Francesca Rudkin: Parents, you're up

Yesterday, PPTA members —secondary school teachers— voted to make addressing online extremism an official policy, and are now pushing for Government action.  

Teachers say they are seeing more misogyny from young boys, as well as xenophobia and anti-Māori rhetoric – and I believe them. Sit down with your teenager and ask them about Andrew Tate, Trump, trad wives —which were some of the complaints— and they’re all over it. And yes, it is driven by social media, algorithms, and their peers.

So, I do understand their concerns.  

But it’s not for the Government to fix.  

I’ll get to the teachers in a minute, but this is primarily an issue for parents.  

It’s parents who are responsible for setting the tone when it comes to their children’s beliefs and values. And as they grow and almost inevitably push back against their parents and their ideas while they develop their own, it’s also on the parents to listen and, without judgement, encourage open discussion.   

As parents we need to get into the trenches with our teenagers and have those difficult conversations so we understand where they’re coming from and why, for example, a young man might have been drawn into a “toxic online culture of masculinity”. Only then, perhaps, are we can be in a position to do something about it. 

I’m sure the teachers are right when they say parents aren’t fully aware of the content their children are being exposed to. I chat to my teenagers about contentious people and issues on social media and in the news. I’m curious to know if they’re aware of it. Sometimes I have to act cool and hide my surprise when I discover that not only are they across it, but they’ve researched it, thought about it and will already have formed an opinion. Parents are so far behind sometimes.  

Obviously if a teacher hears something harmful or disgusting —if they feel someone has been radicalised to the point where the person or others aren’t safe— then yes, it needs to be challenged. We don't want to to be normalised - although many teenagers will tell you it already is. But, just as many schools put phone bans in place before it was legislated, schools can have guidelines for acceptable behaviour in a classroom without government interference.

But when it comes to political ideology, Trump and trad wives, or cancelling people, we need to encourage debate and teach young people to disagree agreeably. 

Teachers are at the forefront of this and may well bear the brunt of it. It’s easy to say that teachers should use these moments as a constructive exercise in critical thinking – and I’m sure many do. But others will be terrified of being accused by parents of indoctrinating their children.  

There is undoubtedly room for greater media literacy when it comes to understanding misinformation, disinformation, xenophobia and misogyny – but teachers have got other things on their plates.  

So, parents – you’re up. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So yesterday PPTA members secondary school teachers voted to make
addressing online extremism and official policy and are now pushing
for government action. Teachers say they are seeing more misogyny
from young boys, as well as in aphobia and anti
Mauldi rhetoric, and I believe them. Sit down with your
teenager and ask them about Andrew Tate or Trump or
trade wives, which are some of the complaints, and they're

(00:22):
all over it. And yes it is driven by social
media and algorithms and their peers. So I do understand
the teachers' concerns, but it's not for the government to fix.
I'll get to the teachers in a minute. But this
is primarily an issue for parents. It's parents who are
responsible for setting the tone when it comes to their
children's beliefs and values, and as they grow and almost

(00:43):
inevitably push back against their parents and their ideas while
they develop their own. It's also on the parents to
listen and without judgment and courage open discussion. It's parents
we need to get into the trenches with our teenagers
and have those difficult conversations so that we understand where
they're coming from and why. Example, a young man might
have been drawn into a toxic online culture of masculinity.

(01:05):
Only then perhaps can we be in a position to
do something about it. I'm sure the teachers are right
when they say parents aren't fully aware of the content
their children are being exposed to. I chat to my
teenagers about contentious people and issues on social media in
the news, and I'm curious to know whether they're aware
of it. And sometimes I just have to act very

(01:25):
cool and hide my surprise when I discover that not
only are the cross it, but they've researched it, thought
about it, and will already have formed an opinion. Parents
are so far behind. Sometimes obviously, if a teacher hears
something harmful or disgusting, if they feel someone's been radicalized
to a point where the person or others aren't safe
in yees, it needs to be challenged. We don't want

(01:46):
to be We don't want this to be normalized, although
many teenagers will tell you it already is. But just
as many schools put phone bands in place before it
was legalized, schools can have guidelines for acceptable behavior in
a classroom without government interference. But when it comes to
political ideology, Trump and trade wives or canceling people. We
need to encourage debate and teach young people to disagree agreeably.

(02:10):
Teachers are at the forefront of this and may well
bear the brunt of it. It's easy to say that
teachers should use these moments as constructive exercises and critical thinking,
and I'm sure that many of them do, but others
will be terrified of being accused by parents of indoctrinating
their children. So there is undoubtedly room for greater media

(02:31):
literacy when it comes to understanding misinformation, disinformations, in aphobia, misogyny.
But teachers have got other things on their plates, So parents,
you're up for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
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