As part of the bootcamp, students are also required to pass an eyebrow-raising heart rate challenge, in which they’re hooked up to live monitors in front of their classmates and presented with a pre-recorded video of their parents berating them.

“The challenge rule was simple,” one student wrote: “my resting heart rate was 80bpm, and I had to stay within 10 percent of that the whole time. Anything above 88 was a fail.”

It isn’t clear what educational purpose this particular trial was supposed to serve, or what the penalty would be for students who fail the heart rate challenge, or the boot camp overall. At least one student said the eight-week hazing period is meant to “prove I deserve to be here,” though Alpha School didn’t comment on Riley’s inquiry.

  • ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works
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    18 hours ago

    students in the bootcamp are required to start a brand-new account on X-formerly-Twitter, for which they’re required to get a minimum of 100 organic followers, pay for X Premium, and post an unknown number of replies to “bigger accounts with real substance,”

    All this sounds less like education and more experimentation with the children being the lab rats.

  • FoxAlive@lemmy.zip
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    18 hours ago

    I’ll be honest im less upset about the Ai after reading that.

    I’m more upset about everything in the idea. They have to make a x account and sign up for x premium? I’m guessing all the ai they have to use to learn is grok then.

    But just dumping them into the wilderness for three days with just rice and a tent, the making them do shitty jobs and training them not to complain about it.

    This more sounds like something someone would come up with, after falling for one of those get rich quick guys, who sell you courses on how to replicate their success. Like if Andrew Tate had an idea of school it would be this. I’m not sure this is even a real school from the sounds of it, its only several weeks long. They probably one shotted grok and asked it to generate a school for elite alpha males and it spat out 5 buliten points and they ran with it

    • bedwyr@piefed.ca
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      49 minutes ago

      They found suckers to pay them to supply them with free people to help develop their systems. The heart rate thing is concerning, grok wants to get better at trolling it appears.

    • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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      17 hours ago

      I wouldn’t be as upset if it wasn’t so predatory.

      Forcing a kid to get a little bit of real-world work experience? Okay. But PAY THEM.

      Forcing a kid to be competent with social media? I’d bet that your average kid is already more competent than I am, but whatever. Investigate options that (1) are free, and (2) won’t spam kids with ads (cough Fediverse. Maybe the school can even set up its own creep-resistant private server) Oh, and the 100 follower requirement is bullshit. Eliminate it.

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    19 hours ago

    Sinister activity going on here for sure. 100 percent training sleeper agents or some shit…

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    17 hours ago

    What if the kid is genuinely excited about the topic, and hyped up to tell the class about something they think is cool? What if they’re a very animated speaker and move around a lot? They get penalized for enthusiasm?

    Fuck that.

    Later: if you haven’t read the article, please do. It’s so much stranger and worse.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    18 hours ago

    Pre-recorded video, or AI generated video of their parents yelling at them? I can’t decide which is worse.

    • MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
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      17 hours ago

      Yea, what kind of parent consents to filming a video berating their child (for no reason?) to be used at a later date by their school? I feel awful for these kids.

      Additionally, Riley noted that Alpha School “requires students to do unpaid labor cleaning restaurant kitchens or gas-station bathrooms” in a test of “grit and hard work.”

      This “assignment,” confirmed by two Alpha School pupils, involved students recording themselves and narrating their tasks, with any complaint or negative comment resulting in an automatic fail.

      Oh, I guess the kind of parent that consented to that?

    • betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Public schools continue to be the best option for almost everyone. Home schooling is another way for abusers to isolate their victims. Needs more regulation and no-notice inspections so it’s harder to hide misconduct.

      • baines@lemmy.cafe
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        9 hours ago

        what no?

        for poor kids sure better than not

        but test scores, college acceptance rates and lifetime achievements all point towards private schools doing better

        this is a huge part of the fact parental wealth being the largest single indicator of future success for a child

          • neomachino@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            50 seconds ago

            I remember talking to my wife’s family when we were moving last year telling them a big reason we were moving was to get in a better school district before our kids started school. I was shocked by the amount of them that asked “are there no good private schools in the area?” “Why not private school?” And even "oh yeah I heard “oh yeah I’ve heard <closest private school to our old town> is going downhill”. I was always shocked. Keep in mind our old town didn’t have any private schools, the closest one in the state was 45 minutes away.

            We moved from a town that had like an F on some school rating website to one that has a D+/C. Some people were also shocked about that, " why not move to <one if the most expensive towns in one of the most expensive states>? They have great public schools".

            Like money isn’t a factor and it blows my mind

    • FoxAlive@lemmy.zip
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      18 hours ago

      I think this is what home schooling looks like in America. We got Prager U, and turning point USA trying to either force their way into public schools or usher in this weird private school credit system so that they can teach ai revisionist history like slavery was a good thing for both parties, and that the south actually won the civil war.

      Or if its turning point USA they are going to work in a 3 day (9/9-9/11) program where you learn about Charlie kirk and 9/11 as if they are the same thing, and have to write a page about why charlie kirk was your hero, and why 9/11 is bad and patriot act good. Charlie kirk shooter=Taliban.

      Theres lots of buzz on private and home schooling now in the states because conservatives are getting mad about trans people existing at schools and the schools trying to teach tolerance. Parents think teachers put out litter boxes in the bathrooms as a way to encourage furries, because Joe rogan and the news.