High school seniors playing pranks on the last day of school

[MaggieTheCat]

I just got off the phone with a good friend of mine, who is a teacher in Wisconsin where I grew up (she was actually one of my teachers when I was in H.S., which is where I met her.) She teaches juniors and seniors, not at the H.S., but at a smaller school that is in the public school district, where certain gifted and talented students go to school. This school has students from grades 6-12 all in the same building, but only a little over 100 students total.

Seniors, if they graduate, get the last two weeks of school free. That is, while everyone else is still in class, they're done. Graduated. No more class. But, a lot of times, seniors will come back on the last day of school to play pranks on the younger classmen. This year, two seniors (who went to the school where my friend works, and graduated from there a couple weeks ago) came onto the school grounds and, when the younger kids had recess at lunchtime, pelted them with waterballoons, squirt guns, and a hose that they found on the school property. No one was hurt in any way.

My friend was very upset by this. It almost sounded like she took it kind of as a personal insult, because she taught these two individual kids for last two or three years and they've been in this school for the last 5 years so she's known them a long time and knows them quite well. And she thought they knew better than to do such a thing. She had to kick them off school property, and felt bad because she didn't want things to end that way. But she also felt it was highly inappropriate of them to do such a thing, and she didn't want them setting an example like that for the younger kids.

She was also upset because one of the substitute teachers who subs at the same school for pretty much every teacher when they're gone actually encouraged these two seniors to go through with the prank. "It was just a harmless water prank," she said.

My friend replied with, "You know we don't encourage pranks of any kind at this school. We don't want to set that kind of example for the younger kids."

I told my mom about it, and she agrees with the teacher who said it was just a harmless prank. Mom says that all the fun has been taken out of everything these days, because there are so many lawsuits waiting to happen, blah blah blah.

I'm kind of leaning toward agreeing with my friend, personally. Yeah, it was a harmless prank. But the kids who did it knew that it was against the rules and knew they were going to get in trouble for it (or at least get kicked off the grounds, since technically they're not students anymore, it's not like they could get detention or anything.) And I can see where my friend is coming from when she says it's a bad example for the younger kids.

What do you guys think?

[lordlundar]

The school is responsible for their student's safety, so by permitting (and in the case of that sub) encouraging the "prank", it becomes liable for any lawsuit that can be filed. In addition, any teachers that failed to prevent it can lose their job.

Ignoring the legal issues, any teacher that permits these really isn't thinking. What student is going to trust a teacher that allows them to be attacked?

[Nyoibo]

I think there's a slightly different perception in Australia, it's actually called "muck up day" over here, it's expected and accepted, provided they don't go to far, it's kinda viewed as their last day of being kids before joining the grown up world.

[AFPheonix]

Wow, I was expecting arson or some other extreme form of vandalism reading the thread title.

If someone's going to pull a prank, water balloons are pretty darn tame. Should they have done it? Probably not, but on the list of horrible things they could have done, it's pretty darn low.

[Gravekeeper]

Dunno......there's no such thing around here. However, if I was at school one day and the seniors came back to pelt me with water balloons and hose me down with a garde hose....and a teacher allowed and encouraged it? I would be pretty pissed, honestly.

If someone's going to pull a prank, water balloons are pretty darn tame. Should they have done it? Probably not, but on the list of horrible things they could have done, it's pretty darn low.

True, until you inadvertently turn the hose on a kid carrying his 15 page English essay or his $300 cellphone/iPod.

There's just so much possible liability involved, especially in this day and age, that it seem incredibly stupid for the teacher to accept or encourage. Not every kid likes being drenched at random so you don't know how everyone is going to react, or how their parents will react upon finding out. What if you've got juniors that were bullied by the seniors and now they get a fun day of being hosed down by the same seniors cept now a teacher is all for it and the school can't do anything cept throw them off the property.

Seriously, it just seems like such an amazingly stupid thing for a teacher to encourage considering the vast array of things that could go wrong and lead to a PR shitstorm for the school and the loss of a job or two to appease the mob.

[fireheart17]

I think there's a slightly different perception in Australia, it's actually called "muck up day" over here, it's expected and accepted, provided they don't go to far, it's kinda viewed as their last day of being kids before joining the grown up world.

Even then, sometimes schools wind up cutting muck-up day. Ours got cut because the previous year trashed the school. And I mean trashed. Here's a quick sum-up of what happened...

-One of the toilets had shit, urine and blood all over the walls.
-The music room and another classroom were urinated on. (we had to conduct our lesson with the door open)
-Several of the walls had silly-string on them. (not uncommon in previous years)
-ALL of the handrails across the school had either grease or syrup on them. (not sure which, think it was the latter)
-Several of the boys coated their upper bodies in vegemite and stood out on the front of the school.
-One guy did a nudie run across the main corridor of the school wearing a skirt made out of condoms and flesh-coloured underwear.
-The usual waterbombs, shrinkwrapping etc. went on. (someone's scooter got shrink-wrapped)


I think it was the toilet-related incidents and the handrail problems that led to them banning muck-up day for my year which really sucked

But we still got our formal.... (ours was mid-year instead of end-of-year)

Some other schools allow it under certain restrictions-if it gets too far, you don't get to sit your exams-while others give free-fall. (which was worse in Year 8 and 9 for me...several of the girls who caught my bus got egged by nearby schools)

[Boozy]

I don't like pranks and practical jokes in general. They're usually mean-spirited. They're usually used in cases where one person wants to behave like a raging asshole, but knows they'll only get away with it if they're "just kidding around." There always seems to be an undercurrent of anger.

But the real reason I don't like pranks is because they flat-out aren't funny. Ooh, look - that kid got hit by a water balloon. Now he's wet. A bit ticked off, maybe. Why is that funny? Where is the irony? Where's the wit? What's the punchline? I don't get it.

[Flyndaran]

I don't like the three stooges...
Oh wait, we're talking about teenagers...
No, I was right the first time.

[Slytovhand]

I'm in two minds about it.

Firstly, yes there's the 'should be more mature and responsible' line - lawsuits, think of the iPods, and all that jazz.

But the other side says "One day, you will look back over your life, and (apparently) those days, those years are going to be considered some of the best of your life... because you were 'free' to do things and get away with it."

Humans used to have rituals to cross from child to adult.. and we've lost that now. And so, we're left with 40 year old children...

Having that last day of pranks, I think, is a good idea. Of course, it depends on the type of prank! Glad wrapping or foiling a teacher's car - good! Even moving the teacher's mini is funny (if it's done right..). Water balloons? Meh...in the long run of life's worries - that's pretty insignificant. If that's all you've got to worry about, you're doing pretty damn well!

Defecation and urination in school rooms - idiots!

[daleduke17]

Members of the senior class of one of the schools where I used to live let greased pigs run loose in the school after hours. When it hit the paper that the kids were arrested and charges pressed against them, people who commented on the story were pissed that the "kids" (five of the six were 18 y/o) were charged and arrested. Why? "They're just kids having fun" was the response. Gee, sounds like trespassing, vandalism, knowingly/willingly damaging property and possibly theft (rumor was the kids stole the pigs from a farm outside of town). YES, charge the fuckers and let it be on their records.

If I was the superintendent, they would have been told they would not receive their diplomas until they all paid the overtime put in by staff to clean up their mess. But, mommy and daddy would have raised holy hell and sued the district and myself to get their money back.

Shrink-wrapping cars is one thing. I would laugh over that, but throwing water balloons at students who are still in class, that's different.

[AdminAssistant]

Um, yeah, we shoepolished car windows with "Senior '01". Our own, and people that we knew. That was it...hm.

One issue with these kinds of pranks is that each class would feel like it had to 'out-do' the next one. One year, it's water balloons. The next year, it's super soakers, then garden hoses, then pulling the fire alarms...you get the idea.

Personally, after I graduated I didn't want to go back to school...I mean, isn't that the whole point?

[Greenday]

We had two kids come up with the idea of one lighting the other one on fire, thinking everyone would find it funny. Shame he lived. Shoulda been a Darwin.

[DesignFox]

We had two kids come up with the idea of one lighting the other one on fire, thinking everyone would find it funny. Shame he lived. Shoulda been a Darwin.

Man, you're cruel. But I have to admit, I couldn't help but giggle.

Why on earth would they think THAT was a good idea?

[Greenday]

Man, you're cruel. But I have to admit, I couldn't help but giggle.

Why on earth would they think THAT was a good idea?

My school had some of the dumbest people on Earth in it. And that's not an exaggeration.

[Cats]

I don't have an issue with harmless pranks that don't hurt anybody or cause collateral damage. If I learned one thing about growing up, is that you don't HAVE to have a bug up your ass; life is about having fun (I used to dread growing up when I was a child since I though I'd have to give up cartoons and video games and whatnot. When I got there, I was like, fcuk it, I like it, why should I have to give it up?).

We had a lame senior prank, we put signs up saying the school was up for sale for $2002. The year before intentionally parked all their cars into a jumbled mess in the senior parking lot (where only senior cars resided, so it's not like they blocked the juniors or teachers in). Stuff like that that causes no harm to anyone I don't have an issue with.

Throwing water balloons? Thats just where it crosses the line. Having them thrown at you if you're not willingly in a fight (or even outside for that matter) isn't nice. I don't think they truely meant any harm in doing so, I think they probably didn't think it through well enough. Lesson to be learned (cause that doesn't stop when you graduate either!), but hey, all in all, not a terribly bad thing overall.

Kids these days are shown far worse examples than some seniors throwing water balloons.