I am not entirely proud of how funny I found these videos to be. You’ll only get them if you’ve ever read long discussion threads at certain message boards or blogs. They’re not thoroughly unclassroom-like, either.
Not safe for work, beware.
A small clique of boys show up one morning very similarly (and somewhat thuggishly) dressed, enough that it seems unlikely to have been an accident, and rove down the school hallway, doing I don’t know what, intimidating people? But isn’t that what they try to do differently dressed? In an arbitrary show of authority they’re pulled aside, sent home to change, and the principal tells everyone over the P.A. system that we don’t do “dress-alikes” here, you will be sent home, etc. And I wonder, is that a thing?
The next morning — thanks in no small part, I’m sure, to facebook and txt messenging — several hundred students show up in red t-shirts. The administration pretends not to notice.
And it’s symbolic middle fingers all around, in the cauldron of mutual oppression that is the school building.
This kid went to Jim Hill. I didn’t know him but remember his name from the detention list.
Update: Another link.
This guy has made his own follow-up video, and the New York Times writes about him.
Thanks to HB for the link.
Transcription from twitter:
– In a dark hallway with tons of kids and no power. Tor-nay-duhs on the loose. Been 30 minutes so far.
– If only we could harness all the power from all the cell phones students sneak past policy…
– …almost an hour now…
– Back in class, still no power, still no lunch, kids getting restless…
– Lunch was supposed to be two hours ago. Still holding same class, no power. Are they getting the buses? They seem to want us uninformed.
– It’s 3. Same class since 11:40. Nobody’s eaten. Weather’s cleared. WTF?
– It is almost impossible to imagine this would be tolerated in an affluent district.
– 3:21, 9 minutes to regular dismissal. I doubt any instruction has happened in hours. Thanks JPS.
I don’t have much to add to that, but that it made for possibly the least pleasant day I’ve had in two years with JPS. Most frustrating is the sense that we were being deliberately kept uninformed so that we would keep anticipating relief that wasn’t in fact to come, and would more likely keep our peace. When a tornado came and took the power from my old (tiny & rural) school district before I came to Jackson, they got the buses and sent everyone home early. There were some whispers of that happening today, but then the weather cleared, and whether for that reason or some other we were held captive and ignorant — literally in the dark, hallways and stairs becoming dangerous after even backup lighting failed — until the regular dismissal time. Apparently other schools in the district didn’t lose power, so they went back to business as usual, had lunch, maintained a bell schedule. I hope it was not the case that downtown saw the weather improve and then didn’t think about or give a shit what our circumstances were, that our local administration didn’t represent us to them. I hope there’s a better excuse than that.
Also, I wonder what the law has to say about holding kids (90+% of them on federal free or reduced lunch) from 8:20am to 3:30pm without feeding them.