Thursday August 27 2017, it was just a normal day for Mr. Hoering’s 2nd period English Language Enrichment class: students came in, sat down, and waited for further instruction. When the final bell had rung, Mr. Hoering informed the students of the day’s agenda. The students were to read silently for 15 minutes, then they would begin the journalism unit, just an ordinary day.

The first 15 minutes had passed and just as the students were closing their books, the back panel of the room swung opened, causing a few students to flinch in surprise. The other Blackhawk 8th grade Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, told the students that there was a special announcement and directed the students attention to Mrs. Oaks. She began her unexpected speech about a new school policy: uniforms. Outrage spread through the class like a wildfire. The students talked of their own disdain of even the notion of uniforms, some conversations even escalating to plans of protests. Needless to say, the students were not about to embrace this concept with open arms. One of the students, Christian Burlison, had this to say, “The uniforms won’t make a change in grades. I feel like our normal clothes are not in any way distracting,” in response to Mrs. Oaks point that uniforms would increase students’ grade average and that our clothes could cause distractions.

After the now-hated Mrs. Oaks had left, Mr. Hoering let the students discussed what had just occurred. After an estimated 10 minutes, Mrs. Oaks returned to the room with one more announcement: the school really was not going to enforce school uniforms. Mr. Hoering then informed the class that the false-policy was to inspire strong emotions for the Journalism Unit, and that obviously the scheme had succeeded. Now that the students understood that it was all a harmless prank, they all relaxed and some even laughed. Everyone was relieved that their freedom of clothing wasn’t going to be repressed. All was normal once again in Mr. Hoering’s 2nd period English Language Arts Enrichment class.