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The ZB High Bananape Caper
Sandy Dickson
By now, most locals are familiar with the banana/ape incident that took place at the Z B High School last week. This involved some students who wanted to pull an end-of-the-year prank, but they wanted it to be harmless, fun and memorable. They came up with the idea of all but one of them renting some banana costumes while the last would rent a gorilla costume and chase the 10 bananas through the hallway. They ran through no classrooms, no one got hurt, it was over quickly and most everyone had a good laugh and a great high school memory was created for everyone who witnessed the spectacle.
You undoubtedly noticed that I said ‘most’ had a good laugh. Those who failed to find the humor were the administrators, who suspended the participants for 7 days. All among the community of their banana-ape supporters feel there are many reasons to justify their outrage. I concur and am among those. The minority; those who fail to find the humor, are those involved in deciding the punishment.
Their seven-day suspension punishment exceeds that given for students who fight in school, which merits a five-day suspension. The administrators said they didn’t want anyone to try to top it, fearing it could start an avalanche of bad behavior. Yet the punishment exceeds that for fighting, which is defined as ‘bad behavior.’ Some feel the only bad behavior here is by the administrating, humorless kill-joys. You decide.
We could say it was a ‘split’ decision, but not equally. We could carry it a step further and say it was an a‘peeling’ stunt. Pun or no pun; fun or no fun, high school should be full of good memories and these kids just provided one more great one for all their fellow students. They will all remember it and smile, despite the punishment, which will fade. These are good kids with good grades, none of whom ever got into any prior trouble. They took their punishment well, indicated they understood by saying they know they broke rules they shouldn’t have broken. But who’s wrong here?
I bet if you asked the parents and loved ones of those whose children were present at any of the school shootings so widely publicized and becoming increasingly common, or any of the administrators at those schools, law enforcers of those communities or grief counselors that deal with the aftermath such tragedies bring with lifelong repercussions for those involved, they would say they would give anything to exchange their shooting incident for a bunch of banana-clad, fun-loving, good kids running through the halls for a few moments, being chased by a furry ape. These school-shooting stunts will not fade, nor will they be smiled at years later in anyone’s mind. Their class reunions will probably have a lot of laughs and conversations of the incident and they might even serve banana desserts.
The ZB classmates of 1968 have been chatting back and forth over their website chat line (accessible only to those class members.) Some comments from them regarding the banana/ape incident at the ZB high school were sent to me and I am providing them for your reading pleasure with their permission. The consensus is common, the thoughts unanimous. Read on:
“I read about this incident and it made me sooooooo angry. In my opinion, I would rather see young people running the halls in banana and gorilla suits than see them shuffling through the halls with pants falling off their backsides. The school system is whacked nowadays. They want to give 12-year-old girls birth control pills in school with or without parents’ permission, but suspend kids doing a one-time banana suit prank. I would be MORE than happy to fill my car up and drive to Zion to protest punishment of these young men. I feel that strongly about it.”
“Hey Hey. Free the bananas.”
“We’d have to dress as gorillas to give the full effect!”
“I was actually surprised by the innocence of this prank. Seems pretty mild for a high school prank in 2008.”
“Gee, I hope we can all stick together on this. I hate to see ---ahem—a banana split.”
“What’s that old saying; ‘Yes, we have no bananas today?” What a great prank. I love it. It beats a gun any day, in my book.”
“It’s totally absurd. Just another case of where common sense has gone out the door. The school board should be ashamed. Remember all the water guns, water balloons and we even used an old fire extinguisher to have fun on the last days of school. We would all be felons nowadays. Even though this is a slippery situation, I think they should re‘peel’ the sentence!!”
“My husband, a former administrator, was recalling a story about a colleague with a similar incident. The way he handled it was to call the kids into his office and made them all banana splits. Then he told them not to tell anybody.”
“I agree. That’s exactly how this incident should have been handled.”
“Every day we hear somebody getting shot and killed on the streets and in their homes around Chicago. Now kids are being punished for some good old-fashioned fun. Something’s really wrong with the world these days. So what if King Kong eats a few bananas? At least they’re not shooting each other or tearing down the school. I thought it was pretty funny and the kids need to be able to have some fun once in a while. No one got hurt.”
“No one was hurt or maimed. No property damage resulted. No one was even insulted (except maybe Chiquita and King Kong, but that’s a real stretch.) Why is there a need for any punishment at all? Finally a group of kids figure a fun way to uphold tradition.”
“Some of the school staff should have joined in the chase--at least show the kids there are more ways to have fun than sitting around killing people on Play Station and Xbox.”
“How about a “Support Kong and the Bananas” sticker on the back of our cars? Maybe that would get them to lighten up.”
From a retired Jr. High teacher: “I’ve always said that when a teacher becomes an administrator, it takes less than 2 years for his/her mind to become mush. No common sense. Cuss a teacher out, threaten him/her, get in a fight, etc., you very often get less punishment than this, if any at all. Kids who are habitually bad get nothing. (They always have reasons for this behavior: poor home environment, no dad, etc.) Kids who never get in trouble get the book thrown at them for small offenses. I’m getting worked up and I don’t even have to deal with it anymore.”
Copyright © 2008 Sandy Dickson. All rights reserved. |
