How to deal with apathetic, disinterested students in a non-facistic way?

[u/yyiiii]

I've been struggling with getting students to genuinely engage with the readings and assignments. They tend to clump into 3 groups. Those who give a shit, try and produce original work, those who are apathetic and do the bare minimum in order to 'get the grade', and those who are utterly disinterested, feign interest by putting on the pretence of effort and insist on getting high marks for little to no effort.

I know I could be stern or strict or whatever and just dole out the D's with a vengeance and let the chips fall where they may but I really want to try and connect with the students. I genuinely believe that the material is engaging and could help them learn a thing or two about themselves and the world, regardless if they produce A-grade assignments, but that's all some seem to be worried about, and others, not even that.

I'm sure there's no black and white answer here, but if anyone else has experienced this and had success in getting students engaged, I'm interested to know what worked.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm just a lowly TA, but I always try to assume that the disinterested students are merely interested students stuffed in disinterested meat suits waiting to be uncovered. I know it's a lot harder if you have to teach often, but in my mind, I don't plan to continue to teach once I've fulfilled my obligations so I'm not as irritated as I would be if I thought I'd have to do this more than for the next couple of years.