When Lies Become Lessons: How Extremism and Defiance Are Taking Over America's Classrooms

From the White House to the schoolyard, a culture of lawlessness is infecting our children, and schools, parents, and leaders are failing to stop it.

Across America, teachers are witnessing a disturbing shift inside their classrooms, where violence, hate speech, and defiance are no longer fringe behaviors but normalized attitudes fueled by political leaders, far-right influencers, and social media echo chambers. In this special report, we explore how Donald Trump's return to power, combined with the toxic influence of figures like Andrew Tate, is emboldening a new generation of teenage boys to reject authority, glorify extremism, and attack the very institutions meant to educate and protect them. As schools scramble to respond, the question remains: how do we fight for truth, discipline, and decency in an age where lies are rewarded and accountability is optional?

Donald Trump is back in the Oval Office, and the same lies that defined his chaotic first term haven't just returned—they've been institutionalized, sharpened, and now face even fewer guardrails. More than 100 days into his second term, Trump has wasted no time resurrecting the falsehoods that fueled his rise: baseless claims of a stolen election, conspiracies about the so-called deep state, and relentless assaults on the free press. But this time, the disinformation isn't confined to rallies or fringe outlets—it's being written directly into federal policy, enforced by loyalists embedded across key agencies, and echoed by an increasingly obedient right-wing media ecosystem. Fact-checking, lawsuits, and public outrage have done little to slow the machine. Trump's falsehoods now flow through an administration where accountability is all but nonexistent. The question is no longer whether the president is lying—but what happens when those lies become the foundation of government itself, and no one in power seems willing, or able, to stop them.

At least ten members of Trump's current administration continue to deny the results of the 2020 presidential election. Among them are high-profile figures like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt—all of whom have publicly supported Trump's baseless claims that the election was rigged. In reality, Joe Biden won the 2020 election by more than seven million votes and secured the presidency with a decisive 74-vote margin in the Electoral College.

In a December 2024 article, The New Republic spotlighted Hegseth's embrace of conspiracy theories surrounding January 6. On former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's podcast, Hegseth claimed—without evidence—that the violent mob that stormed the Capitol was actually infiltrated by leftist groups and Antifa. The FBI later debunked these claims, finding no credible evidence to support them. Meanwhile, Kristi Noem, now Secretary of Homeland Security, was among the first prominent Republicans to amplify Trump's falsehoods. The day after the 2020 vote, she tweeted, "@realDonaldTrump has been fighting the establishment, the mainstream media, and now rigged election systems on behalf of the American people and our way of life."

In districts from Virginia to California, students openly challenge teachers, engage in hate-fueled harassment, and glorify violence with alarming frequency. In Loudoun County, Virginia, a student convicted of sexually assaulting classmates became the center of a political firestorm after school officials failed to act decisively, drawing national scrutiny. In California and Texas, teachers report a surge in violent threats, extremist rhetoric, and physical confrontations—with many of these behaviors going largely unpunished. Educators describe a growing sense of helplessness as traditional disciplinary measures are weakened by policy or overridden by administrators more focused on appeasing parents than supporting teachers. Parents, emboldened by conspiracy-fueled narratives, increasingly defend their children at all costs—casting teachers as overreaching or politically motivated. These aren't isolated cases. They reflect a dangerous shift in youth culture, where defiance of the law—fueled by figures like Trump and Andrew Tate—is celebrated as a form of power, rather than condemned as harmful or illegal.

These lies, the mass spread of disinformation, and open defiance of the rule of law are now seeping into our children's behavior—and little has been done to support the teachers left to manage the fallout. Over the past few years, educators have been overwhelmed by an epidemic of student defiance, violence, and harassment, often with minimal backing from school administrators or parents. As Fort Worth Report highlighted in January 2025, Arlington ISD school board member Melody Fowler bluntly stated, "We wonder why our scores decline, we wonder why kids are not passing. It's because teachers don't have time to teach. They're too busy redirecting and having to send out referrals. I think it's time we put some of this back on the students and back on the parents." Fowler's comments reflect a profession at its breaking point. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that 79% of teachers believe parents are failing to hold their children accountable for misbehavior, further eroding classroom discipline and leaving teachers isolated on the front lines of this cultural breakdown.

The question now is not just how to discipline these students—but how to confront a generation of young people absorbing the message that unruly, abusive, and even violent behavior carries no consequences when modeled by the nation's most powerful leaders and echoed by far-right media influencers. When teenagers see political figures, celebrities, and online personalities rewarded for cruelty, defiance, and misinformation, the traditional structures of authority—teachers, administrators, even law enforcement—lose their influence. The challenge facing educators, parents, and communities isn't just about enforcing classroom rules anymore—it's about breaking a dangerous feedback loop where lawlessness and aggression are glamorized at the highest levels of society.

Schools, already stretched thin by staffing shortages, political battles over curriculum, and eroding community trust, are ill-equipped to take on this battle alone. Some districts have turned to restorative justice programs or social-emotional learning in an effort to de-escalate conflict—but these interventions are often dismissed or sabotaged by parents who view them as part of a political agenda, as CT Insider reports. In extreme cases, teachers who attempt to hold students accountable find themselves isolated, reprimanded, or even forced out, as administrators cave to parental complaints and public relations fears. Meanwhile, students internalize the lesson: the rules don't apply to them if they cry foul loud enough, if their parents threaten legal action, or if their behavior is cloaked in the language of "freedom" or "free speech." Left unchecked, this cultural breakdown is not just a threat to the classroom—it's a threat to the fabric of civil society itself.

These are not hypothetical warnings—they are real, devastating failures playing out in schools right now. In 2024, the New York Post reported on a Brooklyn high school where Jewish teacher Danielle Kaminsky was relentlessly harassed by students following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Acts of intimidation included a student painting a Hitler mustache on their face, giving the Nazi salute in class—caught on security footage—and students tearing down an Israeli flag from Kaminsky's classroom and setting it on fire. Despite the severity of these actions, the administration refused to enforce serious disciplinary measures, leaving Kaminsky to endure the abuse without adequate protection. Similar incidents have played out in districts like Houston, where teachers who attempt to confront serious violations have found themselves overruled, disciplined, or even terminated—while parents defend their children and schools quietly back down. This emerging pattern not only undermines teacher authority but sends a dangerous message to students: that they can defy the rules, target their peers, and face few, if any, consequences.

If left unchecked, these patterns will only accelerate, normalizing violence, lawlessness, and hate speech among America's youth—and eroding the already fragile trust between schools, families, and communities. The crisis is no longer confined to isolated classrooms or viral TikTok clips; it's bleeding into the national fabric, where teenage boys emboldened by online influencers and political demagogues see cruelty and defiance not as aberrations, but as pathways to power. Unless parents, educators, and policymakers come together to demand accountability—not just from students, but from the adults and leaders they emulate—the next generation will inherit a world where authority is hollow, facts are negotiable, and extremism is a badge of honor. The time to intervene is now, before these lessons in lawlessness become the only civics education our children know.