'Andrew Tate phenomena' surges in schools - with boys refusing to talk to female teacher
'Andrew Tate phenomena' surges in schools - with boys refusing to talk to female teacher
Online influencers such as Andrew Tate are fuelling an increase in sexism in the classroom, says a new survey from education union the NASUWT. It comes after the Netflix series Adolescence thrust concerns around incel culture into the spotlight.
Summary
Social media influencers are fuelling a rise in misogyny and sexism in the UK's classrooms, according to teachers.
More than 5,800 teachers were polled... and nearly three in five (59%) said they believe social media use has contributed to a deterioration in pupils' behaviour.
One teacher said she'd had 10-year-old boys "refuse to speak to [her]...because [she is] a woman". Another said "the Andrew Tate phenomena had a huge impact on how [pupils] interacted with females and males they did not see as 'masculine'".
"There is an urgent need for concerted action... to safeguard all children and young people from the dangerous influence of far-right populists and extremists."
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Every teacher I hear from (US) these days basically says the newest generation coming up is completely screwed. Unreal levels of behavioral issues that are not being addressed at home. Complete lack of engagement with the lesson plan, unfinished assignments all over. They need to curve grades left and right just to get the majority of the class to pass. The parents are more emboldened than ever to make the teachers' lives hell over things they know nothing about and refuse to take responsibility for.
It's easy to brush it off as the standard generational nose-thumbing...but this seems different. Something is really breaking down and I think social media is at the center of it.
It’s a shame teachers are pressured to “curve grade” rather than just flunk these people and hold them back a grade.
Even when I went to elementary school over 15 years ago in Canada, kids weren't allowed to be held back without written permission from their parents. I thought it was really fucking weird because we literally had a kid whose mom did all of his homework (everyone knew; he had horrible writing and she didn't) and yet refused to put him in a remedial class or have him repeat a year.
I can't help but wonder what Dad's take on this situation was.
That assumes there was one (dad, or take from the dad).
I knew a kid like that in school, who's mother did all his homework and projects for him, he couldn't even spell "phone". He was a rich kid who would miss half the school year going on family trips, never took the SAT's, never went to university. He's now an executive at JP Morgan (wish I was joking.)
Schools now lose funding when kids don't pass, so admins press teachers to move them along.
All Kids Left Behind
All Kids Shuffled Off To Become Someone Else's Problem
Republicans really do destroy everything
Murica'
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law
Or, if you prefer a clip from The Wire, juking the stats.
Many if not all school districts in the States have their funding tied to their performance, so there is a negative incentive to make grades look good. My elementary school tried to place me in their Special Ed program because my grades would have brought the average up there.
Plus, holding back 60, 70, 80% of an entire class just isn't logistically feasible in most cases.
Neither is passing a kid who doesn’t understand the material.
It is when that kid becomes someone else's problem to deal with.
Its so absurd.
I went to a rural title one highschool. I took general level classes and had honors/high honors at least half of my semesters.
Half way through my senior year, I moved. It sucked balls. My new school, was small, literally the smallest school in my state. Graduation class size was 54 students. It was outside the Capital city, and affluent. Everyone was a "prep" had money, some drove very fancy cars to school ect.
The new school didnt offer Gen level classes, only college and AP. I was upset at that because those classes were known to me to be super difficult at my old rural school. At that time I just wanted to smoke pot with my friends tbh. But .. I took the classes.
Y'all. This little rich prep school's College course classes were easier than my Title one school Gen Ed. I couldn't believe it. This was 2006, and I know now, they did that to keep the funding going. All the little rich kids had parents who could afford to send them all to college, and they needed to look good for thier hard-to-get-into universities.
It still frustrates me the world is like this.
I believe it. I think the much older push against standardized tests was so that "fancy" schools could pump up their grades. I never understood the newer push against standardized tests, you want them exactly so schools can't pump up their grades. Standardized tests create an actual level playing field.
Something is really breaking down and I think social media is at the center of it.
I feel like you could apply this to almost every societal crisis we’re facing. It’s like social media took every little crack in the foundation and turned it into a chasm.
Parents in Facebook echo chambers trying to discover who to blame for their child’s shitty behaviour then getting into arguments when they are told to perhaps get off their phone and speak to their child.
Children in Facebook echo chambers where they make their neurodivergence their entire personality while simultaneously excusing any and all behaviour due to it.
If both groups spoke to each other a lot could be changed.
It is different, because never in human history has it been easier to influence people. We are literally addicted, as in the brain is literally addicted, to our little disinformation device, the output of which is largely controlled by malicious powerful entities. Now add impressionable young brains to the mix.
It is a pretty terrible scenario with no obvious solution.
Those damn machines, impacting the youth!
Those damn newspapers, impacting the youth!
Those damn radios, impacting the youth!
Those damn TVs, impacting the youth!
Those damn internet connected computers, impacting the youth!
Those damn smartphones, impacting the youth!
Those damn AI models, impacting the youth!
Our youth now love luxury, they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders, and they love to chatter instead of exercise. Children are now tyrants not servants of their household. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.
Thousands of years of this stuff.
I’m probably just another old idiot who can’t see things for what they really are, but social media does scare the hell out of me. It’s hard to imagine it being a good thing when personalities are shaped by algorithms that exist entirely to drive engagement so a company makes a buck.
It isn’t just rich chocolaty ovaltine. The kid isn’t being brainwashed to drink a sugary drink from time to time. The kid is a constant revenue stream.
I feel like literally every generation for the last 1000+ years probably had a similar sentiment
You'd be off by 1500 years, that was Socrates.
Considering 2500 years ago is more than 1000 years ago, I'll assume you mean 500 years in the future.
(Also if that's an actual Socrates quote that's hilarious)
That was Socrates circa 500-ish BC, 2500 years ago or so.
They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
Uh...
We really have reached a whole new level of impression.
its all about who controls that stuff
Covid really fucked them in not getting normal socialization at school and put a lot of kids behind by a couple of years accedemically. Right now 4/5th grade and up are really screwed. Plus parents just aren't engaged.
I’d at least consider parents aren’t engaged due to time and energy, cause of pressures at work.
Also, when I was at school there were teachers that put extra time and effort in with kids that were top of the class and bottom of the class. Bet it wouldn’t be like that now cause everyone is so rundown.
The curriculum has changed so much and policies require that kids with learning disabilities can have an IEP (Individualized Education Program) and teachers have to come up with alternative learning for multiple kids, leaving them with little time to do anything else. On top of that, experienced teachers have stated that behavior has taken a sharp decline. They no longer separate the problem kids from the rest of the class because studies have shown that their outcomes are better if they remain in normal classes. However, this forces teachers to deal with constant disruptions which causes negative effects on the other students.
policies require that kids with learning disabilities can have an IEP (Individualized Education Program)and teachers have to come up with alternative learning for multiple kids, leaving them with little time to do anything else.
Please don't throw mud at IEPs. I grew up in the 70s when all the "retarded" kids were lumped in together regardless of issue, and now have a son who can only attend public school due to having an IEP and specialized support.
If more money needs to be spent to help teachers (including getting more of them or more help for those who there are) I'm all for it, but this sounds a little current-POTUS-ish.
Throw into that mix all the parents who think home schooling is best. Sure, for a select few it's going to be better, but the majority are going to struggle in later life.
What usually happens is a parent gets reported to social services for child abuse. Then they go to facebook ranting about how bad the school is and that they're being targeted. Then they pull their kids out of school to "homeschool" so they can continue to abuse their kids.
Covid really fucked them in not getting normal socialization at school
Don't worry, they will be bullied throughout their life. Missing a couple years of bullying won't hurt.
I am, not great at parenting, I've made hella mistakes. I've only one son and do my best.
The number of teachers/therapists (my son works a few programs for his needs) that have been floored by my willingness to parent and hold my son accountable for his actions, is far too high.
While I'll take the compliment being "a breath of fresh air" (an actual compliment from a therapist) it bothers me more parents cant take thier own faults to accountability nor hold their children to any standard of conduct really saddens me. I shouldn't be a wildflower in a field of dirt, it should be a field of flowers damn. A silly metaphor but you get my point hopefully.
I am, not great at parenting, I've made hella mistakes. I've only one son and do my best.
It sounds like you are
Those kids are the next generations parents. What are their kids going to be like?
Luckily, they probably won't have any.
Wage slaves who pay rent to landlords
Based on who America voted for president I don't feel very surprised about the issues and behavior of parents.
I would be surprised if this were the case in every state though.
Seems like teachers and schools aren't properly equipped for modern kids.
More like modern kids aren't equipped to deal with reality.
So this teacher had nothing bad to say about the teaching or the education system? It's just bad kids and their bad parents, right? How convenient for teachers.
In reality these schools are indoctrination camps on the school-to-prison pipeline. We live in a fascist society that's literally destroying the planet. Schools are a fundamental part of this process.
TBH kids shouldn't listen to their teachers and schools. That's what got us here.
I'll broaden it to not just social media, but the totality of endless scrolling social media, plus endless access to narcissist "influencers", plus addicting video games (inspired by gambling patterns), plus must watch addicting TV shows and movies on demand. A lot of this is endless dopamine machine. Add in both parents working and only children with no siblings is less socialization.
Social media is definitely a big thing, even if it’s not the only thing.
I believe it has two parts. The technology can personalize content and optimize for engagement, so it’s more addicting than traditional media could ever be.
And the jackasses making content have no accountability or editorial standards whatsoever. They churn out whatever clicks and they’re willing to lie, incite, and gaslight their way through it.
Combine the low content standards with the high addiction factor and you have a ticking time bomb. Or maybe it already went off and we’re just looking around at the crater left behind.