People really ought to remember that unless it involves farts or snot, middle school boys will not think it is funny. Yes, the humor rage of a middle schooler is limited, especially for the boys. The girls can add snarky comments and mean gossip to their list of what they find funny, but that’s about it.

So, if it is true that the middle school teacher in Jacksonville, Florida who got suspended without pay for taping a middle school boy to his desk really was doing it all as a part of a light-hearted joke, you can bet the middle school students didn’t really get it, because the punch line did not involve flatulence.

Teacher Kasey Goodin says the incident was a joke. In her account, she wrote:

“There was a light-hearted mood in the class as I walked to the supply closet and removed a roll of purple duct tape and a roll of masking tape … The class was laughing. I was laughing. The student was laughing. The masking tape was applied to the student’s hands. The student immediately removed it, laughing throughout the incident. Within the next few minutes, the ‘play’ was over, the tape was removed,” the teacher wrote in her statement.

I tend to believe the teacher.