A Time for Everything

Where is the line between a joke and a prank? Where does that line get drawn for the teacher student relationship? A group of five teachers tested these boundaries when they presented their Grade 8 class with an inplied trip to Disney World.

The joke’s unfunny punch line came with the presentation’s final slide informing the class that they were in fact going to a bowling alley instead. Understandably, the children were shocked and humiliated.

There is nothing wrong with a well-timed joke or prank. However, wrapping my friend’s computer in plastic wrap (yes the computer was off) has different consequences than lying to group of 12, 13, and 14 year olds about a class trip. I lived for the “big trip” at the end of my Grade 8 year. If I was in the class and was told I was going to Disney World and then had that excitement ripped away, I’d be pretty upset. I know I’m not the only one.

If this was a spur of the moment joke, something that was thought of and enacted the same day as its conception, a little more compassion might be given to the teachers involved. But the fact they took a few days to “brew” is disheartening. Someone should have known better. The extra, and unneeded, nail in the coffin came as one of the teachers not only recorded the scene on an iPad, but played it back for another class of students to further the embarrassment.

Why was all of this done? Because one student was suspected of snooping around a teacher’s desk, a fact not actually confirmed by the teacher. Why is it okay and justified to punish an entire class for the actions of one individual? We don’t detain an entire apartment building because one resident commits a crime. In this case, the class wasn’t just punished; they were bullied by the very people who are charged with protecting them from it. Bullied by a group of adults who are supposed to guide and educate them. To say this was an “error in judgment” is laughable when a student would be expelled for pulling a similar stunt.

According to the Greater Essex County District County School Board regulations on bullying: “Bullying” means aggressive and typically repeated behavior by a pupil where,

(a) the behavior is intended  by the pupil to have the effect of, or the pupil ought to know that the behavior would be likely to have the effect of,

 (i)        causing  harm, fear  or  distress  to another  individual,  including  physical, psychological, or social or academic harm, harm to the individual’s reputation or harm to the individual’s property, or

(ii)        creating a negative environment at a school for another individual, and the behavior occurs in a  context where there is a  real or  perceived power imbalance between the pupil and the individual based on factors such as size, strength, age, intelligence, peer group power, economic status, social status, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, family circumstances, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, disability or the (“intimidation”) receipt of special education;

I will give the teachers credit because according to reports they appear to regret the prank and I would like to think they did not intend to be cruel. One of the teachers said they teared up when they saw the disappointment among the class. Between five highly educated adults, charged with passing on their knowledge to the next generation, surely they would have the foresight to see this was a really bad idea.

It is acceptable to prank your friends, your family, your co-workers and sometimes complete strangers if it is done with tact and reason. It is never acceptable to prank your pre-pubescent students, especially when they’re at an age when they might be questioning and mistrusting authority.