So now I know what a political uprising looks like

I've never lived in a war torn country, something for which I am eternally grateful.  But whenever I see news reports about political uprisings or citizen riots, I kind of wonder to myself what it would be like to live somewhere where that kind of activity is happening.  Well now I can wonder no longer.  Because I have subbed high school boys PE.

You may remember that I subbed PE before, but I can now honestly say that was child's play.  I was a new substitute and while that day still goes down as one of my craziest, high school boys PE far surpasses the previously established level of madness.

Let me paint a picture for you.  Nineteen freshman and sophomore boys are scheduled for block scheduling PE (over an hour long, like 8 hours or something).  Thirty boys show up.  Yea, thirty.  They are to play a version of dodgeball that involves throwing balls at one another, knocking over pins, and capturing a flag.  Here's what really happens.

They turn into an insane unruly mob!  I divided the boys 4 separate times, and each time their intense hatred for the opposing team had no bounds.  Kids pummeled balls at one another as if they were protecting their firstborn from guerrilla insurgents.  They screamed and shouted war cries that I imagine are the types of things last heard during Custer's Last Stand.  One kid picked up a pin and batted a dodgeball as hard as possible with a bowling pin.  He was promptly yelled at, and then did it again.  Clearly the consequences of punishment were nothing compared to his desire to conquer the enemy.  The enemy being kids with birthdays in the other half of the year from his.

I blew the whistle and shouted at boys to stop hiding dodgeballs, stop attempting to throw basketballs and volleyballs, stop screaming in one another's ears, stop tattling, stop attacking one another, and stop annoying me.  There was a lot of whistle blowing going on. 

After about 45 minutes the boys finally wore themselves out a bit and I allowed them to switch to basketball, which was much more tame.  They continued to be crazy people but did so in smaller groupings, like little mini hunting parties.  I think that anthropologists should seriously considering doing a comparative study on tribal societies and high school boys.  I'm convinced that the similarities would be nothing short of shocking.