Are tattle tale tip lines really solving anything?

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who banned critical race theory from public education, launched a headline-making email tip line earlier this week that allows students and parents to report “divisive practices” within their schools.

It’s not the first time tip lines have blown up. Last year, after Texas tightened their abortion laws, a website was created for people to anonymously report anyone who was helping people access abortions after the now-illegal six week pregnancy period. Earlier in the pandemic, some states created online forms to report people and businesses not following mask requirements. 

But do tip lines help solve or sow conflict and division? Experts say it all depends on how they’re developed and used. Historically, tip lines have been critical for public safety and holding those in power accountable, but there are instances where they can do more harm than good. 

“We have these for whistleblowers and organizations, and that can be a really important thing for reporting unethical or dangerous behavior,” says Jay Van Bavel, associate professor of psychology and neural science at New York University and co-author of “The Power of Us.” “In these cases, they do sound like they’re being weaponized in a way that probably turns citizens against one another for political ends… It’s very hard to see how that can be helpful for society.”

Dr. Isabel Araiza, associate professor of sociology at Texas AM Corpus Christi, said tip lines began as a way to ensure confidentially for those most vulnerable – now, they’re “being put in place by the powerful to uphold the status quo.” 

“Those tip lines were connected to a recognition of the vulnerability of the people who might report useful information that could be helpful for the broader community,” she says. “The way that the tip lines are being used now… what we see is actually not that. We have to think who does this benefit? And who’s harmed by it?”

Critical race theory bans are adding more anxiety to stressed teachers

Does the pandemic play a role?

While the pandemic has left many feeling powerless, Van Bavel says it’s difficult to assess if tip lines are a way to help people feel in control. 

“The U.S. is at a higher rate of polarization than has been in 40 years,” he says. “Understanding these things through that lens means that some of them are going to be designed to just make life miserable and intolerable for people that you don’t like.”

Other topics over the past few years surrounding schools have become polarized as well, including when to return to school, mask mandates, vaccinations. 

“A lot of these things are woven into the last few years and the political moment that we have,” he says, and in certain cases, misunderstood buzzwords get jumbled into the mix. “No one’s teaching critical race theory in elementary schools anyways, that’s a very academic theory…  It’s become a bit of a stand-in for teaching about history (and) systemic racism.

Van Bavel also wonders how cases will be determined. For example, what if a parent reports a teacher for teaching critical race theory, but it wasn’t CRT and instead the history of slavery?

The pandemic also allowed us to marinate on topics brought to the forefront of the national conversation like inequality.

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