You’d be surprised by how many of the pranks I wrote about have happened to or were done by people I know and the people in my community. –- Mikha Deleon, 9th Grade
While many know about the holiday that is celebrated on the first of April, known as April Fools’ Day, many people don’t actually know the history behind it. It is believed that it started back in 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. For a little bit of context, the Julian calendar began in March with the Spring Equinox and was celebrated until April 1. So, switching to the Gregorian calendar made it so that the new year would now begin on January 1st.
The whole appeal of April Fools' is that we can play pranks on people without it being considered “bad” or “mean” because that’s what you are supposed to do on April 1st. “It’s the one day of the year where you can prank people without getting in trouble,” said 9th grade Literary Arts Student at OSA, Elias Dickey during an interview. But that isn’t the case for 9th grade OSA Lit Arts student, Bee Ahlers. In an “April Fools’ Day” survey, Ahlers wrote that their family gets upset when they try to prank them.
Personally, I don’t like April Fools’ Day. I never felt as though the pranks that were pulled on me were funny; I don’t even feel like pulling pranks is fun. Wondering if I was alone in believing that April Fools’ is a poor excuse of a holiday, I sent out a survey to all of OSA for students and staff to fill out, and also conducted some interviews regarding April Fools' Day.
When it came to the question of how people feel about April Fools' and if we should have a day dedicated to pranks, most people stated that they feel indifferent or were indecisive about having this holiday or not. As for the least common answer, it was people saying that we should have a day for pranks and jokes.
For people who are allowed by their families to do pranks, I can see how it’s appealing. The only thing is, most of the pranks people perform are in fact mean. I asked people about pranks that they either pulled on someone else or were done to them, some of the answers that I got back are truly something else. Anneli Skatter, a 6th grader at OSA, wrote that during a sleepover with their friends, they “melted chocolate and put it on the hand of the girl who had slept in late so it looked like she had poop on her hand.” There was another student who said that their family tells mean jokes that are “backhanded compliments and completely based on humiliation.” Multiple people reported that when trying to do a funny prank, they accidentally ended up having their prank backfire. And many said that their prank backfired because they ended up scaring, stressing out, and worrying others. Others wrote that they had somehow been involved in pranks that caused problems and hurt people’s feelings. Most of these people said that their pranks ended up with one or more people in tears.
April Fools’ is controversial, but it shouldn’t be. Bruna Wynn, a teacher at OSA, said, “Sometimes I think people use the idea of a "prank" to mess with someone.” There is also another OSA teacher, Regina Napolitano, who said, “I think it’s cruel” when asked about her opinion on April Fools.’
Not only are pranks mean, but people can go too far. And that’s when pranks become dangerous. Izara Durades in 6th grade provided me with some information about some April Fools' “pranks” that went so wrong that people actually died.
(TW: Mentions of death. If you do not feel comfortable reading about this topic, feel free to skip this section and continue on to the next paragraph.)
The article gives multiple examples of different cases of pranks that have led to death, and there are other articles that contain the same material along with pranks that people have done, which ended up getting them arrested. According to a KSN News article, 58 year old Arnthia Willis called a family member and claimed that she had been shot. The family member called 911 and informed them about what had happened. Multiple officers, EMS, and firefighters were sent to what they thought was a home shooting. When they entered the house, they found it empty, after some investigation they said they learned that it was actually an April Fools’ joke. They arrested Willis for “unlawful request for emergency service assistance.” In a Crime+Investigation article, an April Fools’ prank went morbidly wrong when Lin Senhao poisoned his roommate, Huang Yang, with a chemical called N-nitrosodimethylamine. Senhao said that he only meant to dispense enough to make Yang's stomach upset and had merely got his measurements wrong. However, the judge and jury disagreed - Senhao was sentenced to death for murder.
There are also less extreme examples of dangerous pranks, like putting thumbtacks on someone’s seat, making someone break their nose, or lying and having it end up with people thinking you are going to commit arson and burn the school down. But of course, not all pranks have a negative impact. Some people shared in the survey that on April Fools’ they surprise people with presents or playfully tease people in a way that doesn’t put anyone down or end up being at someone else’s expense. Even still, there are just too many examples of people thinking that they’re being funny when they’re actually being harmful. Which is why I believe that we shouldn’t have April Fools’ Day. And on top of that, there really isn’t any reason to have a day dedicated to pranks when we have the ability to prank whomever we want any day of the year.
The whole appeal of April Fools' is that we can play pranks on people without it being considered “bad” or “mean” because that’s what you are supposed to do on April 1st. “It’s the one day of the year where you can prank people without getting in trouble,” said 9th grade Literary Arts Student at OSA, Elias Dickey during an interview. But that isn’t the case for 9th grade OSA Lit Arts student, Bee Ahlers. In an “April Fools’ Day” survey, Ahlers wrote that their family gets upset when they try to prank them.
Personally, I don’t like April Fools’ Day. I never felt as though the pranks that were pulled on me were funny; I don’t even feel like pulling pranks is fun. Wondering if I was alone in believing that April Fools’ is a poor excuse of a holiday, I sent out a survey to all of OSA for students and staff to fill out, and also conducted some interviews regarding April Fools' Day.
When it came to the question of how people feel about April Fools' and if we should have a day dedicated to pranks, most people stated that they feel indifferent or were indecisive about having this holiday or not. As for the least common answer, it was people saying that we should have a day for pranks and jokes.
For people who are allowed by their families to do pranks, I can see how it’s appealing. The only thing is, most of the pranks people perform are in fact mean. I asked people about pranks that they either pulled on someone else or were done to them, some of the answers that I got back are truly something else. Anneli Skatter, a 6th grader at OSA, wrote that during a sleepover with their friends, they “melted chocolate and put it on the hand of the girl who had slept in late so it looked like she had poop on her hand.” There was another student who said that their family tells mean jokes that are “backhanded compliments and completely based on humiliation.” Multiple people reported that when trying to do a funny prank, they accidentally ended up having their prank backfire. And many said that their prank backfired because they ended up scaring, stressing out, and worrying others. Others wrote that they had somehow been involved in pranks that caused problems and hurt people’s feelings. Most of these people said that their pranks ended up with one or more people in tears.
April Fools’ is controversial, but it shouldn’t be. Bruna Wynn, a teacher at OSA, said, “Sometimes I think people use the idea of a "prank" to mess with someone.” There is also another OSA teacher, Regina Napolitano, who said, “I think it’s cruel” when asked about her opinion on April Fools.’
Not only are pranks mean, but people can go too far. And that’s when pranks become dangerous. Izara Durades in 6th grade provided me with some information about some April Fools' “pranks” that went so wrong that people actually died.
(TW: Mentions of death. If you do not feel comfortable reading about this topic, feel free to skip this section and continue on to the next paragraph.)
The article gives multiple examples of different cases of pranks that have led to death, and there are other articles that contain the same material along with pranks that people have done, which ended up getting them arrested. According to a KSN News article, 58 year old Arnthia Willis called a family member and claimed that she had been shot. The family member called 911 and informed them about what had happened. Multiple officers, EMS, and firefighters were sent to what they thought was a home shooting. When they entered the house, they found it empty, after some investigation they said they learned that it was actually an April Fools’ joke. They arrested Willis for “unlawful request for emergency service assistance.” In a Crime+Investigation article, an April Fools’ prank went morbidly wrong when Lin Senhao poisoned his roommate, Huang Yang, with a chemical called N-nitrosodimethylamine. Senhao said that he only meant to dispense enough to make Yang's stomach upset and had merely got his measurements wrong. However, the judge and jury disagreed - Senhao was sentenced to death for murder.
There are also less extreme examples of dangerous pranks, like putting thumbtacks on someone’s seat, making someone break their nose, or lying and having it end up with people thinking you are going to commit arson and burn the school down. But of course, not all pranks have a negative impact. Some people shared in the survey that on April Fools’ they surprise people with presents or playfully tease people in a way that doesn’t put anyone down or end up being at someone else’s expense. Even still, there are just too many examples of people thinking that they’re being funny when they’re actually being harmful. Which is why I believe that we shouldn’t have April Fools’ Day. And on top of that, there really isn’t any reason to have a day dedicated to pranks when we have the ability to prank whomever we want any day of the year.
