- [Hasan] As the culture wars rip through America,
one thing that always comes up is the children.
- We have one job and that's to protect our children.
- Protecting children from you know, sexual indoctrination,
critical race theory, things like that.
- Banning books, especially these books,
endangers our children.
- But as the father of a child about to start school
I wanted to know about how they felt about the culture wars
and more importantly, I low key wanted to know
if they thought I was cool.
So instead of tweeting about the kids,
I decided to talk to them.
I don't know if you know this but I'm a little bit older
and there's a lot of- (students laugh)
Okay, you didn't have to laugh with that part.
There's a lot of stuff that I'm not aware of.
So I'm gonna' name something
and then you tell me what you think about it.
(calm music)
Adults are arguing a lot right now
about what you should be learning,
what subjects you should be taught,
what books you should be reading
but we never asked you how do you feel about school?
What are your favorite books?
What books are you guys reading right now?
- I love like racial justice books
because I feel like I can relate to that a lot.
Like "The Hate U Give" or like "Blended".
- How do you feel about people wanting to ban those books?
- Not good because like I feel like you need to,
this is what's happening in the world right now.
Like racial injustice is happening right now
and these books are about racial injustice.
So people need to learn about it
if they wanna do something about it.
- Do you feel like your teachers
are trying to indoctrinate you?
- No.
- Do you know what the word indoctrinate means?
- No. (students laugh)
(upbeat music)
- Brentley, let's talk about this,
thoughts on the president and the current administration.
- I think it's good.
Yeah, I like it.
- I feel like he's a lot better than Trump in my opinion.
- Sure.
- I feel like he's not the best president.
We've definitely had better presidents
but he's a big step up from Trump.
- What about this era feels different
from other presidential
terms? - He's definitely older
than other presidents.
- How old is too old to be president?
- Too old to be president is an age where you're scared
that you might not live to see the next day
because a country is depending on you-
- Right.
- To run them also.
As long as you don't have any like mental health problems.
Like say you have dementia
and you're sort of losing your memory a little bit.
And people with dementia, they're perfectly good people
but they're probably not the best kind
of person to run a country
because they might not remember everything.
- Yeah.
You're eerily describing
what Joseph R Biden is going through right now.
(upbeat music)
Now sometimes people say when you criticize people
of a certain age that are older, that could be ageist.
"Hey, you can't do that because of your age,"
but that happens all the time with you.
People tell you you can't do things because of your age.
What's something adults tell you that's ageist?
- I feel like it's always
like something to do with when I go to bed.
- What time's your bedtime?
- Mostly like 8:45, that's what they want it to be.
But I feel like there's like studies that show
like you only need eight hours of sleep.
- What would be the time that you want?
Gimme a time, let's pitch it, let's work this out.
What time do you wanna go to sleep?
- Only like 30 minutes after.
- Let's try it.
I'm gonna' be your dad and I'm gonna' tell you to go to bed
and you tell me.
Quinn, go to bed, young man, it's 8:47 PM.
- That's ageist. (students laugh)
- I like that.
(upbeat music)
A lot of the things that I'm talking about right now
you don't have a lot of control over
but there is something you do control, culture.
So let's talk about pop culture.
Elon Musk.
- Billionaire. (students laugh)
He owns Tesla and SpaceX.
- Twitter, I mean.
- Twitter, yeah.
- Do you think he's doing a good job running Twitter?
Quinn, how are you feeling about-
- I think he's running it pretty badly
because he did a bunch of stuff that's like not good.
Like he got rid of a bunch of things
and tried to just make the most money out of it.
But he actually lost a lot of money while he got Twitter
and the stocks went down a lot.
- What would you do if you were him to turn it around?
- Sell it to a bigger company for a decent price.
- Yeah, I think he's lost a lot of the money though,
so I don't know- - Because Twitter
it's like giving up.
No one really cares about it anymore.
- Got it.
Taylor Swift, hero, icon, villain.
- I think her music is awesome, amazing.
I don't really love her as a person.
- What about her as a person that was just like, no?
- I don't know, she just doesn't sit right with me
I guess.
- Okay.
Any other thoughts on T Swift?
- I don't really know a lot about her
and I don't wanna say things
about topics I don't know about.
So that's all I really know.
- So you're just saying if you don't know about something
you'll just say, hey, I don't know
or I don't have an opinion about that.
It's really refreshing.
Bad Bunny. (students laugh)
What?
What does that mean?
- I love him
but I don't think my age should be listening to it.
If you don't understand Spanish
then it's like, okay, it's really good.
But if you understand it
then it's like- - Yeah, I understand Spanish.
- Oh.
- Whoa. - [Sophia] Whoa.
- Yeah, there's lots of artists whose music is really good
but them as a person themselves is not great.
- So how do you resolve that?
What do you guys do?
How do you come to terms with that?
- I listen to an artist- - I still listen
to their music honestly. - Yeah I'd still listen.
- What are you gonna' do?
And you know what?
You're gonna' keep dealing with this even as an adult.
And they're gonna' write think pieces about it
and there's gonna' be no real solution.
- I mean even with like movies
and actors who are probably not the best people,
you can still enjoy their work
and not appreciate the bad things that they have done.
- Got it. - Yeah,
I can definitely agree with that.
Like so I personally am like a superhero fan.
And the Flash teaser was released
and there's like a lot of controversy
around Ezra Miller and like what he's done.
But like the movie itself looks really good.
So you have to be able to like respect that.
- This all sounds like very reasonable nuanced opinions.
I suggest you never put that opinion on Twitter.
It sounds like you know, you are understanding
that the world is a complicated great place
and things aren't as binary as you think.
And I'm just giving you fair warning from the future.
People aren't gonna' wanna hear that.
So are you gonna' go to the movie?
- I might just kinda wait until it goes on streaming.
Something like that probably.
- Got it.
Is that because of Ezra or just because?
- Just 'cause I mean I'm not sure
that I wanna go to the movie for that.
- [Hasan] Or it's just-
- I'm kind of more of like a stay at home type of guy.
- [Hasan] Okay. - Yeah.
(upbeat music)
- When you're a member of society, you have to pay taxes.
How much should you pay in taxes?
Like what percentage?
- It should really depend on like if you're a billionaire
and like you pay less taxes than-
- But what about you personally?
Like if you had a Fruit by the Foot,
how much of that Fruit by the Foot
should go to the government
and how much should belong to you?
- Maybe like below 25.
- Below 25?
- [Group] Yeah.
- 25 and below.
You got the candy Cayman Island over here.
You got it like a little place where you're-
- 25 at most I would say and then below.
- Here's a Fruit by the Foot.
Okay, Quinn, let's talk about it.
You're a member of society
you're gonna' get a paycheck one day.
You're gonna' see a number on it.
It's called gross, but that's not gross.
You know what's gross?
The number below it, it's called net.
There's another thing called FICA.
That's what's making your net happen.
We can get into that later
but it's really gonna' FICA you over.
Now looking at this Fruit by the Foot,
how much should the government get, Quinn?
- Probably like 30%, I don't know.
- 30%.
So up to here.
- I'd say that's like 30.
- Lower.
- Lower?
You want it lower, Sophia?
- [Mallory] No, I think that's like 30.
- Do you want it here? - [Jaba] 25 or 30.
- [Mallory] Yeah, 30.
- [Jaba] 25 is reasonable.
- So nothing over 40%.
- Nothing over 40. - Yeah.
- 40's way too much?
- Wait, no, I'm learning this in math.
No way, 40 isn't that much.
- 40's like right here.
- 40's a lot for tax. - It's 40.
But that goes to schools, roads.
- Oh that makes me feel guilty.
- Now you feel guilty, right?
- [Mallory] Depends on your income.
- You wanna be an active participant
and a good participant in a society,
it's gotta match what was happening in the '70s and '80s.
We're gonna' go 80%, that's yours.
This is yours.
This goes to schools, roads, highways, et cetera.
Now if you take this, you're a good person
but if you don't, you're a part of the problem.
(upbeat music)
This is something a lot of men in their 30s
don't talk about, feelings.
How do you process things when you're sad or angry?
- I kind of get mad at my parents
when ever I get mad at them I kind of don't like it
and only go to my room.
But like they'll come in
and they always think they're right
so they're never gonna' apologize.
- They wanna be right when sometimes they're not right.
Like they just can't say sorry sometimes.
- But if parents said sorry
then that means parents and children are equal.
But you can't have that.
- We can't?
- Do you have any advice for just like a hypothetical adult
that sometimes feels overwhelmed
and at times doesn't believe in themselves
and think they're not good enough?
- Maybe like take a break.
Go do something fun with like some people you know
and then try to go back to it
and try to go out with your friends.
- Go out your friends.
What if the hypothetical person is 37 years old
and men of that age don't really hang out with one another?
- I would say this hypothetical person,
if you're trying to like convey your feelings
without feeling any pressure,
maybe you should seek a therapist for that.
- Yeah.
- If you're trying to express your feelings.
- You need like an outlet.
So something that just distracts you from all the problems
and then that adds up
to when you feel comfortable to express your feelings
to other people.
Like a therapist.
- I'm sad.
- Oh. - I'm sad.
They're sad.
They are sad.
(calm music)
What are you most scared of?
- I'm actually really scared of death
and what happens after.
- Yes. - And I'm also scared
of like ghosts and spiders.
- Same.
What scares you most about death, Sophia?
- I like think about it so much at night
because when I'm at night
like I just think about it
and then like when you die, how does it feel?
The process of dying and then when you die,
is it just like a blank screen or like,
or is there like another life,
or are you gonna' be like walking through a tunnel?
Is there heaven or hell?
Like, I'm like, I don't know.
- Jaba, are you scared of death?
- Kinda, I used to be, I used to be like extremely scared
but then I kind of like got over the fear.
- What gave you peace?
- Support from my family.
It wasn't that bad though.
I'm pretty sure there's a study that's shown like someone,
they were like dying or something and it,
there were like pieces of technology
connected to their brain
and it showed that they were like
reliving their entire life at their death.
- Wait, what grade are you in again?
- 6th.
- 6th, why are you having this nuanced perspective?
Jaba, why?
- I guess that's just my personality.
(upbeat music)
- Are the things adults tell you that you're like,
no way, I don't believe that
- Sometimes like when they said something when I was younger
I thought they were lying.
- Like, what, what did they say
that you're like, that's not true.
- If you roll your eyes too much
it's gonna' get stuck up there.
- I used to cross my eyes.
I would do it like as a joke, I'd be like.
And then my dad would be like,
"Your eyes are gonna' get stuck that way."
- Wait, is that not true?
Wait, I thought that would actually happen.
- Go ahead, what's up?
- So has any of your parents ever told you
when you turn the car light on
like that it's illegal to like leave it on?
- [Group] Yeah.
- I found out it's not illegal.
- How'd you find out?
- It was just, I saw it on like YouTube.
I'm like, what the heck?
- Wait, are you distraught?
Mallory, talk to me.
- I thought everything they said was true.
Like I thought my eyes would get stuck that way.
I thought my eyes would never come back around.
- Wait, is this like an internal dad conspiracy thing
where they're all telling each other?
Real quick, raise your hands
if your parents limit your screen time.
- Kind of.
- Only on week days.
- Does that make you upset, Quinn?
- Well, they failed.
So I beat the system.
- How'd you beat the system?
- I turn it off.
- Wait, no, but you have to put in a password
to get around the screen time lock.
- I just figure stuff out.
- I thought it's supposed to be kid proof.
- It's not.
So there's this app called Kidslox
and it's the easiest thing to turn off.
You go on settings, and go to VPN,
and then you go, you see it and you take it off.
- Whoa, wait, your parents don't know
that you cracked Kidslox?
- Well- - Now they know.
- I don't have Kidslox on my phone.
- Okay, real quick, raise your hands if you have an iPad.
Everyone hands down.
Raise your hand right now
if you could trade in your dad for a brand new iPad.
- No!
- [Group] No. - I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
- No, the 12.9 inch one.
- [Group] No.
- Not even the small one,
the big- - [Group] No, no.
- Why?
- Because my dad, he can pay for my iPad
if he already bought an iPad for me.
- Wait, oh, 'cause he can pay for an iPad.
So you keep dad around
because he is a financial source of other items?
- No, no, not, that's not the only the reason.
(upbeat music)
- Let's talk about social media.
Are we on social media?
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter?
- I feel like Twitter's old.
- I think it's like old people, yeah.
- Really? - It's turned into like,
you know how like Facebook like died?
Twitter is kind of like dying.
- Twitter has a more,
it's kind of known for being more toxic
I feel like having a more toxic or something like that.
Yeah, so. - Yeah, it's very toxic.
- Got it, what does toxic mean?
- It's someone that like, doesn't like, like you
and they've kind of pointed out like maybe some insecurities
about you and stuff.
- Or talk bad about you.
- Yeah, behind your back.
- It's kinda like saying negative things,
being negative towards other people.
- Could you survive if someone took your phone?
- [Quinn] No. - [Group] Yes.
- Entirely.
- I don't have my phone right now.
- Because there's like so many other things you can do
just like outside of your phone.
Just like activities.
- Yeah, I'm-
- What, what does that mean?
- I would not survive without my phone.
- [Hasan] Why?
- I feel like my phone is just like
it's like if I need help, I could call the police.
- The police?
- My dad is obsessed with Twitter.
- Do you think Twitter's good for him?
- Maybe a little less would be good
but I don't think it's getting out of hand.
- Got it.
Do you wanna join Twitter
based on the way your dad uses it?
- Not really, I don't have much interest in social media.
- Are your parents on the phone too much?
- I feel like my dad always says I'm on the phone too much
but kind of every time I look at him,
he's always on like Slack or something.
I just wanna tell him like, get off your phone, dad.
- Get it off your chest.
This is your chance to tell us off.
Go to that camera and just tell him what's up.
- Get off your phone, dad.
You need to maintain a better work-life balance.
- [Hasan] You heard him, parents, stop watching this
on your phone and go hang out with your kids.
(upbeat music)