By eliciting insightful dialog, case studies invite educators to reflect deeply on their own practices, as well as on how they prepare their students eventual adult leadership. This particular case study, derived from an actual situation, explores issues of gender, rites of passage, student development, ethics, rules, perception, reality, mentoring, political pressures, as well as long-term educational lessons.
I invite YOU to participate in the discussion, by adding a response. How should the principal have responded, the principal, even the students? Was Jake a leader? Were there any leadership training opportunities here for adults and/or students?
Furthermore, I invite (even implore) educators to use the Case Study. In return, I would appreciate feedback on the results, including suggestions on how to make the Case Study more usable. It is designed for faculty use, but I would be intrigued with how a group of students or even a mixed group of students and faculty might respond. So much depends on the platform of ones own point-of-view.
Case Study: The Duct Tape Incident
Most of this high school’s seniors ate their lunches in the Senior Lounge on the second floor of Taylor Hall, especially if the weather eliminated the chance to eat outside. One rainy day, two particularly bored seniors, Jake and Elton, sat near the windows that looked onto an internal hallway and spotted a large number of freshmen heading off to the cafeteria. Jake shouted to all the other seniors in the Lounge, “There they are, let’s get them. “
Five senior boys jumped up; one grabbed some duct tape. The remainder of the seniors, six boys and eleven girls stayed where they were, finishing their own lunches. Jake and the five rushed into the hallway and grabbed a handful of freshman boys whom they knew from sports. They dragged the freshmen into the inner sanctum of the Lounge and duct taped them to tables. Most of the other seniors burst out in cheers. A teacher, passing in the hallway, heard the noise, stepped into the Lounge and broke up the proceedings; she then sent the seniors and freshmen to the principal’s office. None of the freshmen seemed angry or resentful; the seniors even seemed shocked that they were in trouble. Only Jane Brown, whose sophomore daughter had been absent that day, called upset by what she’d heard.
Principal’s Response: What should the principal do? Should his approach consider: that four of the six seniors were either student government leaders and/or captains of their teams; that Jake was Student Government President; or that all six had been accepted at highly select universities, which the school only last week had extolled in a we-are-so-great newsletter to the parents and alumni. On the other hand, the school’s stand on harassment was strong; punishment could even include expulsion, depending on the situation. The principal himself was coming up for his own professional evaluation later that month.
Leadership Teacher’s Response: Jake and two of the seniors involved took an elective course in Leadership: Theory and Practice with Mr. Smith where the most recent topic had been one of John Maxwell’s Irrefutable Laws that “A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.”* Almost all of the high school student leaders, male and female, regularly went to Mr. Smith for advice on leadership how-to issues. Smith saw his mentoring as an outreach way to help students better understand the leadership process and their own talents as prospective adult leaders. Jake told him that he did not think the situation warranted being called to the principal’s office since, “All of the freshmen enjoyed the attention and were laughing through it all. It was just our way of showing them what great guys they are.” How should Mr. Smith respond?
* John C. Maxwell. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership; Follow Them and People Will Follow You. Thomas Nelson Publishers; Nashville. 1998.
