Abstract There is a big difference between a student's not learning and failure to learn. One can even say that it is more challenging not to learn than failing. Many students have been labeled a failure because the students have made an intellectual decision to not learn under any circumstance. Many students who have chosen not to learn are dealing with personal issues and they do not buy into society's norm. In this study, I have investigated why students shut down and choose not to learn. My motivation for focusing on why some students choose to fail is because I want to reach every student in my classroom. I want to bring teachings into my classroom that will reach every student and leave them eager to learn the next day. Framework In my ten years of teaching, I have used many strategies to enhance student learning to teach new concepts. I still do not fully understand how students learn. I do believe that students do learn from present and past experiences. As students redefine old understandings of concepts and integrate new experiences into their old concepts, they mature in their knowledge and understanding. Ebbinghaus's Learning Theory states that if we are all learning nonsense that we learn it the same way (Classroom Teaching Skills Ninth Edition, 2011). He also states, that it's only so much memorization that can be done before your reach a threshold. Ebbinghaus says that when we understand and then learn there is no limit to what is learned. I believe that there is a link to how educators teach or educate low achieving students because most of the time when the student is underperforming, and the teacher has done all that they can think of; both teacher and student get frustrated, and if all the teacher can do is get the student to memorize the skill that is being assessed and the student pass they both are satisfied. As I learned more about Ebbinghaus's learning theory, it is not a good thing to just teach memorization be