To think if you're a teacher, you challenge any conspiracy theory nonsense in class?

You don't answer every question.

However, you tell them that everything posted on Tic toc isn't true and anyone can post anything they make up.

I don't think I'd bother, plus I think it's good for other children to hear other opinions even if they may be absurd!

There are conspiracy theories, and then there are conspiracy theories. It’s one thing to have stupid ideas about sunblock. If you really want to give yourself skin cancer, who am I to stop you? But it’s another to start spouting off that the country is controlled by a secret cabal of Jewish bankers.

I think as teachers we’re obligated to speak up against someone in our classroom spewing hatred for others, which is what a number of conspiracy theories come down to.

Which ones do you think aren't conspiracies? Can you point a few out.....Will be interesting to see which ones you mean?

Covid not real?

Lizard people?

Chips in vaccines?

That all vaccinated people will be killed 2 years after taking the vaccine (that didn't age well).

That 'they' planned thd Microsoft recent outage so that "they" could test the system.

That 'they' are causing the rain this summer by 'cloud seeding '

Any you think are true....

That wasn’t the OP’s question though was it?

To think if you're a teacher, you challenge any conspiracy theory nonsense in class?

This was the thread heading. TikTok and social media is full of speculation and young people watch and feed off this speculation. How would you deal with it as a teacher?

Likewise covid, was the virus spread deliberately? Did it exist? I’ll go back to the initial question that the OP asked…

How do you know how he died? Are the press reports accurate? Are the investigating officers corrupt? Did he steal a Rolex? Was he a drug mule?

So, as a teacher how would you answer a class of 30 young people?

I sometimes look on the conspiracy subs on Reddit. Quite interesting

A lot of them think there was no third plane that hit the pentagon and that it was actually a missile for example

I wouldn't expect a teacher to get involved in them, most of them you can't disprove anyway

JFK got shot in the front of his throat but LHO was shooting from behind him. Work that one out

Google suncream cancer, this is what they are talking about. Contamination of lots of suncream products with carcinogenic ingredients. It's not a conspiracy theory just because you think it sounds outlandish.

If a student told you that dead babies were used as vitamin pills what would you say? What would you say after you googled it?

Tell them you can't or won't discuss it and move on, it's not for you to say what's true or not if you haven't got time to fact check it yourself. It breeds mistrust in the students.
These are young people that are being lied to in the news everyday and they know they are because they can watch the truth being live streamed. Don't add to it

@Datgal part of the issue is in the past some theories were actually true, so yes some seem omg, but then because others have been correct, its a mix

Some of the conspiracies aren't conspiracies and the people saying that they are are simply ill informed.

We know he is dead and that the official authorities say his injuries are consistent with a fall. The rest is gossip and speculation

If Biden is a robot, I think it’ll be a while before they take over.

What were you doing in someone else's classroom?
And why were you there long enough to know what they taught for most of it?

There are some areas that it is worth diverting the the lesson for and I would argue that a good teacher can swing any topic back in to their subject area.

Well yes if it is directed at a real life person but I was talking more about students making ignorant comments about places and people in our learning because they are repeating what they've heard at home, for example when teaching migration.

I challenge it, yes. Usually with a comment about evidence and sources (they know this from their History lessons).
The only thing I wouldn't/couldn't touch was IDF/Hamas - we were told not to go near it with a 40ft pole.
I was asked whether a transwoman could have a baby the other day and that they'd read a transwoman had. I told them it was a biological impossibility as you'd need a uterus. That someone who identified as a transman and had kept their vagina and womb could but a transwoman could not.
I was on thin ice with that but no fallout.
I did get into trouble for being pro flu jabs. A parent complained that I was promoting vaccinations.

surely racism is actually escalated and taken very seriously?

I'm a geography teacher I've yet to meet a flat earther but I have encountered lots of racism and xenophobia in lessons which I absolutely do challenge.

This made me laugh! Well said!

Sorry OP, but if you knew how every bloody initiative is put onto teachers, you would understand where this is coming from.

I’m not a teacher but my personal view is that it would be great if our education system taught the value of curiousity, how to evaluate evidence, critical thinking, and how to really listen and consider ( rather than just rebutt) what someone says. I think all of this would help, but no, I don’t thinks it’s the job of teachers to tell people what they should and should not think or believe.

Shut it down! And then teach them the facts about how boys can become girls by just thinking it. 👌🏽

Kids should be taught HOW to think, not WHAT to think... if this is done well - by teachers and parents alike, then the child grows up with the ability to think through situations, arguments, theories etc... and form their own opinion which they can debate in a logical way. Sadly, far too many people are lacking in critical thinking skills and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Interesting - I work with early years so haven't been questioned like this! However, I would say that I discuss these topics with DC and try to get them to think rationally and challenge/work out how to think critically but always vocal against racism and sexism. Also that they have the right to say if they do not like what others are saying - either outright or just politely remove themselves from the situation...

I’ve never had any students who seriously believe in any conspiracies like the ones listed, but u wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face if they told me Biden was a robot. Covid brought about quite a few health opinions that I steered away from.

I disagree, teachers should take every chance to debate topical issues (as long as it’s not to the detriment of the curriculum). In face civilised fact based debating is arguably the most important skill to teach anyone.

It's a tricky one really, teachers on the whole need to stick to the subject they are teaching. I've had to report a teacher for spending time discussing non topic issues in a classroom with his students. It feels wrong having to do so, but when they should be teaching subject A but are discussing politics for most of the lesson, which has nothing to do with subject A and is not their field of work it's not the right time or place for the discussion.

Teachers are in a position of trust and kids often look upto them. They do need to be careful how they approach some topics. It would be different if they where actually teaching that topic of course.

I agree that teaching critical thinking and learning how to source information is what we should be teaching students at school.

Years ago someone tried to derail my lesson on some issue that was de rigueur at the time and I said it was all the square root of negative one. I also wouldn't get involve in the identity and pronoun nonsense were I still teaching, if people want to improve standards in schools then let teachers concentrate on their job rather than the current bandwagon.