This is an age group that does need guidance through, and it’s looking for it, and if not provided with a positive role model will latch on to any that they can find.

As an example, look at “Gregory’s Garden Goofballs” episode from Abbott Elementary. A group of the older kids start hanging out in Gregory’s classroom because he’s the “cool teacher” and he gets uncomfortable with it, especially when they start asking him advice about girls and because he doesn’t have his free time anymore. But then he realizes this can be a good thing and that if they are hanging out with him and he’s giving them advice, at least they are with a positive role model. So he sacrifices his free time to be the positive force for the older kids that aren’t even his students, because otherwise they might gravitate to a less positive source.