STUDENTS -' TEACHERS '- STUNGUNS : MASTER GLOBAL ESSAY

 

IN FEBRUARY, Patrice Motz, a veteran Spanish teacher at Great Valley Middle School in Malvern, Pa, was warned by another teacher that trouble was brewing.

Some eighth graders at her public school had set up fake TikTok accounts impersonating teachers. Ms. Motz, who had never used TikTok, created an account.

She found a fake profile for @patricia.motz, which had posted a real photo of her at the beach with her husband and their young children. '' Do you like to touch kids? '' a text in Spanish over the family vacation photo asked. '' Answer : Si.''

In the days that followed, some 20 educators -about one quarter of the school's faculty -discovered they were the victims of fake teacher accounts rife with pedophilia innuendo, racist memes, homophobia and made-up sexual hookups among teachers. Hundreds of students soon viewed, followed or commented on the fraudulent accounts.

In the aftermath, the school district briefly suspended several students, teachers said. The principal during one lunch period chastised the eighth-grade class for its behavior.

The biggest fallout has been for teachers like Ms. Motz, who said she felt '' kicked in the stomach '' that students would so casually savage teachers' families. The online harassment has left some teachers worried that social media platforms are helping to stunt the growth of empathy in students.

Some teachers now hesitate to call out pupils who act up in class. Others said it had been challenging to keep teaching.

'' It was deflating,'' said Ms. Motz, who has taught at the school, in a wealthy Philadelphia suburb, for 14 years. '' I can't believe I still get up and do that every day.''

The Great Valley incident is the first known group TikTok attack of its kind by middle schoolers on their teachers in the United States.  It's a significant escalation in the way middle and high school students impersonate, troll and harass educators on social media.

Before this year, students largely impersonated one teacher or principal at a time.

The middle schooler's attack also reflects broader concerns in schools about how students use, and abuse, of popular online tools is intruding on the classroom.

Some states and districts have recently restricted or banned student cellphone use in schools, in part to limit peer harassment and cyberbullying on Instagram, Snap, TikTok and other apps.

Social media has helped normalize anonymous aggressive posts and memes, leading some children to weaponize them against adults.

'' We didn't have to deal with teacher-targeting at this scale before,'' said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers' union.

''It's not only demoralizing. It could push educators to question, ' Why would I continue in this profession if students are doing this?' ''

This Master Publishing Essay continues. The World Students Society thanks author Natasha Singer.