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Francesca Rudkin: Parents, you're up · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So yesterday PPTA members secondary school teachers voted to make
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: addressing online extremism and official policy and are now pushing
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: for government action. Teachers say they are seeing more misogyny
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: from young boys, as well as in aphobia and anti
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Mauldi rhetoric, and I believe them. Sit down with your
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: teenager and ask them about Andrew Tate or Trump or
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: trade wives, which are some of the complaints, and they're
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: all over it. And yes it is driven by social
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: media and algorithms and their peers. So I do understand
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the teachers' concerns, but it's not for the government to fix.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'll get to the teachers in a minute. But this
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: is primarily an issue for parents. It's parents who are
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: responsible for setting the tone when it comes to their
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: children's beliefs and values, and as they grow and almost
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: inevitably push back against their parents and their ideas while
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: they develop their own. It's also on the parents to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: listen and without judgment and courage open discussion. It's parents
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: we need to get into the trenches with our teenagers
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: and have those difficult conversations so that we understand where
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: they're coming from and why. Example, a young man might
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: have been drawn into a toxic online culture of masculinity.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Only then perhaps can we be in a position to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: do something about it. I'm sure the teachers are right
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: when they say parents aren't fully aware of the content
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: their children are being exposed to. I chat to my
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: teenagers about contentious people and issues on social media in
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the news, and I'm curious to know whether they're aware
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of it. And sometimes I just have to act very
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: cool and hide my surprise when I discover that not
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: only are the cross it, but they've researched it, thought
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: about it, and will already have formed an opinion. Parents
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: are so far behind. Sometimes obviously, if a teacher hears
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: something harmful or disgusting, if they feel someone's been radicalized
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  Speaker 1: to a point where the person or others aren't safe
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: in yees, it needs to be challenged. We don't want
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: to be We don't want this to be normalized, although
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: many teenagers will tell you it already is. But just
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: as many schools put phone bands in place before it
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: was legalized, schools can have guidelines for acceptable behavior in
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a classroom without government interference. But when it comes to
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: political ideology, Trump and trade wives or canceling people. We
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: need to encourage debate and teach young people to disagree agreeably.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Teachers are at the forefront of this and may well
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: bear the brunt of it. It's easy to say that
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: teachers should use these moments as constructive exercises and critical thinking,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure that many of them do, but others
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: will be terrified of being accused by parents of indoctrinating
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: their children. So there is undoubtedly room for greater media
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: literacy when it comes to understanding misinformation, disinformations, in aphobia, misogyny.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: But teachers have got other things on their plates, So parents,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: you're up for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Listen live to news talks that be from five am weekdays,
• 2:47
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