Social media at its worst. First we had the “damage school property and post your video”.
Then we had the Slap a Teacher challenge. Snopes.com decided it probably won’t happen. Well, it did, this week, at a Braintree, MA middle school. As a retired teacher, if I was slapped by a student, regardless of what my administration would want me to do, I would 100% press charges! Assault is assault.
Now tonight’s news highlighted the “remove the lug nuts from somebody’s tire” challenge. This could potentially get someone killed!
ENOUGH!!! The only way to stop this is to throw the book at anyone stupid enough to do these things. At one point in my teaching career, we kept having bomb threats. Finally the principal decided that next time, we would go into lockdown, and use the police to search EVERY room and EVERY student backpack and locker. Students finally were sent home at five PM. Guess what? No more bomb threats!
This is the monthly list our school sent to staff. We had significant issues with the bathrooms and had to close many due to it. Haven’t heard if anyone has been smacked yet, but school is prepared for law enforcement involvement if it happens. Hadn’t heard about the lug nuts yet - is that with school or just in general?
September: Vandalise school bathrooms October: Smack a staff member November: Kiss your friend’s girlfriend at school December: “Deck the halls and show your b***” (show your private parts) January: Jab a breast February: Mess up school signs March: Make a mess in the courtyard or cafeteria April: “Grab some eggz” (another stealing challenge) May: Ditch day June: Flip off in the front office July: Spray a neighbour’s fence
As far as I know the Lug Nuts Challenge is a general one, not school-related. There was a piece on the news talking to AAA road service folks who are finding they are responding to a sudden surge in cars with wobbly wheels due to missing lug nuts.
My son’s high school had all the boy’s bathrooms vandalized after this ‘challenge’ came out. So now they have just one boy’s bathroom open for the entire high school. And yes, the perps were suspended.
Related topic about social media. My child just started middle school. I am surprised that kids actually have committee for Discord chat to decide who’s not cool to be in it. This is emerging bully in disguise.
Not sure where it came from, but apparently kids in a community near me were “pranking” each other by tampering with the front tires of e-bikes parked at school. Bikes were rideable but front tire would pop off as soon as it hit uneven pavement. A mom posted about it on NextDoor after her son was victimized and got in an accident; he was OK but bike was totaled. By the way, this was at an elementary school.
Who owns Tik Tok? Can they be sued? Isn’t there any moderation or a reporting system for such “challenges?” Seems that a class action lawsuit might be a good idea at this point. I don’t know if that’s possible though. All social media outlets need to take more responsibility for what appears on their platforms. They are making more than enough money to pay some professional moderators to scan and remove harmful content.
IMO, that would be a losing battle. A Chinese company (ByteDance) protected by the US laws (we are just the “pipe”!). One more example why Section 230 needs a serious review.
That sounds like something the school should be made aware of.
A couple years before my daughter started middle school, a bunch of kids got into trouble in school for cyberbullying even though they weren’t doing in during school hours.
And when she was in middle school, some kids got into trouble for posting on instagram scathing “negative reviews” of teachers and students.
At this point, most (if not all) schools have rules against cyberbullying.
