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submitted 3 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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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[-] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 341 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 234 points 3 weeks ago

It’s a shame teachers are pressured to “curve grade” rather than just flunk these people and hold them back a grade.

[-] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 123 points 3 weeks ago

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.

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[-] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 81 points 3 weeks ago

Schools now lose funding when kids don't pass, so admins press teachers to move them along.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 99 points 3 weeks ago
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[-] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 51 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] PunkRockSportsFan@fanaticus.social 37 points 3 weeks ago

Neither is passing a kid who doesn’t understand the material.

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[-] Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world 99 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] Inaminate_Carbon_Rod@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[-] uienia@lemmy.world 46 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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.

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[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 144 points 3 weeks ago

In my opinion the huge difference between this generation and all previous ones is that content is no longer vetted by anyone. It used to be that to put something in front of kids it had to approved by some sane adult. If a TV station marketed to children something that most parents would not approve they would face protests or maybe even legal action. On social media any asshole can post literally anything and millions of kids will consume it without any supervision.

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[-] blueamigafan@lemmy.world 129 points 3 weeks ago

Have you ever had a creepy guy who hangs around the school desperately trying to impress little kids? Yeah he's the online version.

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[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 127 points 3 weeks ago

I don't think it is social media. It is much more simple: people can't spend time with each other. Employers keep reducing the wages, while maintaining or increasing the amount of work their employees have to do. This means that workers can't invest time into friends or family, which in turn deprives children of healthy role models.

Jackasses like Tate get to influence the children, because there is a void that has been left empty - Tate has enough wealth and time to fill in for society. Work culture is a ravenous beast, forever chasing workers. If you pause, you lose everything. So you might as well sacrifice the time you could spend with family, since you would lose them anyway if you shirk being a breadwinner.

Optimization for the sake of line going up, inevitably destroys everything that surrounds the pillar that society is forced to worship.

[-] Master167@lemmy.world 56 points 3 weeks ago

I would also include the death of the “third place”. Because even if you work enough to survive, where do you spend your time outside of the home with other people in your community without spending money? Even worse options if you want kids allowed.

One of the only places I know of is the library. But I’d be very surprised by an 8-10 year old boy spending their time at the library.

[-] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago

Jackasses like Tate get to influence the children, because there is a void that has been left empty

I'd like to amend this to say that there is void that support "boys". There's a lot of encouragement for the development of girls into STEM, into sports, into everything else but there's no encouragement for boys. Boys are left to fend for themselves and if they don't get the right support and encouragement at home, they end up ripe for influencers like Tate.

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[-] queermunist@lemmy.ml 115 points 3 weeks ago

Let's not pretend like these children aren't having this behavior reinforced by their parents.

[-] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 85 points 3 weeks ago

The internet has made it quite easy for kids to develop an "inner life" that their parents have little to no awareness of, regardless of how attentive they are, though it's obviously worse if they are not.

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[-] lemmylommy@lemmy.world 47 points 3 weeks ago

That’s it. From what I hear (in Germany) is that the number of students with problematic behavior has increased, yes. That is something teachers can handle, if the parents cooperate or at the very least not interfere.

Unfortunately the number of problematic parents has sharply risen as well. More seem to be taking a page out of the Trump playbook of never admitting anything and going on the offensive instead. They can become quite aggressive and belligerent when their kid faces consequences for their actions, especially if misogyny was involved.

It’s impossible to help these students, if they act out behavior they see at home or, often enough, from their divorced fathers, and are encouraged for it.

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[-] el_bhm@lemm.ee 86 points 3 weeks ago
[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 44 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The problem isn't that we need to get rid of Tate. They are like flies and there will always be more like him.

What we need to figure out is what made him so persuasive to young boys - that's the real problem. We need to know why young boys are willing to listen to bullshit like his, and we must figure out what we can do to correct that.

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[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 82 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Gotta remember... This is sky news. Probably fake. Especially since the "survey" doesn't even match the headline.

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.

Wow it seems like everyone here is completely credulous and happy to have their bias confirmed.

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[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 81 points 3 weeks ago

"In a secondary English class last year, a group of boys opted, despite discouragement, to write a persuasive essay on why Andrew Tate is the GOAT (greatest of all time) which included praise of his view that women are a man's property... all of the parents were contacted and were appalled."

When I worked in a middle school a couple years back, I heard the Tate shit there. Had a student who would name their Kahoot something like “[female students name] has a nice ass” and administration would refuse to allow me to impose consequences.

If you are around teen boys, please talk to them about Tate. He’s not someone who should be walking free, and he’s not someone children should be listening to.

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[-] Red_October@lemmy.world 64 points 3 weeks ago

Well the solution to that one 10 year old is pretty clear. Actions have consequences, if he wants to be a little shit he can repeat the grade next year after hard failing this one.

[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 63 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Andrew Tate should just put on the Taliban turban and be done with this charade. His entire schtick is Sharia for Americans.

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[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 52 points 3 weeks ago

Yall didn’t see this coming with the red pill derived slang that kids have been using? They’re obsessed with their value. It’s terrifying and capitalism loves it.

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[-] mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world 46 points 3 weeks ago
[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 41 points 3 weeks ago

The problem is he's a symptom of broader socialtal issues. Someone else will just rise to fill his place unless we work to address what caused him prominence.

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[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 46 points 3 weeks ago

Stories like this are what I think of every time the topic of regulating social media comes up.

We know it's programmed to create rage machines. We do, and then people act surprised when social media works as designed.

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[-] Kurious84@eviltoast.org 42 points 3 weeks ago

I truly thought that this Tate guy was a complete character like Borat. I'm floored realizing this is a real "person"? How does anyone care about helping this guy. Oh wait.

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[-] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 41 points 3 weeks ago

They can all fail and become bitter incels together

[-] Shou@lemmy.world 39 points 3 weeks ago

And harm other people in society while they are at it

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[-] selkiesidhe@lemm.ee 41 points 3 weeks ago

Fail em. It'll be hilarious to the next group of kids who see someone his age in their class. And then the next

[-] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago

That's not how it works in the UK. Everyone progresses through school regardless of how you perform.

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[-] Luminocta@lemm.ee 40 points 3 weeks ago

Watch the series Adolescence (Netflix)

Next to the fact that every. Hour long. Episode. Is a one-take, it shows that this phenomenon is real. It is based on a true story and I won't spoil anything, but it gets dark from the second it starts.

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[-] EuropeanPrimate@lemm.ee 39 points 3 weeks ago

Parents need to raise their children and stop letting social media do it.

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[-] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 37 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

This is totally a diffusion of social media issue. Twenty years ago, the media that kids had available for consumption was age rated. We had agreed as a society that certain things should not be visible to children until they grow up. It was possible to do because it was centralized (TV, movies, radio, print) and it was accountable to regulatory bodies and the rest of society. If a TV channel showed something as shitty as Tate style propaganda, there was institutional pushback, there were letters to the editor, there was someone specific to be targeted for accountability.

With social media being dominated by US style "freedom of speech" algorithms and US style acceptance of the impossibility (or even undesirability) of regulation and with completely unaccountable megacorps running them while giving very minimal if non-existent attention to who is watching what, we have a complete lack of age rating. We have given up on the idea of protecting childhood it seems.

Coupled with every fucking other issue being brought up in this thread, from COVID, to economic issues, to cultural misogyny, there is a perfect storm...

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[-] pyre@lemmy.world 37 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

can you blame boys for aspiring to this

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[-] dick_fineman@discuss.online 36 points 3 weeks ago

Fine, just fail them. This is a problem for the parents to address. And if the parents refuse, then they can enjoy having a child who lives off of benefits and aspires to be an "influencer". Lol.

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[-] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 35 points 3 weeks ago

In 10 years, it seems we not only gave up our own nations’ dreams of equality and union, but lustfully decided to lick the boots of those telling us our dreams aren’t worth having. It doesn’t help that the self-proclaimed “leader of the free world” is a known rapist who cuts deals with the Taliban at the expense of women’s liberties.

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[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 34 points 3 weeks ago

Where are the parents, if my son pulled that shit I would put him a position where he MUST listen to and work for women until he realizes how ridiculous he is.

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[-] biofaust@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago

Send them to a Catholic male-only school, which incidentally is also one of the most right-wing places I can imagine. Let's see how long they remain up to their "masculine" standards.

[-] WhatsTheHoldup@lemmy.ml 33 points 3 weeks ago

Abuse isn't the solution to miseducation.

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[-] ECEC@lemmy.world 31 points 3 weeks ago
[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 28 points 3 weeks ago

Those little shits should be slapped by their mom's when they get home from school. Suburban trash.

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[-] lennybird@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago

I think about just how many shitty fathers these kids have, most of them in the maga cult that are lapping up the likes of Carlson and Peterson's lessons on red pilled bullshit and condoning the behavior of their kids (albeit from a notably absent distance).

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this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
1208 points (100.0% liked)

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