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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.

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[-] ItsComplicated@sh.itjust.works 98 points 4 days 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.

[-] frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io 23 points 4 days ago

The "smart" child would post nudes pics of themselves to gain those followers based on the target audience. The lesson here is "sex sells".

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 18 points 4 days ago

Are you that old man with the walker on Family Guy?

[-] Smif_N_Lenin@piefed.social 12 points 4 days ago

no, it's just elons alt

[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

You like candy?

[-] waz@feddit.uk 7 points 4 days ago
[-] pomegranatefern@sh.itjust.works 68 points 4 days ago

What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck.

[-] FoxAlive@lemmy.zip 33 points 4 days 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

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 11 points 4 days 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.

[-] bedwyr@piefed.ca 4 points 3 days 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.

[-] technomad@slrpnk.net 29 points 4 days ago

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

[-] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 4 days ago

At minimum they’re selecting for children who will do whatever you tell them because they believe you control their future. Super normal stuff that has no potential for abuse!

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 8 points 4 days ago

They're being trained to be chattel slaves or cannon fodder.

[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Keep 'em stupid and compliant!

Which episode of Black Mirror is this?

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 23 points 4 days 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.

Yes. Emotions are bad. Trump is God. War is Peace /s

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

That's not permitted either. And it's realistic for it to mock you for that

[-] frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io 17 points 4 days ago

I thought hazing was illegal. Does that only apply to frats?

[-] myyass@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

The first thing I thought of:

[-] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago
[-] myyass@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

It had such a space marine vibe to it.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 14 points 4 days ago

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

[-] MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 20 points 4 days 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?

[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

The headline really confused me. The article just made me angry.

[-] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 days ago

This just sounds like MKUltra.

this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2026
178 points (99.4% liked)

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