Mitchell Robinson is a writer for Eclectablog and associate professor and chair of music education at Michigan State University, as well as being a former high-school teacher. His research is focused on music education and education policy.

In the podcast we mentioned the Startup podcast featuring the Success Academy, and the Kipp schools.

*****

I was really concerned

to read about something called the Momo Challenge. This is a social media meme,

a chain message spread on Whatsapp, Facebook and other platform which tells of

a powerful internet message that could induce young people to harm themselves.

Except it’s not.

The whole thing is a hoax.

And that’s not the bit

I’m concerned about. Sure, stupid people make up stupid stories from time to

time. What I’m really concerned about is the degree of traction this story got

from people who should know better, and from people who should know that they don’t

know. The basic message was that by some evil technical magic, messages were

being inserted into children’s videos on YouTube which would, a bit like the film The Ring, make the kids go and commit suicide.

In the UK, for example, school administrators warned pupils and parents of the danger, major newspapers ran breathless stories of how dangerous it was for teenagers, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland issued an official warning as did various local forces in the US, and the RCMP in Canada said they were devoting resources to monitor the situation.

Not to be outdone, the

French ministry of the interior said it was reviewing the situation daily.

Spanish police issued a warning to people though it’s not clear what they