This week a dozen high school seniors pulled a prank at their public high school in Zion, IL (read about the prank, with video, on Chicago NBC5 news website here).  Apparently the boys thought up the idea of having 1 boy dress up like a gorilla, then the others dress up like bananas, and the gorilla would chase the bananas down the hallways and into the yard.  A 4 minute prank.  They weren’t very secretive about their prank, letting lots of fellow students as well as teachers in on it.  And they even got their parents involved, having them call the boys home so they could change into the costumes during the school day.  No one was hurt, no one injured, just a comical prank.  There wasn’t even anything about the prank that anyone could think of that would have made it potentially dangerous – it was well planned to be just what it was and no more.

The boys have now been given a 7 day suspension by the administration.  Right.  Seven days of no school, no education.  Let’s see, we take a few hundred 15-18 year old kids and put them into a closed environment.  What are the odds they might think up something rambunctious to do?  What are the odds they would try to express their personalities in non-traditional ways?  What are the odds they would like to create some laughs, and possibly be remembered for a comical stunt?  Could we expect this kind of thing to happen?

Of course.  Watch movies going all the way back to silent days and you’ll find scene after scene of high school and college boys running pranks.  Remember when the students opened the floor over the swimming pool during the dance in "It’s a Wonderful Life"?  And remember how the top administrator, after hollering for about 1 minute for everyone to stop, held his nose and jumped into the pool himself?  Seems like people have expected this behavior, and learned to accept it, for decades.  It was part of "the rights of passage" that is American growing up.  Harmless pranks are part of what happens, and for years good administrators learned to accept it, slap the hands of miscreants, and simply move on.  It let young people behave improperly before they got too stressed, or too old to act-out inappropriately.

But not today.  Now, even the slightest outside the box behavior leads to actions which can destroy a students GPA, restrict their extra-curricular participation and their efforts to move ahead.  Straight A students that right fictional stories about guns -the fodder of many best selling mysteries – are expelled for discussing "taboo topics" in an educational setting (a recent experience in Mundelien, IL).  In the Zion case, the administration threw the book at these boys because they violated so many rules.  Let’s see, how critical were those violated rules – did they carry a gun, or knife, or dangerous object (no).  Did they shout profanity and make threats (no).  Did they attack anyone, or block the passage of any students or teachers (no).  Did they threaten the authority of any teacher, administratory or security personnel (no.)  No, they were suspended for 7 days for (a) wearing a costume to school (b) wearing a mask (c) disrupting the day.  And the Superintendent was unapologetic on film saying "We’re basically enforcing our policy."

Right.  And we wonder why our children are less accepting of authorities.  Why they act as if schools are where "all the bad things happen."  Children caught fighting in Zion’s school only get suspended for 5 days.  But to expect a school administrator to act like a school is a place to learn – not only about geometry but about life – is expecting too much today.  So they end up sending message such as this – that a simple prank is worse than an outright fistfight – or copying another students homework (not even a suspension, only a loss of grade).  That the administrator appears arbitrary and completely unable to link the punishment to the nature of the violation is completely lost in the Lock-in to school rules.  Rules which should be set by parents in the community – but are now set by administrators who have become wildly out of touch with their students needs in a global labor marketplace.

America relies on innovation and creativity to be competitive.  The kind of creative innovation show often exhibited in pranks. We like pranks because they show us that someone has the ability to think outside the box, and we know that ability is often key to achieving success.  But our schools no longer encourage, or even tolerate, creativity or innovation.  Public school administrator Lock-in has eliminated that capacity – and made our schools second rate and far from providing students the most critical skills -including learning how to think rather than merely recite.  Until we change the leaders, the American public school system is destined to continue its downward spiral.  And the current leaders will never understand the need to change – because they are simply too Locked-in to consider any options, any Disruptions, or any White Space at all.

(PS – Don’t miss the comments on the NBC5 news link.  You’ll find them overwhelmingly opposed to the school’s decision.  Yet, we can be sure the school will pay no attention to these comments.  Locked-in leaders never feel the need to listen to anyone outside their organization.)