Funny Business in School

 

One of the many joys of a school career is that students are often funny. During the first week of a new school year, I was a principal walking the halls just after the bell that started classes when I noticed two freshman girls hanging around a drinking fountain. I didn’t know them well but knew they weren’t troublesome but also weren’t stellar students, so I smiled and said, “Let’s go to class, ladies.” One of them said, “It’s only art class,” so I said, “Only art class? You get to learn about what’s beautiful!” The other instantly replied, “That’s cosmetology.”

Clever! Her quick wit left me speechless for a few heartbeats then I cracked up laughing so hard that tears ran down my face. She was pleased and they went to class. For the rest of the year, every time we passed in the halls, we couldn’t help but laugh, and we soon began chatting regularly. I told the story to her teachers who thought it as funny as I did. Whether they saw her in a new light, or she saw herself differently, or likely both, by year’s end, her grades had improved markedly. 

Another year, a group of freshman boys declared their lunch table an independent country. They had a flag they put on the table every day and elected officers including a secretary of state who conducted relations with foreigners like me. To speak with any of them, I had to arrange a summit meeting through the secretary. They kept this up for the whole year. 

When a guinea pig died after years as a science classroom mascot, bereaved students organized a funeral service in an enclosed courtyard. Wearing choir robes, thirty students walked slowly to the gravesite humming a good imitation of a Gregorian chant, the remains wrapped in a shroud and carried on a board. The guinea pig was laid to rest after a solemn ceremony recognizing its years of friendship. The whole thing was done to be funny but was also oddly touching. 

It was customary for football players to wear their jerseys to school on the first day of the season. Walking through a crowded hall between classes, a player came toward me wearing his number 82. I knew he was a good student with a sense of humor, so I pointed at him and cheerfully said, “I see they’ve issued those IQ shirts.” He stopped, looked down at his 82 for a moment then broke into a big grin and exclaimed “Yes!” while doing a fist pump. Very funny. (I never put much stock in IQs. As a colleague liked to say about school success, “It’s not the IQ. It's the ‘I will.’” 

After years as a principal, I missed teaching history and so took on a U.S. History night class at the Kansas City campus of DeVry Institute of Technology (now DeVry University). Arriving one night, I headed for the wide and graceful stairway that led directly to our second-floor classroom when I saw one of my students waiting for the elevator located next to the stairway. I waved to her saying, “Come on and take the stairs. It’s good for you and faster, too.” She stayed put and said, “This is an institute of technology and I plan to use all of it.” Good one, but I got to class first.

For graduates heading to college or those already there, consider a career in education. You can help make a better world, help students reach their potential, and have some fun along the way. It’s hard work but never routine and always worthwhile. Good teachers are in high demand. Be one. Change the world.