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LOWER TOWNSHIP — Five students and members of the band The Jetsons acknowledge they need an education.

The thought control — not so much.

The band mates were punished this week for performing Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2” during the annual talent show at Lower Cape May Regional High School.

Composed of four seniors and a junior, the band was the last act to play May 7 in front of a large crowd of family and classmates in the school auditorium. The Jetsons played the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Aeroplane,” which like all talent-show songs had been pre-approved by teachers. But as a practical joke, The Jetsons segued into Pink Floyd’s iconic anthem to student nonconformity.

“We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom,” the band intoned in a clip published this week on the video-sharing site YouTube.

In the background, other students can be heard cheering and laughing at the obvious joke by college-bound seniors just a couple of weeks shy of graduation.

But when the lead singer crooned, “Hey, teachers, leave those kids alone,” the teachers were not inclined to oblige. Instead, faculty yanked the plugs on the band’s amplifiers and pulled the curtain, prompting boos among some members of the audience.

“We only got about 28 seconds into the song,” said drummer and senior Ben New, 17. “It was a joke.”

But getting the stage hook was only the beginning. The next day, administrators punished the five students for defiance of authority, insubordination and misuse of school property. New was suspended from the lacrosse team.

Several dozen classmates led a protest this week, wearing T-shirts comparing the band’s punishment with Hollywood blacklisting and urging, “Teachers, leave those kids alone.”

New said the irony was the band was hardly knocking education. One student took advanced placement tests last week for college credit. Another recently was named vice president of the school’s Honor Society. And New plans to attend the University of North Carolina in Asheville this fall to study music.

“I have school spirit. I was named Mr. LCMR on prom court!” he said.

The joke came on the heels of a widely publicized prank in March in which students at the school replaced the American flag with a giant cardboard phallus.

By Friday, the administration had tempered its punishment and reinstated all privileges, including attendance at graduation, after the musicians met with the school principal. The students just need to remain well-behaved for the remainder of the year, New said.

Superintendent Jack J. Pfizenmayer said Friday he could not discuss the details of any student’s discipline.

New said the only regret he has is that some classmates took out their frustrations on the choir director, who supervised the talent show but had nothing to do with the punishment the district meted out.

As for the music, New said he likes Pink Floyd. Then he added something that might give even band frontman Roger Waters pause.

“My parents listen to it,” he said.

23 comments:

• brownfox60 (0) posts 1:37 pm

  There was nothing wrong with that song when I listened to it in High School in the 70s and there is nothing wrong with it now. Hats off to the band for having the guts to play it and shame on the school administration for trying to suppress artistic expression and public opinion. Growing up in the 70s we were constantly fighting for our rights to our expression, I see the establisment is still trying to control people. The next thing the establishment will want to take away is our right to bear arms you watch. Way to go guys.

• Turtlecrow (0) posts 12:44 pm

  To those kids- RIGHT ON! My husband's band did the same thing when we were in high school; only, they played Big Balls by ACDC! I am a teacher now, and I cannot believe this issue got so blown out of proportion. Truly, who the heck was offended? That song could be considered benign compared to the music out there currently. DOWN WITH CONFORMITY!!!

• UncleFrank (185) posts 3:28 pm

  The kids broke the rules. It's that simple. Next time, don't break the rules! End of story!

• Ceecee (0) posts 10:10 pm

  Hmmm, I wonder if these boys all played on the Varsity football team, if things would have been handled differently? I'm pretty sure we all know the answer to that is a BIG FAT YES!!

• Skipjack (0) posts 9:06 am

  The administation at LCM really shot themselves in the foot. They showed how intolerant their policies are. As "educators" they just taught everyone how to be mindless, jump to conclusions and over react to situations. No thinking, just numbly reacting. Our "educators" are a bunch of politcally correct morons. Let our children THINK.

• 08204girl (0) posts 8:04 pm

  This is total political correctness gone AMOK!!!!

• SouthJerseyGirl (44) posts 12:16 pm

  Of course they "tempered their punishment." It took them that long to realize what the rest of us knew by the time we got to the middle of this article - they acted like antiquated, out of touch idiots! As if the song was going to cause mass anarchy amongst the ranks of the talent show attendees. What a laughing stock those faculty members are....and what a clear reminder of the reason songs like the one in question exist. Congrats on becoming the negative stereotype of teachers everywhere, LCM. You SHOULD be embarrassed....we're not laughing with you. We are, in fact, laughing AT you.

• weisenthal (261) posts 11:26 am

  Fascist nazi control freaks can be found anywhere free thinkers are living. These gestapo grandmas are meerly control freaks who seek to dictate every waking moment of your life are everywhere and making fools of themselves and the sheep-like idiots who allow it and don't stand up to it. You gain no peace if you allow some mentally ill goons force you to behave in the way they want you to. The wizards of oz who made this mess should resign their jobs. They're not fit to be around children and should be under a doctors care for mental health issues. They could, in fact be dangerous, apt to go postal, should be looked at closely.

• felixcat120 (0) posts 11:19 am

  In 1984 I was a high school senior. My band played a concert for the whole school and in the set list that night was Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2. There were students, faculty and parents in attendance and no one pulled the plug and no one was offended. The entire audience sang along with us. Keep your heads up boys. You`ve done nothing wrong. This is another sign of the p.c.police taking away more and more of our freedom speech. The faculty at that school should be ashamed of themselves. But unfortunately that is what we have running the education system. They`re all phonies. It`s a bunch of B.S.

• GratefulGirl (0) posts 8:13 pm

  Oh please spare us! This is just another example of an over zealous administration pushing it's chest out in the face of a most harmless prank. Lighten up! The sad fact is that this is hardly a "radical' statement on the part of the students. I think I'm more disappointed in the students not shouting out in REAL protest. Has this generation no SPINE? Make a real statement. Or at the very least do like we did in high school ... not actually care about making a statement but when we took the day off to supposedly join the rally to free the Iran Hostages we went to the park and smoked weed and did whippits. There, that'll show 'em! But back to this weak school administration. What are they really afraid of? Is their motivation merely just a reaction to what could be some form of fear of potential legal repercussions? Or are they just blindly led by there severe disappointment in their own pathetic, unfulfilled lives? Speak out children! And speak out loudly, or in your case ACOUSTICALLY! Party on Wayne.

• BIGRAGU (0) posts 6:09 pm

  I am glad they were suspended, THE WALL and Darkside are overplayed, how bout something from Piper at the Gates of Dawn or Meddle!!

• pixie1 (57) posts 4:51 pm

  I went to Lower Cape May Regional, I graduated on the National Honor Society. I say kudos to these kids. What is wrong with this administration ?? I loved Pink Floyd and still do. Thanks kids for bringing back memories. Sorry you had to take heat for it, that is ridiculous.

• Firebird7478 (60) posts 11:38 am

  That kids today recognize this song is awesome in and of itself. So much of today's music doesn't resonate with the kind of spirit "Another Brick in the Wall" does. Could you ever see Zac Efron performing music like this? I'd bet that many of the teachers in this school have The Wall CD. I do, and they've reminded me to pull it out and give it a listen.

• batrastard (0) posts 9:26 am

  Defiance of authority, insubordination and misuse of school property - now there are charges to be proud of! If one of the band members was my child I would be behind them 100%. We should always question authority and its legitimacy. What a perfect demonstration of the song's lyrics. The administarion played right into it. And what a punctilious bunch of fools the administration looks like. There are no other problems to worry about in this school?

• JohnEBGood (1) posts 8:44 am

  The administrators are a disgrace to the Bill of Rights, public education, and the United States of America. They should be ashamed of themselves.

• yogiman (1) posts 8:17 am

  What a disgrace our schools are...........kids being punished for playing a song.........."we don't need THIS KIND of education" unbelievable!!!!!

• RoseBarrow (0) posts 7:30 am

  I am wondering what generation this teacher comes from. The song is fine. When I was a teenager, the band I was in played this song at my school. She must be one of the people who think that there sould be no score in baseball because a child may get their feelings hurt is they lose. This needs to stop. The song is fine. The kids know how important an education is. And as a musician, I can tell you that it is not the easiest song to pull off. I wish I would of been there to hear it. Keep it up! Music is one of the purest form of expression. Go Jetsons. Rose Kelly Barrow

• rollomaude (0) posts 6:02 am

  Leave these kids alone! They proved they can THINK for themselves. Mrs. Beenfox should get a life! She is the one is creating the problem.

• thinkfirst (0) posts 5:41 am

  I am so proud of these kids! There really are kids that have not been mind numbed and dulled by our traditional system! Long live the free spirit!

• Jersey1962 (0) posts 5:26 am

  God Bless The Kids!!!! I was in High School when that album came out. I have the movie which I still watch to this day. I've shown it to my children and their friends. There is nothing wrong with being a non-conformists and a free thinker. Its so wrong to punish the kids for doing this. Bet ya the ones who tried to punish them were no angels themselves, they just forgot how to be young!!!

• Slomo2 (9) posts 3:26 am

  Ben said "My parents listen to it" (Pink Floyd). I say "Good for you, Ben." Yes, Pink Floyd's lyrics were often anti-establishment, anti-System. So were Tom Paine's pamphlets. "The Wall" spoke to me when it came out 30 years ago and it still does. A good friend of mine did graduate work in South Africa in 1980, when blacks there still suffered under the ugly boot heal of apartheid; she told me, many years later, that she heard The Wall playing everywhere there. Your school administrators might benefit from some history lessons. Or perhaps looser underwear. -- Jim, age 60

• Michael_Barrow (151) posts 1:50 am

  is this for real? i hope LCMR administration gets a complete and thorough whipping for this. they could not have possibly been serious... i'm glad they came to their senses eventually but please, punish the kids who deserve it, not the ones who will surely turn out to become productive citizens!

• jersey3730 (15) posts 1:02 am

  This is another example that shows how out of control our schools system really is!!! They got into trouble for playing a song, a song that when I was in high school bands sang, we are all going to he_l if this nonsense PC trash isn't stopped.

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