Educators on the subreddit r/Teachers came together to share their stories of strange fads and memes that students bring to each new school year after the summer break.
In a viral post titled “Every year these kids come back with a new annoying quirk… “coin boys” are apparently the new thing,” an anonymous Redditor using the group account u/LuciusDickusMaximus explained a fad among their high school freshman students.
The Coin Boys
“The newest thing here is a flock of self-proclaimed ‘coin boys’ who carry a quarter on hand at all times and constantly flip it.
They have their entire personality revolve around coins, coin flips, and chance. When we went around doing an ice breaker, 4 or 5 of the kids said some variation of “I live by the coin and die by the coin” as their fact,” the Redditor said.
Teachers Warned Them
They also claimed that two coin boys chose to flip their coins to determine whether they would do the first assignment of the year. The Redditor said they warned the boys deciding whether they would do their schoolwork using a coin flip would result in calls to their parents, but both boys flipped anyway.
They Flipped Anyway
The first boy’s coin “came up heads (thank god for that, at least),” the Redditor said. “But then the other coin boy in that class flipped his coin, and it came up tails.
He said the coin has spoken, and he’s not doing it. I say very well, enjoy your 0 and your call home— what a great way to start off the school year and your high school career.”
Is It Fact or Fake?
Although the story is humorous, u/LuciusDickusMaximus states in their bio that “[This] is a Pakistani Commune Account (PCA). Hundreds of users use this account as a burner. Therefore, messages to any specific poster will not be received by them.”
Due to the fact that the account is supposedly shared by many users and has such a variable post history, meme encyclopedia KnowYourMeme.com said, “The ‘coin boys’ story is likely a fabrication.”
Despite the likely fact that the story is fiction, Redditors chimed in with advice and stories of their own.
Other Teachers Told Their Stories
In the top comment, with over 7,000 upvotes, u/philosophyofblonde said that if they were dealing with coin boys, they’d “play along.”
“Heads, everyone gets a pop quiz. Tails you get an essay. Heads, I email your mom, tails I call your dad,” u/philosophyofblonde said. “Walk down the hallways smirking and flipping a coin yourself. Keep it going for the rest of the year. Either you’ll be cool, or they’ll lose interest and stop. It’s a win-win.”
How To Ruin Their Little Game
Other Redditors agreed that the best way to defuse an annoying fad among teens is to lean into it. u/Kaiisim said, “Honestly, engage in any meme, and you will ruin it for them, lmao.”
A Redditor who goes by u/littleb3anpole said they used the tactic with the viral “Emotional Damage” meme created by TikTok and YouTube comedian Steven He.
“Emotional Damage” has become “a prevalent reaction to clips showing someone getting owned or being emotionally damaged, both ironically and unironically,” according to KnowYourMeme.
Littleb3anpole said that her class used the meme constantly and that it, “Drove me insane.”
“The main kid doing it was looking over his maths test at one point and realized he made a small error which stuffed up his whole answer,” Littleb3anpole said. “He was like, ‘Oh damn, I can’t believe I missed that, and I went ‘MATHEMATICAL DAMAGE!’”
The class burst out laughing, the Redditor said, and after seeing a teacher use the meme, it died out over the next few weeks.
READ NEXT: I Ruined My High School Bully’s Career And Got Her Fired In The Greatest Way Possible
Troll or Be Trolled?
In a later post, philosophyofblonde joked that “Troll or be Trolled” should be offered as a professional development course (PD) for teachers, a suggestion that several Redditors agreed with.
“I’ve often thought basic improv ‘yes and’ training should be part of teacher training,” said u/SadAd435.
u/Senior_Ad_7640 said, “Seriously. Probably the most useful skill in crisis management is the ability to just be more ridiculous than the other person.”
u/married_to_a_reddito agreed with Senior_Ad_7640, and shared a story of when her comedic de-escalation skills protected her students.
“I had a 13-year-old girl threaten to stab another girl,” married_to_a_reddito said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I put up my fists, hopped all around, and said, ‘Let’s go, tiger, just you and me!’
For context, I’m a 270-pound, 40-year-old Mrs. Frizzle wannabe. She started laughing, I started laughing, the class busted up, and then she and I stepped into the hall, and I gave her a big hug.”
Fads And Memes Aren’t So Bad After All
Although the story is likely fake, it resonated broadly, spreading to X (formerly known as Twitter,) where reactions to the tale were largely positive.
X user KatanHya, whose post has been archived by KnowYourMeme as representative of the coin boys meme, posted a picture of Two-Face, a DC comics villain famed for using a coin toss to make all decisions, and captioned it, “OG coin boy eyeing his expanding pool of potential recruits.”
This article was produced by TPR Teaching. Source.
READ MORE:
- “Deeply Offensive”: School Told Native American To Cut Long Hair And Comply With Grooming Policy
- She Didn’t Want Her Son To Sleep At His Girlfriend’s Because “Something Felt Very Off”— And She Was Right
I'm an Irish tutor and founder of TPR Teaching. I started teaching in 2016 and have since taught in the UK, Spain, and online.
I love learning new things about the English language and how to teach it better. I'm always trying to improve my knowledge, so I can better meet the needs of others!
I enjoy traveling, nature walks, and soaking up a new culture. Please share the posts if you find them helpful!