Following the AfD’s electoral success among young voters in Brandenburg, teachers’ associations are calling for better media education in German schools. “Social media can act as a catalyst, especially at the beginning of radicalization,” said the federal chairman of the Association for Education and Training (VBE), Gerhard Brand, to the editorial network Germany (RND). Young people “quickly get caught up in a swamp of dangerous worldviews and self-affirmation.” Media education in schools, but also by parents, is needed here to explain such mechanisms and to warn against getting too one-sided information.
Brand also called for schools to be better equipped. “But if ten percent of German schools still do not have class sets of digital devices and the Digital Pact 2.0 is currently still pending, we should not be surprised if schools cannot afford it,” criticized the association head.
“Social media often encourage extremes,” said the Federal Chairwoman of the German Philologists’ Association, Susanne Lin-Klitzing, to the RND. It is essential that media education plays an important role in schools and that students are enabled to critically question information. To do this, teachers must be trained accordingly. However, they have too little time and money available for further training, criticized the head of the association.
Current politics for young people “very far away”
The President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Thomas Krüger, complained about a “lack of political communication at eye level” especially in social media. Only the AfD succeeds in addressing young people in the media, he told the editorial network. Krüger called for a “sustained focus on the interests of the young generation in Germany as well as an offensive youth and education policy”.
The multitude of crises and problems such as wars, energy shortages, inflation and climate change have made young people more serious and worried than ever before, Krüger stated. There is also “considerable uncertainty among young people due to the difficult-to-predict migration dynamics and the resulting increase in racism and discrimination”. Many young people experience current politics “as very far away”, the head of the Federal Office stated.
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