This year’s costume party held as a fundraiser by the school took an icy twist. In an effort to make it more student-centered, we rented a dunk tank and set it up in the parking lot. Northern Indiana is not warm in the last week of October, and having worked at an outdoor winter camp, I know I have taught kids how to avoid hypothermia.
The explicit purpose of the purple tub of icy hell was to raise money. Students would gladly spend a dollar for three chances to dunk a teacher into frigid water. It’s hard to argue this as a two other teachers and I spent a significant amount of time wet and shivering. It also led to quite a bit of student joy. This monetary gain and morale boost were certainly worth mild hypothermia on a chilly sub-50 degree night.
There is also an interesting reversal of power involved in the dunk tank. In all cases I have seen or heard of these monstrosities in use, the victimized individual is someone in a position of power: a teacher (as in this case), a coach (really interesting when it’s a baseball coach at a D1 school and a closer is throwing), a boss, a camp counselor (the other time I played the dunkee), etc. Suddenly, these people are at the mercy of people usually under their control. This is especially evident when a shivering teacher reminds a student to make good decisions, and the student replies, “I am,” with an evil smirk.
