FAKE FAMILY PHOTOS

On the first day of class, I give my students the same direction: 

“This is the hand signal. [I show them a hand signal] When you see it, quietly gather your belongings and leave the room.” 

One time, when I saw a student having emotional problems, I used it.  After the other students left the room, I asked this student:

“Can I bring you to someone who can help you?” 

She nodded yes. 

Effective teachers have to remain vigilant and flexible. Every five? ten? years or so, students are significantly different than the previous class, and effective teachers know this: Young people are more intelligent in various ways but also vulnerable in many other ways. 

The shortage of nurses and guidance counselors in most public K-12 schools in North Carolina is dangerous. 

My personal experience working as a professor on two major campuses was quite the opposite: I was given a strong support staff for any student who needed help. 

We just recovered from a significant holiday when family photography manipulation was at an all-time high. And I feel terrible for young people trying hard to be honest and kind while at the same time being asked to lie about their families. I care about the students who are being abused and need help. 

On Sunday, Mother’s Day, my Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr algorithms were in overdrive.  

Young people know this.  They have keen, bullshit detectors.  The tech world gave their parents plenty of ways to create photos of who they wish they were, but not always who they are.  Companies ask employees to create family value scenarios in step with the valued customers they are seeking. “Performing family” is that uncomfortable, emotional blackmail, feeling when a family member is secretly recording everything, and you won’t know what exactly he’s recorded until he posts it on social media.

Voters should care even more about those who need protection from this kind of manipulation: children, young people, the elderly, and the infirm. It’s what makes our country different. 

Here’s an interesting study about photo fakery titled “The happy families… who aren’t: Artist’s remarkably intimate portraits of complete strangers posing together”: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2348417/The-happy-families–arent-Artists-remarkable-portraits-complete-strangers-posing-together.html