the average third- through eighth-grader had missed half a grade level in math and a third of a grade level in reading. So, the fact that students are now making up ground is a good sign.

These results do come with a few caveats, including that the researchers were only able to review data and draw their conclusions from 30 states this year.

2. Despite that progress, very few states are back to pre-pandemic learning levels

The Harvard and Stanford study of student learning includes one sobering sentence: "Alabama is the only state where average student achievement exceeds pre-pandemic levels in math." And average achievement in reading has surpassed pre-pandemic levels in just three of the states they studied: Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Every other state for which they had data has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels in math and reading.

"Many schools made strong gains last year, but most districts are still working hard just to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels," said Harvard's Thomas Kane, one of the learning study's co-authors.

3. Chronic absenteeism also improved in many places ... slightly

The rate of chronic absenteeism – the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of a school year – declined from 2022 to 2023. That's according to research by Nat Malkus at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He found chronic absenteeism declined in 33 of the 39 states he studied.

Yes, "the differences were relatively small," Malkus writes, but it's improvement nonetheless: "the average chronic absenteeism rate across these states in 2023 was 26 percent, down from 28 percent for the same 39 states in 2022."

Glass half-full: Things aren't getting worse.

4. But, again, chronic absenteeism is still high

Malkus found chronic absenteeism was at 26% in 2023. Before the pandemic, in 2019, those same states reported a rate of 15%. That adds some painful context to the "good news" two-point decline in absenteeism from 2022 to 2023. Sure, it's down, but it's still so much higher than it was and should be.

Think of it this way: In 2023, roughly 1 student out of 4 was still chronically absent across the school year.

In a handful of places, including Nevada, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 students – or more – were chronically absent. That's a crisis.

Research shows a strong connection between absenteeism and all kinds of negative consequences for students, including an increased likelihood of dropping out of school.

Chronic absenteeism also hurts the students who don't miss school. That's because, as the learning study's authors point out, when absent students return, they require extra attention and "make it hard for teachers to keep the whole class moving."

5. Poverty matters (as always)

Both the learning and the chronic absenteeism studies capture the headwinds that constantly buffet children in poverty.

"No one wants poor children to foot the bill for the pandemic," said Harvard's Kane, "but that is the path that most states are on."

On learning: Reardon told NPR "the pandemic really exacerbated inequality between students in high-poverty and low-poverty districts and students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds."

In 2023, students' academic recovery was relatively strong across groups, which is good – but it means "the inequality that was widened during the pandemic hasn't gotten smaller, and in some places it's actually gotten larger," Reardon told NPR.

In fact, the report says, "in most states, achievement gaps between rich and poor districts are even wider now than they were before the pandemic." The learning study singles out Massachusetts and Michigan as the states where those gaps in math and reading achievement widened the most between poor and non-poor students.

Similarly, Malkus, at AEI, found that, between 2019 and 2022, rates of chronic absenteeism rose much more in high-poverty districts (up from 20% to 37%) than in low-poverty districts (up from 12% to 23%).

"Chronic absenteeism has increased the most for disadvantaged students," Malkus writes, "those who also experienced the greatest learning losses during the pandemic and can least afford the harms that come with chronic absenteeism."

6. Families must play an important role in learning recovery

Both studies acknowledge that families must play an important role in helping students – and schools – find a healthy, post-pandemic normal. The problem is, surveys show parents and guardians often underestimate the pandemic's toll on their children's learning . "Parents cannot advocate effectively for their children's future if they are misinformed," says the learning study.

To combat this, the learning researchers propose that districts be required to inform parents if their child is below grade-level in math or English. Those parents could then enroll their students in summer learning, tutoring and after-school programs, all of which have benefitted from federal COVID relief dollars. That funding is set to expire this fall, and some of these learning recovery opportunities may dry up, so the clock is ticking.

7. There's a "culture problem" around chronic absenteeism

Reducing chronic absenteeism, Malkus says, will also depend on families.

"This is a culture problem," Malkus tells NPR. "And in schools and in communities, culture eats policy for breakfast every day."

By "culture problem," Malkus is talking about how families perceive the importance of daily attendance relative to other challenges in their lives. He says some parents seem more inclined now to let their students miss school for various reasons, perhaps not realizing the links between absenteeism and negative, downstream consequences.

"Look, the patterns and routines of going to school were disrupted and to some degree eroded during the pandemic," Malkus says. "And I don't think we've had a decisive turn back that we need to have, to turn this kind of behavior around, and it's going to stay with students until that culture changes."

How do you do that? Malkus points to some low-cost options — like texting or email campaigns to increase parental involvement and encourage kids to get back in school – but says these, alone, aren't "up to the scale of what we're facing now."

Higher-cost options for schools to consider could include door-knocking campaigns, sending staff on student home-visits and requiring that families of chronically absent students meet in-person with school staff.

The learning study goes one step further: "Elected officials, employers, and community leaders should launch public awareness campaigns and other initiatives to lower student absenteeism." Because, after all, students can't make up for the learning they missed during the pandemic if they don't consistently attend school now.

What both of these studies make clear is there is no one solution that will solve these problems, and success will require further investment, aggressive intervention and patience.

Malkus says, even the high-cost, high-return options will likely only drive down chronic absenteeism by about four percentage points. A big win, he says, "but four percentage points against 26% isn't going to get us where we need to go."

Edited by: Nicole Cohen Visual design and development by: LA Johnson and Aly Hurt

  • Newsletters
  • Account Activating this button will toggle the display of additional content Account Sign out

The Loss of Things I Took for Granted

Ten years into my college teaching career, students stopped being able to read effectively..

Recent years have seen successive waves of book bans in Republican-controlled states, aimed at pulling any text with “woke” themes from classrooms and library shelves. Though the results sometimes seem farcical, as with the banning of Art Spiegelman’s Maus due to its inclusion of “cuss words” and explicit rodent nudity, the book-banning agenda is no laughing matter. Motivated by bigotry, it has already done demonstrable harm and promises to do more. But at the same time, the appropriate response is, in principle, simple. Named individuals have advanced explicit policies with clear goals and outcomes, and we can replace those individuals with people who want to reverse those policies. That is already beginning to happen in many places, and I hope those successes will continue until every banned book is restored.

If and when that happens, however, we will not be able to declare victory quite yet. Defeating the open conspiracy to deprive students of physical access to books will do little to counteract the more diffuse confluence of forces that are depriving students of the skills needed to meaningfully engage with those books in the first place. As a college educator, I am confronted daily with the results of that conspiracy-without-conspirators. I have been teaching in small liberal arts colleges for over 15 years now, and in the past five years, it’s as though someone flipped a switch. For most of my career, I assigned around 30 pages of reading per class meeting as a baseline expectation—sometimes scaling up for purely expository readings or pulling back for more difficult texts. (No human being can read 30 pages of Hegel in one sitting, for example.) Now students are intimidated by anything over 10 pages and seem to walk away from readings of as little as 20 pages with no real understanding. Even smart and motivated students struggle to do more with written texts than extract decontextualized take-aways. Considerable class time is taken up simply establishing what happened in a story or the basic steps of an argument—skills I used to be able to take for granted.

Since this development very directly affects my ability to do my job as I understand it, I talk about it a lot. And when I talk about it with nonacademics, certain predictable responses inevitably arise, all questioning the reality of the trend I describe. Hasn’t every generation felt that the younger cohort is going to hell in a handbasket? Haven’t professors always complained that educators at earlier levels are not adequately equipping their students? And haven’t students from time immemorial skipped the readings?

The response of my fellow academics, however, reassures me that I’m not simply indulging in intergenerational grousing. Anecdotally, I have literally never met a professor who did not share my experience. Professors are also discussing the issue in academic trade publications , from a variety of perspectives. What we almost all seem to agree on is that we are facing new obstacles in structuring and delivering our courses, requiring us to ratchet down expectations in the face of a ratcheting down of preparation. Yes, there were always students who skipped the readings, but we are in new territory when even highly motivated honors students struggle to grasp the basic argument of a 20-page article. Yes, professors never feel satisfied that high school teachers have done enough, but not every generation of professors has had to deal with the fallout of No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Finally, yes, every generation thinks the younger generation is failing to make the grade— except for the current cohort of professors, who are by and large more invested in their students’ success and mental health and more responsive to student needs than any group of educators in human history. We are not complaining about our students. We are complaining about what has been taken from them.

If we ask what has caused this change, there are some obvious culprits. The first is the same thing that has taken away almost everyone’s ability to focus—the ubiquitous smartphone. Even as a career academic who studies the Quran in Arabic for fun, I have noticed my reading endurance flagging. I once found myself boasting at a faculty meeting that I had read through my entire hourlong train ride without looking at my phone. My colleagues agreed this was a major feat, one they had not achieved recently. Even if I rarely attain that high level of focus, though, I am able to “turn it on” when demanded, for instance to plow through a big novel during a holiday break. That’s because I was able to develop and practice those skills of extended concentration and attentive reading before the intervention of the smartphone. For children who were raised with smartphones, by contrast, that foundation is missing. It is probably no coincidence that the iPhone itself, originally released in 2007, is approaching college age, meaning that professors are increasingly dealing with students who would have become addicted to the dopamine hit of the omnipresent screen long before they were introduced to the more subtle pleasures of the page.

The second go-to explanation is the massive disruption of school closures during COVID-19. There is still some debate about the necessity of those measures, but what is not up for debate any longer is the very real learning loss that students suffered at every level. The impact will inevitably continue to be felt for the next decade or more, until the last cohort affected by the mass “pivot to online” finally graduates. I doubt that the pandemic closures were the decisive factor in themselves, however. Not only did the marked decline in reading resilience start before the pandemic, but the students I am seeing would have already been in high school during the school closures. Hence they would be better equipped to get something out of the online format and, more importantly, their basic reading competence would have already been established.

Less discussed than these broader cultural trends over which educators have little control are the major changes in reading pedagogy that have occurred in recent decades—some motivated by the ever-increasing demand to “teach to the test” and some by fads coming out of schools of education. In the latter category is the widely discussed decline in phonics education in favor of the “balanced literacy” approach advocated by education expert Lucy Calkins (who has more recently come to accept the need for more phonics instruction). I started to see the results of this ill-advised change several years ago, when students abruptly stopped attempting to sound out unfamiliar words and instead paused until they recognized the whole word as a unit. (In a recent class session, a smart, capable student was caught short by the word circumstances when reading a text out loud.) The result of this vibes-based literacy is that students never attain genuine fluency in reading. Even aside from the impact of smartphones, their experience of reading is constantly interrupted by their intentionally cultivated inability to process unfamiliar words.

For all the flaws of the balanced literacy method, it was presumably implemented by people who thought it would help. It is hard to see a similar motivation in the growing trend toward assigning students only the kind of short passages that can be included in a standardized test. Due in part to changes driven by the infamous Common Core standards , teachers now have to fight to assign their students longer readings, much less entire books, because those activities won’t feed directly into students getting higher test scores, which leads to schools getting more funding. The emphasis on standardized tests was always a distraction at best, but we have reached the point where it is actively cannibalizing students’ educational experience—an outcome no one intended or planned, and for which there is no possible justification.

We can’t go back in time and do the pandemic differently at this point, nor is there any realistic path to putting the smartphone genie back in the bottle. (Though I will note that we as a society do at least attempt to keep other addictive products out of the hands of children.) But I have to think that we can, at the very least, stop actively preventing young people from developing the ability to follow extended narratives and arguments in the classroom. Regardless of their profession or ultimate educational level, they will need those skills. The world is a complicated place. People—their histories and identities, their institutions and work processes, their fears and desires—are simply too complex to be captured in a worksheet with a paragraph and some reading comprehension questions. Large-scale prose writing is the best medium we have for capturing that complexity, and the education system should not be in the business of keeping students from learning how to engage effectively with it.

This is a matter not of snobbery, but of basic justice. I recognize that not everyone centers their lives on books as much as a humanities professor does. I think they’re missing out, but they’re adults and they can choose how to spend their time. What’s happening with the current generation is not that they are simply choosing TikTok over Jane Austen. They are being deprived of the ability to choose—for no real reason or benefit. We can and must stop perpetrating this crime on our young people.

comscore beacon

Judge rules Texas school’s hair length policies do not violate CROWN Act

ANAHUAC, Texas — A  judge on Thursday ruled that a Texas high school was not violating the state’s CROWN Act by punishing a Black teen over the length of his dreadlocks.

State District Judge Chap Cain III said the Barbers Hill Independent School District’s dress and grooming policies do not violate the CROWN Act, which prohibits race-based hair discrimination at work, school and in housing facilities in the state. The decision was met with sighs and gasps by many of those gathered in the courthouse, which included student Darryl George’s supporters and natural-hair advocates.

Cain said the district’s policy “does not prohibit nor does it discriminate against male students who wear braids, locs, or twists.”

Candice Matthews, the family’s spokesperson, told reporters after the trial that George left with tears in his eyes and lamented the decision.

“All because of my hair?” he said, according to Matthews. “I can’t get my education because of my hair. I can’t be around my peers and enjoy my junior year because of my hair.” Matthews said the family has vowed not to “lay down. They would continue to fight.”

The decision is the latest development in a monthslong battle between George’s family and the Barbers Hill Independent School District.

“We appreciate clarification for the court because it’s an important question,” Sara Leon, a representative for the district, said of the ruling. “We’re glad to understand what the law means.”

George, a junior at the school in Mont Belvieu, outside of Houston, has been in in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program since August, when school officials said George’s hair violated a district dress code regulating the length of boys’ hair.

Darryl George.

George and his family have refused to cut his hair, which he wears neatly braided on top of his head, away from his face and neck. They argued that George’s punishment violates the state’s newly implemented CROWN Act . The district disputed the claim, holding that the law doesn’t address hair length.

According to the student handbook , male students’ hair cannot extend past the eyebrows or earlobes.

The district filed a lawsuit in September, requesting that a judge clarify whether that’s the case. Last month, Cain ordered the case to go to trial .

The case boiled down to whether the district’s length regulations were in violation of the CROWN Act. Cain ruled on Thursday that they were not.

hair style school protest hair braiding

“The CROWN Act does not render unlawful those portions of Barbers Hill’s” dress code, he said.

Leon, the district representative, said during the trial that the district’s policy is consistent with the CROWN Act and prevents the school from discriminating against George based on wearing dreadlocks, “but he can’t wear them at a length that exceeds the dress code.”

She reiterated the district’s claim that hair length is not covered by the law, and arguments that include length amount to “additional protections beyond the prohibition of discrimination, protections that would supersede other race-neutral school policies.”

Allie Booker, the George family’s attorney, disagreed. She said that protective styles often require length, achieved by adding synthetic or human hair to a person’s hair. Under Barbers Hill’s policy, it would be impossible for students to wear protective styles, Booker said.

hair style school protest

“There is no CROWN Act, not at BHISD,” she said, referring to the school. She added later in her closing argument: “Their grooming code attacks the style.”

During the trial, Booker called to the stand state Rep. Ron Reynolds, who helped write Texas’ CROWN Act. He said that length is included in the law.

“Length was inferred with the very nature of the style,” Reynolds told the court. “Anyone familiar knows it requires a certain amount of length” for most protective styles.

After the trial, Reynolds told reporters outside the courthouse that legislators will pursue more legislation “so that Barbers Hill cannot skirt behind a loop hole” and continue to “discriminate against students.”

Booker said the family plans to appeal the decision.

This is not the first time the district has been at the center of a dispute over its hair policies. In 2020, two students filed lawsuits after they were suspended over the length of their dreadlocks. Both students withdrew from the school, and the lawsuits are pending . One of them eventually returned after a judge granted a temporary injunction for him to return to campus.

For more from NBC BLK,  sign up for our weekly newsletter .

student doing assignment clipart

Char Adams is a reporter for NBC BLK who writes about race.

  • Images home
  • Editorial home
  • Editorial video
  • Premium collections
  • common:links_news
  • common:links_sports
  • common:links_royalty
  • common:links_entertainment
  • Premium images
  • AI generated images
  • Curated collections
  • Animals/Wildlife
  • Backgrounds/Textures
  • Beauty/Fashion
  • Buildings/Landmarks
  • Business/Finance
  • Celebrities
  • Food and Drink
  • Healthcare/Medical
  • Illustrations/Clip-Art
  • Miscellaneous
  • Parks/Outdoor
  • Signs/Symbols
  • Sports/Recreation
  • Transportation
  • All categories
  • Shutterstock Select
  • Shutterstock Elements
  • Health Care

Browse Content

  • Sound effects

PremiumBeat

  • PixelSquid 3D objects
  • Templates Home
  • instagram-all
  • highlight-covers
  • facebook-all
  • carousel-ads
  • cover-photos
  • event-covers
  • youtube-all
  • channel-art
  • etsy-big-banner
  • etsy-mini-banner
  • etsy-shop-icon
  • pinterest-all
  • pinterest-pins
  • twitter-all
  • common:links_templates_twitter_banner
  • infographics
  • site-header:zoom_backgrounds
  • announcements
  • certificates
  • gift-certificates
  • real-estate-flyer
  • site-header:logos
  • travel-brochures
  • cards-anniversary
  • cards-baby-shower
  • christmas-cards
  • easter-cards
  • mothers-day-cards
  • cards-photo
  • cards-thanksgiving
  • cards-wedding
  • invitations-all
  • party-invitations
  • wedding-invitations
  • book-covers
  • About Creative Flow
  • Start a design

AI image generator

  • Photo editor
  • Background remover
  • Collage maker
  • Resize image
  • Color palettes

Color palette generator

  • Image converter
  • Creative AI
  • Design tips
  • Custom plans
  • Request quote
  • Shutterstock Studios

0 Credits Available

You currently have 0 credits

See all plans

student doing assignment clipart

Image plans

With access to 400M+ photos, vectors, illustrations, and more. Includes AI generated images!

student doing assignment clipart

Video plans

A library of 28 million high quality video clips. Choose between packs and subscription.

student doing assignment clipart

Music plans

Download tracks one at a time, or get a subscription with unlimited downloads.

Editorial plans

Instant access to over 50 million images and videos for news, sports, and entertainment.

Includes templates, design tools, AI-powered recommendations, and much more.

Search by image

Assignment royalty-free images

101,104 assignment stock photos, 3d objects, vectors, and illustrations are available royalty-free., proofreading paper on table in office for service.

proofreading paper on table in office for service Stock Photo

Millennial Indian girl sit at desk in living room study on laptop making notes, concentrated young woman work on computer write in notebook, take online course or training at home, education concept

Millennial Indian girl sit at desk in living room study on laptop making notes, concentrated young woman work on computer write in notebook, take online course or training at home, education concept Stock Photo

Teamwork and cooperation concept - top view of six people - men and women - drawing or writing on a large white blank sheet of paper.

Teamwork and cooperation concept - top view of six people - men and women - drawing or writing on a large white blank sheet of paper. Stock Photo

Young friends doing school assignment together at home

Young friends doing school assignment together at home Stock Photo

Female student taking notes from a book at library. Young asian woman sitting at table doing assignments in college library.

Female student taking notes from a book at library. Young asian woman sitting at table doing assignments in college library. Stock Photo

Online exam, checklist and pencil, taking test, choosing answer, questionnaire form, education concept, vector flat illustration

Online exam, checklist and pencil, taking test, choosing answer, questionnaire form, education concept, vector flat illustration Stock Vector

notebook paper background

notebook paper background Stock Vector

Young woman using laptop while doing school assignment at home

Young woman using laptop while doing school assignment at home Stock Photo

Homework assignment. Concept of e-learning, online education, home schooling, web courses, tutorials. 3d realistic vector illustration.

student doing assignment clipart

Focused young african american businesswoman or student looking at laptop holding book learning, serious black woman working or studying with computer doing research or preparing for exam online

Focused young african american businesswoman or student looking at laptop holding book learning, serious black woman working or studying with computer doing research or preparing for exam online Stock Photo

Contract terms and conditions, document paper, creative writing and storytelling, brief text, write summary, assignment, vector line icon, thin stroke illustration

Contract terms and conditions, document paper, creative writing and storytelling, brief text, write summary, assignment, vector line icon, thin stroke illustration Stock Vector

ASSIGNMENT CONCEPT

ASSIGNMENT CONCEPT Stock Photo

Education concept: Written word Submit Assignment on blue keyboard button.

Education concept: Written word Submit Assignment on blue keyboard button. Stock Photo

Task management check list, efficient work, project plan, fast progress, level up concept, short questionnaire, opinion survey, assignment and exam, productivity solution, vector thin line icon

Task management check list, efficient work, project plan, fast progress, level up concept, short questionnaire, opinion survey, assignment and exam, productivity solution, vector thin line icon Stock Vector

Business or organisation management icon set. Containing manager, teamwork, strategy, marketing, business, planning, training, employee icons. Solid icons vector collection.

Business or organisation management icon set. Containing manager, teamwork, strategy, marketing, business, planning, training, employee icons. Solid icons vector collection. Stock Vector

Project Management Vector Line Icon

Project Management Vector Line Icon Stock Vector

Shot of young asian female student sitting at table and writing on notebook. Young female student studying in library.

Shot of young asian female student sitting at table and writing on notebook. Young female student studying in library. Stock Photo

Young friends doing school assignment together while using laptop at home

Young friends doing school assignment together while using laptop at home Stock Photo

Corporate signs: vector set of business communication and documentation

Corporate signs: vector set of business communication and documentation Stock Vector

College People Study Learning Reading Lecture Notes

College People Study Learning Reading Lecture Notes Stock Photo

Fast services, check list and stopwatch, to do plan, procrastination and efficiency, project management, quick questionnaire, short survey, vector flat illustration

Fast services, check list and stopwatch, to do plan, procrastination and efficiency, project management, quick questionnaire, short survey, vector flat illustration Stock Vector

The manager leader team is assignmenting job, training for technicians, supervisor, engineers In the morning meeting before work which everyone wear masks to prevent the coronavirus and safety working

The manager leader team is assignmenting job, training for technicians, supervisor, engineers In the morning meeting before work which everyone wear masks to prevent the coronavirus and safety working Stock Photo

Student holding a pen taking lecture note or doing writing assignment in the classroom; closed up photo of young learner using a pen during the written test in collage or university training center

Student holding a pen taking lecture note or doing writing assignment in the classroom; closed up photo of young learner using a pen during the written test in collage or university training center Stock Photo

Executive mentor explaining intern or new employee online task pointing at computer screen, female boss supervisor teaching young girl to use corporate software or helping with difficult assignment

Executive mentor explaining intern or new employee online task pointing at computer screen, female boss supervisor teaching young girl to use corporate software or helping with difficult assignment Stock Photo

Top view of group of students sitting together at table. University students doing group study.

Top view of group of students sitting together at table. University students doing group study. Stock Photo

Students doing homework and preparing exam at university, closeup of young man writing in college library

Students doing homework and preparing exam at university, closeup of young man writing in college library Stock Photo

This assignment icon relates to education and science. It is recommended for use on websites, web applications and mobile applications.

This assignment icon relates to education and science. It is recommended for use on websites, web applications and mobile applications. Stock Vector

Too much work tired sleepy young woman sitting at her desk with books in front of laptop computer isolated grey wall office background. Busy schedule in college, workplace, sleep deprivation concept

Too much work tired sleepy young woman sitting at her desk with books in front of laptop computer isolated grey wall office background. Busy schedule in college, workplace, sleep deprivation concept Stock Photo

Fast service, simple solution, project management, improvement checklist, survey clipboard, enrollment concept, opinion poll, terms and conditions, time period, vector thin line icon

Fast service, simple solution, project management, improvement checklist, survey clipboard, enrollment concept, opinion poll, terms and conditions, time period, vector thin line icon Stock Vector

Check mark sign isolated minimal single flat linear icon in color. Line vector icon for websites and mobile minimalistic flat design. Modern trend concept design style illustration symbol

Check mark sign isolated minimal single flat linear icon in color. Line vector icon for websites and mobile minimalistic flat design. Modern trend concept design style illustration symbol Stock Vector

University Library: Gifted Black Girl uses Laptop, Writes Notes for the Paper, Essay, Study for Class Assignment. Diverse Multi-Ethnic Group of Students Learning, Studying for Exams, Talk in College

University Library: Gifted Black Girl uses Laptop, Writes Notes for the Paper, Essay, Study for Class Assignment. Diverse Multi-Ethnic Group of Students Learning, Studying for Exams, Talk in College Stock Photo

Happy young university students studying with books in library. Group of multiracial people in college library.

Happy young university students studying with books in library. Group of multiracial people in college library. Stock Photo

Multiracial group of young students studying together. High angle shot of young people sitting at the table and studying on laptop computer.

Multiracial group of young students studying together. High angle shot of young people sitting at the table and studying on laptop computer. Stock Photo

Young teenage female student preparing for exams at home

Young teenage female student preparing for exams at home Stock Photo

Business team working together planning scheduling week & month operations agenda making employee assignments on big spring desk calendar. Drawing day mark on planner meeting. Flat vector illustration

Business team working together planning scheduling week & month operations agenda making employee assignments on big spring desk calendar. Drawing day mark on planner meeting. Flat vector illustration Stock Vector

A rubber stamp with your assignment in red ink.3d image. Isolated white background.

A rubber stamp with your assignment in red ink.3d image. Isolated white background. Stock Illustration

Close up pile of unfinished homework assignment stacked in archive with colorful paper clips on table in school waiting to be managed and inspected. Stack of paperwork. Education and business concept.

Close up pile of unfinished homework assignment stacked in archive with colorful paper clips on table in school waiting to be managed and inspected. Stack of paperwork. Education and business concept. Stock Photo

3d clipboard task plan management todo check list with bubble, efficient work on project plan, fast progress, level up concept, assignment and exam checklist 3d icon. 3d vector render on background

3d clipboard task plan management todo check list with bubble, efficient work on project plan, fast progress, level up concept, assignment and exam checklist 3d icon. 3d vector render on background Stock Vector

Female student jumping in classroom through gap on the blackboard

Female student jumping in classroom through gap on the blackboard Stock Photo

Vector illustration, whiteboard with schedule plans, work planning, daily routine, people filling out the schedule in the table vector

Vector illustration, whiteboard with schedule plans, work planning, daily routine, people filling out the schedule in the table vector Stock Vector

Editable online document concept. Creative writing, storytelling, copywriting, online education. 3d vector illustration.

student doing assignment clipart

Company business team working together planning and scheduling their operations agenda on a big spring desk calendar. Drawing circle mark with pencil standing on ladder. Flat style vector illustration

Company business team working together planning and scheduling their operations agenda on a big spring desk calendar. Drawing circle mark with pencil standing on ladder. Flat style vector illustration Stock Vector

Documents icon. Stack of paper sheets. Confirmed or approved document. Business icon. 3d vector illustration.

Documents icon. Stack of paper sheets. Confirmed or approved document. Business icon. 3d vector illustration. Stock Vector

Office Project Icons. Granite Icon Series. Simple glyph style icons designed in a 32x32px grid and redesigned in a 16x16px grid.

Office Project Icons. Granite Icon Series. Simple glyph style icons designed in a 32x32px grid and redesigned in a 16x16px grid. Stock Vector

Editable line outline character icon set. Team office working together on a project as a networking player. Professional corporate people talking and communicating together, black stroke eps vector

Editable line outline character icon set. Team office working together on a project as a networking player. Professional corporate people talking and communicating together, black stroke eps vector  Stock Vector

Close up view of modern technology digital gadget opened computer with electronic documents on screen. Young woman preparing report or reading scientific article, studying at home, education concept.

Close up view of modern technology digital gadget opened computer with electronic documents on screen. Young woman preparing report or reading scientific article, studying at home, education concept. Stock Photo

Back view close up of female student sit at desk at home look at laptop screen typing, focused millennial woman student busy studying distant on computer, browse document on gadget, education concept

Back view close up of female student sit at desk at home look at laptop screen typing, focused millennial woman student busy studying distant on computer, browse document on gadget, education concept Stock Photo

Young friends using laptop while doing school assignment together at home

Young friends using laptop while doing school assignment together at home Stock Photo

Set of 50 education icons, thin line style, vector illustration

Set of 50 education icons, thin line style, vector illustration  Stock Vector

Young woman working at her desk taking notes. Focus on hand writing on a notepad.

Young woman working at her desk taking notes. Focus on hand writing on a notepad. Stock Photo

Group of people working continuous one line vector drawing. Students preparing to exams, doing homework hand drawn characters. Coworking. Job meeting, discussion. Minimalistic contour illustration

Group of people working continuous one line vector drawing. Students preparing to exams, doing homework hand drawn characters. Coworking. Job meeting, discussion. Minimalistic contour illustration Stock Vector

Eight businessmen planning a strategy in business advancement each holding different but equally important metaphorical element - compass, puzzle pieces, pegs, cubes, key and one making notes.

Eight businessmen planning a strategy in business advancement each holding  different but equally important metaphorical element - compass,  puzzle pieces, pegs, cubes, key and one making notes. Stock Photo

Online education, creative writing and storytelling, distant learning, vector illustration.

Online education, creative writing and storytelling, distant learning, vector illustration. Stock Vector

Young engineers holding a red pen pointing to a building on a blueprint and using a computer laptop to write a presentation for the meeting in working site.

Young engineers holding a red pen pointing to a building on a blueprint and using a computer laptop to write a presentation for the meeting in working site. Stock Photo

Closeup portrait annoyed, bored, tired, woman, funny looking student with book on head, sitting at desk, fed up of studying, isolated green chalkboard background. Face expression, emotion, reaction

Closeup portrait annoyed, bored, tired, woman, funny looking student with book on head, sitting at desk, fed up of studying, isolated green chalkboard background. Face expression, emotion, reaction Stock Photo

Creative writing and storytelling, education concept, opened book, school study, learning subject, book review summary, vector icon, flat illustration

Creative writing and storytelling, education concept, opened book, school study, learning subject, book review summary, vector icon, flat illustration Stock Vector

Smiling male student working in a library

Smiling male student working in a library Stock Photo

Project Icons. Granite Series. Simple glyph stile icons in 4 versions. The icons are designed at 32x32 pixels.

Project Icons. Granite Series. Simple glyph stile icons in 4 versions. The icons are designed at 32x32 pixels. Stock Vector

Focused millennial african american student in glasses making notes writing down information from book in cafe preparing for test or exam, young serious black man studying or working in coffee house

Focused millennial african american student in glasses making notes writing down information from book in cafe preparing for test or exam, young serious black man studying or working in coffee house Stock Photo

Action plan icon set. Containing planning, schedule, strategy, analysis, tasks, goal, collaboration and objective icons. Solid icon collection.

Action plan icon set. Containing planning, schedule, strategy, analysis, tasks, goal, collaboration and objective icons. Solid icon collection. Stock Vector

Vector illustration, workers are sitting at the negotiating table, collective thinking and brainstorming, vector, company information analytics

Vector illustration, workers are sitting at the negotiating table, collective thinking and brainstorming,  vector, company information analytics Stock Vector

University students in cooperation with their assignment at library. Group of young people sitting at table reading books.

University students in cooperation with their assignment at library. Group of young people sitting at table reading books. Stock Photo

Vector illustration, workers are sitting at the negotiating table, vector collective thinking and brainstorming, company information analytics

Vector illustration, workers are sitting at the negotiating table,  vector collective thinking and brainstorming, company information analytics Stock Vector

delegating tasks,Assignment, duty symbol

delegating tasks,Assignment, duty symbol Stock Vector

Stack of student's homework that assigned to students to be completed outside class on teacher's desk separated by colored paper clips. Document stacks arranged by various colored paper clips on desk.

Stack of student's homework that assigned to students to be completed outside class on teacher's desk separated by colored paper clips. Document stacks arranged by various colored paper clips on desk. Stock Photo

University Library: Beautiful Smart Caucasian Girl uses Laptop, Writes Notes for Paper, Essay, Study for Class Assignment. Focused Students Learning, Studying for College Exams. Side View Portrait

University Library: Beautiful Smart Caucasian Girl uses Laptop, Writes Notes for Paper, Essay, Study for Class Assignment. Focused Students Learning, Studying for College Exams. Side View Portrait Stock Photo

Stack of report paper documents for business desk, Business papers for Annual Reports files, Document is written,presented. Business offices concept, soft focus

Stack of report paper documents for business desk, Business papers for Annual Reports files, Document is written,presented. Business offices concept, soft focus Stock Photo

Successfully complete business assignments icon. Magnifying glass with a checklist on clipboard paper. 3d vector illustration.

Successfully complete business assignments icon. Magnifying glass with a checklist on clipboard paper. 3d vector illustration. Stock Vector

Serious male student writing in a laboratory

Serious male student writing in a laboratory Stock Photo

Concept of online education. Book pages and question mark, learning resources, study course, exam preparation, review knowledge, short summary, write essay. 3d realistic vector illustration.

student doing assignment clipart

Graduated study abroad international Conceptual, Graduation hat on top Earth globe model map with Radar background. Congratulations to graduates, Studies lead to success in world wide. Back to School

Graduated study abroad international Conceptual, Graduation hat on top Earth globe model map with Radar background. Congratulations to graduates, Studies lead to success in world wide. Back to School Stock Photo

Concept of Project initiation. Project managment, life cycle. 3d vector illustration. Assignments , analyzing data concept. 3d vector illustration. Different features, 3D vector illustration free edit

Concept of Project initiation. Project managment, life cycle. 3d vector illustration. Assignments , analyzing data concept. 3d vector illustration. Different features, 3D vector illustration free edit Stock Vector

Quality Certificate and Checklist document analyst target marketing planning assignment with quality management. Standardization, certification. Compliance to regulations service and standards.

Quality Certificate and Checklist document analyst target marketing planning assignment with quality management. Standardization, certification. Compliance to regulations service and standards. Stock Photo

Project Development Phases - modern essential vector line design icons set. Contract, handshake, brainstorm, bulb, task, planner, payment, calculator, research work, detail, draft, dollar, chart

Project Development Phases - modern essential vector line design icons set. Contract, handshake, brainstorm, bulb, task, planner, payment, calculator, research work, detail, draft, dollar, chart Stock Vector

manager is offering you pen and to take the documentation to begin with work

manager is offering you pen and  to take the documentation to begin with work Stock Photo

Contract terms and conditions, document paper, creative writing, storytelling concept, read brief summary, assignment, vector line icon, thin stroke illustration

Contract terms and conditions, document paper, creative writing, storytelling concept, read brief summary, assignment, vector line icon, thin stroke illustration Stock Vector

Young businessman hiding head, balancing between duties, juggling million things at once, ineffective employee management, supervising big company alone, preparing annual report, time to have vacation

Young businessman hiding head, balancing between duties, juggling million things at once, ineffective employee management, supervising big company alone, preparing annual report, time to have vacation Stock Photo

Preparing for exams. Cropped closeup of group of students sitting in a row writing during the lecture education studying campus college high school university teen people team together concept

Preparing for exams. Cropped closeup of group of students sitting in a row writing during the lecture education studying campus college high school university teen people team together concept Stock Photo

Tick Check Mark Icon

Tick Check Mark Icon Stock Vector

Business process abstract concept vector illustration set. Project planning, cooperation, workflow process, business analysis, vision and scope, boost productivity, partnership abstract metaphor.

Business process abstract concept vector illustration set. Project planning, cooperation, workflow process, business analysis, vision and scope, boost productivity, partnership abstract metaphor. Stock Vector

High school student taking notes from book for her study. Young woman sitting at desk and finding information in college library. Focused girl studying in classroom completing assignment.

High school student taking notes from book for her study. Young woman sitting at desk and finding information in college library. Focused girl studying in classroom completing assignment. Stock Photo

University Library: Gifted Black Girl uses Laptop, Writes Notes for the Paper, Essay, Study for Class Assignment. Students Learning, Studying for Exams College. Side View Portrait with Bookshelves

University Library: Gifted Black Girl uses Laptop, Writes Notes for the Paper, Essay, Study for Class Assignment. Students Learning, Studying for Exams College. Side View Portrait with Bookshelves Stock Photo

Creative writing and storytelling, brief, contract terms and conditions, document paper, assignment concept. 3d vector illustration.

Creative writing and storytelling, brief, contract terms and conditions, document paper, assignment concept. 3d vector illustration. Stock Vector

Smiling black man using laptop at home in living room. Happy mature businessman send email and working at home. African american freelancer typing on computer with paperworks and documents on table.

Smiling black man using laptop at home in living room. Happy mature businessman send email and working at home. African american freelancer typing on computer with paperworks and documents on table. Stock Photo

Team members follow the leader. Innovative communication and interaction as a team. Business management. Distribution of responsibilities and assignments. Exchange of information and experience.

Team members follow the leader. Innovative communication and interaction as a team. Business management. Distribution of responsibilities and assignments. Exchange of information and experience. Stock Photo

Human communication network concept. Human resources. Personnel management system.

Human communication network concept. Human resources. Personnel management system. Stock Photo

Summary concept icon, creative writing, short story telling, highlight information, essay research, school education logo, brief text review, check grammar quiz vector flat illustration

Summary concept icon, creative writing, short story telling, highlight information, essay research, school education logo, brief text review, check grammar quiz vector flat illustration Stock Vector

Close up pile of unfinished paperwork on office desk waiting to be managed. Stack of homework assignment with paperclips. Report papers stacks. Business and education concept.

Close up pile of unfinished paperwork on office desk waiting to be managed. Stack of homework assignment with paperclips. Report papers stacks. Business and education concept.
 Stock Photo

Task management check list, efficient work, project plan, fast progress, level up concept, assignment and exam, productivity solution icon. 3d vector illustration.

Task management check list, efficient work, project plan, fast progress, level up concept, assignment and exam, productivity solution icon.  3d vector illustration. Stock Vector

Focused african american school girl studying with books laptop preparing for test exam writing essay doing homework at home, teenage student learning assignment making notes, teen education concept

Focused african american school girl studying with books laptop preparing for test exam writing essay doing homework at home, teenage student learning assignment making notes, teen education concept Stock Photo

Smiling asian undergraduate teen girl student study in library with laptop books doing online research for coursework, making notes for essay homework assignment, online education e-learning concept

Smiling asian undergraduate teen girl student study in library with laptop books doing online research for coursework, making notes for essay homework assignment, online education e-learning concept Stock Photo

Work delegation, manager distribute work assignment to team member colleagues, assign tasks, job or project to staff responsibility concept, businessman manager delegate project assignment to team.

Work delegation, manager distribute work assignment to team member colleagues, assign tasks, job or project to staff responsibility concept, businessman manager delegate project assignment to team. Stock Vector

Teen girl school pupil wearing headphones studying online from home making notes. Teenage student distance learning on laptop doing homework, watching listening video lesson. Remote education concept

Teen girl school pupil wearing headphones studying online from home making notes. Teenage student distance learning on laptop doing homework, watching listening video lesson. Remote education concept Stock Photo

Copywriting line icon. Letter, document, contract. Correspondence concept. Can be used for topics like communication, storytelling, marketing

Copywriting line icon. Letter, document, contract. Correspondence concept. Can be used for topics like communication, storytelling, marketing Stock Vector

We have more than 475,000,000 assets on Shutterstock.com as of November 30, 2023.

Our company

Press/Media

Investor relations

Shutterstock Blog

Popular searches

Stock Photos and Videos

Stock photos

Stock videos

Stock vectors

Editorial images

Featured photo collections

Sell your content

Affiliate/Reseller

International reseller

Live assignments

Rights and clearance

Website Terms of Use

Terms of Service

Privacy policy

Modern Slavery Statement

Cookie Preferences

Shutterstock.AI

AI style types

Shutterstock mobile app

Android app

© 2003-2024 Shutterstock, Inc.

  • Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Guest Essay

The Most Important Writing Exercise I’ve Ever Assigned

An illustration of several houses. One person walks away from a house with a second person isolated in a window.

By Rachel Kadish

Ms. Kadish is the author of the novel “The Weight of Ink.”

“Write down a phrase you find abhorrent — something you yourself would never say.”

My students looked startled, but they cooperated. They knew I wouldn’t collect this exercise; what they wrote would be private unless they chose to share it. All that was required of them was participation.

In silence they jotted down a few words. So far, so good. We hadn’t yet reached the hard request: Spend 10 minutes writing a monologue in the first person that’s spoken by a fictitious character who makes the upsetting statement. This portion typically elicits nervous glances. When that happens, I remind students that their statement doesn’t represent them and that speaking as if they’re someone else is a basic skill of fiction writers. The troubling statement, I explain, must appear in the monologue, and it shouldn’t be minimized, nor should students feel the need to forgive or account for it. What’s required is simply that somewhere in the monologue there be an instant — even a fleeting phrase — in which we can feel empathy for the speaker. Perhaps she’s sick with worry over an ill grandchild. Perhaps he’s haunted by a love he let slip away. Perhaps she’s sleepless over how to keep her business afloat and her employees paid. Done right, the exercise delivers a one-two punch: repugnance for a behavior or worldview coupled with recognition of shared humanity.

For more than two decades, I’ve taught versions of this fiction-writing exercise. I’ve used it in universities, middle schools and private workshops, with 7-year-olds and 70-year-olds. But in recent years openness to this exercise and to the imaginative leap it’s designed to teach has shrunk to a pinprick. As our country’s public conversation has gotten angrier, I’ve noticed that students’ approach to the exercise has become more brittle, regardless of whether students lean right or left.

Each semester, I wonder whether the aperture through which we allow empathy has so drastically narrowed as to foreclose a full view of our fellow human beings. Maybe there are times so contentious or so painful that people simply withdraw to their own silos. I’ve certainly felt that inward pull myself. There are times when a leap into someone else’s perspective feels impossible.

But leaping is the job of the writer, and there’s no point it doing it halfway. Good fiction pulls off a magic trick of absurd power: It makes us care. Responding to the travails of invented characters — Ahab or Amaranta, Sethe or Stevens, Zooey or Zorba — we might tear up or laugh, or our hearts might pound. As readers, we become invested in these people, which is very different from agreeing with or even liking them. In the best literature, characters are so vivid, complicated, contradictory and even maddening that we’ll follow them far from our preconceptions; sometimes we don’t return.

Unflinching empathy, which is the muscle the lesson is designed to exercise, is a prerequisite for literature strong enough to wrestle with the real world. On the page it allows us to spot signs of humanity; off the page it can teach us to start a conversation with the strangest of strangers, to thrive alongside difference. It can even affect those life-or-death choices we make instinctively in a crisis. This kind of empathy has nothing to do with being nice, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

Even within the safety of the page, it’s tempting to dodge empathy’s challenge, instead demonizing villains and idealizing heroes, but that’s when the needle on art’s moral compass goes inert. Then we’re navigating blind: confident that we know what the bad people look like and that they’re not us — and therefore we’re at no risk of error.

Our best writers, in contrast, portray humans in their full complexity. This is what Gish Jen is doing in the short story “Who’s Irish?” and Rohinton Mistry in the novel “A Fine Balance.” Line by line, these writers illuminate the inner worlds of characters who cause harm — which is not the same as forgiving them. No one would ever say that Toni Morrison forgives the character Cholly Breedlove, who rapes his daughter in “The Bluest Eye.” What Ms. Morrison accomplishes instead is the boldest act of moral and emotional understanding I’ve ever seen on the page.

In the classroom exercise, the upsetting phrases my students scribble might be personal (“You’ll never be a writer,” “You’re ugly”) or religious or political. Once a student wrote a phrase condemning abortion as another student across the table wrote a phrase defending it. Sometimes there are stereotypes, slurs — whatever the students choose to grapple with. Of course, it’s disturbing to step into the shoes of someone whose words or deeds repel us. Writing these monologues, my graduate students, who know what “first person” means, will dodge and write in third, with the distanced “he said” instead of “I said.”

But if they can withstand the challenges of first person, sometimes something happens. They emerge shaken and eager to expand on what they’ve written. I look up from tidying my notes to discover students lingering after dismissal with that alert expression that says the exercise made them feel something they needed to feel.

Over the years, as my students’ statements became more political and as jargon (“deplorables,” “snowflakes”) supplanted the language of personal experience, I adapted the exercise. Worrying that I’d been too sanguine about possible pitfalls, I made it entirely silent, so no student would have to hear another’s troubling statement or fear being judged for their own. Any students who wanted to share their monologues with me could stay after class rather than read to the group. Later, I added another caveat: If your troubling statement is so offensive, you can’t imagine the person who says it as a full human being, choose something less troubling. Next, I narrowed the parameters: No politics. The pandemic’s virtual classes made risk taking harder; I moved the exercise deeper into the semester so students would feel more at ease.

After one session, a student stayed behind in the virtual meeting room. She’d failed to include empathy in her monologue about a character whose politics she abhorred. Her omission bothered her. I was impressed by her honesty. She’d constructed a caricature and recognized it. Most of us don’t.

For years, I’ve quietly completed the exercise alongside my students. Some days nothing sparks. When it goes well, though, the experience is disquieting. The hard part, it turns out, isn’t the empathy itself but what follows: the annihilating notion that people whose fears or joys or humor I appreciate may themselves be indifferent to all my cherished conceptions of the world.

Then the 10-minute timer sounds, and I haul myself back to the business of the classroom — shaken by the vastness of the world but more curious about the people in it. I put my trust in that curiosity. What better choice does any of us have? And in the sanctuary of my classroom I keep trying, handing along what literature handed me: the small, sturdy magic trick any of us can work, as long as we’re willing to risk it.

Rachel Kadish is the author of the novel “The Weight of Ink.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , X and Threads .

IMAGES

  1. student doing homework clipart 10 free Cliparts

    student doing assignment clipart

  2. girl doing school work clipart 20 free Cliparts

    student doing assignment clipart

  3. Boy Doing Homework Clipart

    student doing assignment clipart

  4. Students doing homework stock vector. Illustration of friends

    student doing assignment clipart

  5. Children doing their homework Royalty Free Vector Image

    student doing assignment clipart

  6. child doing homework clipart 20 free Cliparts

    student doing assignment clipart

VIDEO

  1. school students Vs collage students handwriting ll who is the best #Types of choices

COMMENTS

  1. 450,400+ Doing Assignment Stock Illustrations, Royalty-Free Vector

    Browse 450,400+ doing assignment stock illustrations and vector graphics available royalty-free, or start a new search to explore more great stock images and vector art. Sort by: Most popular Education Line Icons Vector Style Education Editable Stroke Line Icon Set Education Thin Line Icons - Editable Stroke

  2. Doing Homework Clipart royalty-free images

    400 doing homework clipart stock photos, 3D objects, vectors, and illustrations are available royalty-free. See doing homework clipart stock video clips Filters All images Photos Vectors Illustrations 3D Objects Sort by Popular cute little kid girl confused do homework little kid do homework and find the answer

  3. 400+ Free Homework & School Images

    496 Free images of Homework Homework and school high resolution images. Find your perfect picture for your project. Royalty-free images Adult Content SafeSearch 1-100 of 496 images Next page / 5 Find images of Homework Royalty-free No attribution required High quality images.

  4. Student Assignment Images

    Student Assignment Images. Images 100k Collections 7. ADS. ADS. ADS. Page 1 of 100. Find & Download Free Graphic Resources for Student Assignment. 99,000+ Vectors, Stock Photos & PSD files. Free for commercial use High Quality Images.

  5. Class Assignment Clip Art royalty-free images

    57 class assignment clip art stock photos, 3D objects, vectors, and illustrations are available royalty-free. See class assignment clip art stock video clips Filters All images Photos Vectors Illustrations 3D Objects Sort by Popular

  6. Student Doing Homework Images

    Page 1 of 100. Find & Download Free Graphic Resources for Student Doing Homework. 100,000+ Vectors, Stock Photos & PSD files. Free for commercial use High Quality Images.

  7. Kids Doing Homework Cartoon High Res Illustrations

    Browse 499 kids doing homework cartoon illustrations and vector graphics available royalty-free, or start a new search to explore more great images and vector art. Clever Girl In Classroom Black And White Find differences, Children working and reading book in the park Young Boy Using Laptop Girl Doing Homework Boy Doing Homework

  8. Student Working On Assignment royalty-free images

    Find Student Working On Assignment stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day. ... Group of young students doing school assignment in library. Young Asian Indian college students reading books, studying on ...

  9. Student Assignments Illustrations & Vectors

    Download 182 Student Assignments Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart for FREE or amazingly low rates! New users enjoy 60% OFF. 234,062,403 stock photos online.

  10. Clipart Panda

    48 images Student Doing Homework Clipart Use these free images for your websites, art projects, reports, and Powerpoint presentations! Advertisement ©2020 ClipartPanda.com ...

  11. 'Assignments Clipart: Free Images for School and Work'

    Find a variety of assignments clipart images for school projects and work presentations. Download high-quality graphics of assignments, projects, homework, and more for free. ... student doing homework clipart dog ate homework clipart clip art good exam grade online assignments cute homework clipart homework clip art

  12. Free Student Doing Assignment Photos

    Download and use 10,000+ Student Doing Assignment stock photos for free. Thousands of new images every day Completely Free to Use High-quality videos and images from Pexels. Photos. Explore. License. Upload. Upload Join. Free Student Doing Assignment Photos. Photos 13.4K Videos 6.2K Users 4.4K.

  13. Kid doing homework Vectors & Illustrations for Free Download

    Images 9.98k. ADS. ADS. ADS. Find & Download the most popular Kid Doing Homework Vectors on Freepik Free for commercial use High Quality Images Made for Creative Projects.

  14. Assignment, Homework, Knowledge, Reading, Student, Study, Task Icon

    Free download transparent png clipart Assignment, Homework, Knowledge, Reading, Student, Study, Task Icon - Student Doing Homework Clipart (512x512) for free. All images with the background cleaned and in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format.

  15. Kid Doing Homework Clip Art stock illustrations

    Browse 2,900+ kid doing homework clip art stock illustrations and vector graphics available royalty-free, or start a new search to explore more great stock images and vector art. Sort by: Most popular Learning online, e-learning video call chat with class. Distance... Learning online, e-learning video call chat with class.

  16. Student Doing Homework Photos and Premium High Res Pictures

    Browse 110,758 authentic student doing homework stock photos, high-res images, and pictures, or explore additional high school student doing homework or college student doing homework stock images to find the right photo at the right size and resolution for your project. Schoolgirl studying with video online lesson at home.

  17. Doing Assignment Photos and Premium High Res Pictures

    Browse Getty Images' premium collection of high-quality, authentic Doing Assignment stock photos, royalty-free images, and pictures. Doing Assignment stock photos are available in a variety of sizes and formats to fit your needs.

  18. 286 College Student Doing Assignment Class Stock Photos

    Download College Student Doing Assignment Class stock photos. Free or royalty-free photos and images. Use them in commercial designs under lifetime, perpetual & worldwide rights. Dreamstime is the world`s largest stock photography community.

  19. College Students Doing Assignment Together Stock Photos, Images & Pictures

    Download College Students Doing Assignment Together stock photos. Free or royalty-free photos and images. Use them in commercial designs under lifetime, perpetual & worldwide rights. Dreamstime is the world`s largest stock photography community.

  20. School Assignment royalty-free images

    37.354 school assignment stock photos, vectors, and illustrations are available royalty-free. See school assignment stock video clips All image types Photos Vectors Illustrations Orientation Color People Artists Offset images AI Generated More Sort by Popular Computing Devices and Phones Learning School Courses and Classrooms Laptop

  21. Student Working Cliparts

    Free download transparent png clipart Student Working Cliparts - Student Doing Homework Clipart (550x552) for free. All images with the background cleaned and in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format. Additionally, you can browse for other cliparts from related tags on topics explore pictures, girl, homework, icon.

  22. 1,804,400+ Assignment Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images

    Browse 1,801,000+ assignment stock photos and images available, or search for assignment icon or work assignment to find more great stock photos and pictures. assignment icon work assignment writing assignment school assignment homework assignment online assignment group assignment student assignment your assignment task assignment team assignment

  23. Students are still absent and making up for missed learning post ...

    That's the takeaway of two big new studies that look at how America's K-12 students are doing. There's some good news in this new research, to be sure - but there's still a lot of work to do on ...

  24. Literacy crisis in college students: Essay from a professor on students

    Yes, there were always students who skipped the readings, but we are in new territory when even highly motivated honors students struggle to grasp the basic argument of a 20-page article.

  25. Biden administration cancels student loans of more than 150,000

    The Biden administration is canceling $1.2 billion in student debt for about 153,000 borrowers who took out relatively modest student loans and have been repaying it for the last decade or more.

  26. Judge rules Texas school's hair length policies do not violate CROWN

    According to the student handbook, male students' hair cannot extend past the eyebrows or earlobes. The district filed a lawsuit in September, requesting that a judge clarify whether that's ...

  27. 99,727 Assignment Images, Stock Photos, 3D objects, & Vectors

    99,727 assignment stock photos, 3D objects, vectors, and illustrations are available royalty-free. See assignment stock video clips Filters All images Photos Vectors Illustrations 3D Objects Sort by Popular Businessman tick sign mark for assessment. Questionnaire, quality evaluation concept. Online survey Homework assignment.

  28. Opinion

    Ms. Kadish is the author of the novel "The Weight of Ink." "Write down a phrase you find abhorrent — something you yourself would never say." My students looked startled, but they ...

  29. Biden's New Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Offers 17 Paths To ...

    The plan is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to establish new student loan relief. After last summer's Supreme Court ruling that nixed President Joe Biden's first student ...