Actions That Fly in the Face of Authority

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 4, 2001 | by Stephen Goode

Larry Elmore of Palatka, Fla., an airline pilot, knew precisely what he wanted to do to celebrate his 60th birthday: jump out of a plane 60 times in one day, one time for every year he's spent on earth. Federal Aviation Administration rules forbid pilots from continuing to captain commercial flights past their 60th birthday, and Elmore wanted somehow to make that deadline day special.

First, he recruited a crew of parachute packers so that every time he fell to earth Elmore could shed his chute, put on a new one and go right back up in the air. Starting in the morning, he was done by dusk, according to the Associated Press (AP).

By contrast, students at a high school in Vancouver, British Columbia, are so befuddled by a dress code imposed on them by school officials that they don't know what to wear to school. Under the wide-ranging code, students are warned against "apparel being too low cut, see-through, too tight, strapless, narrow straps, sleeveless, bra showing, backless, midriff showing, inappropriate, offensive or gang-related logo or language, or dirty or tattered."

According to the Canadian newspaper National Post, the code was a team project of teachers and parents as part of a policy aimed at ending racism, drug use and overt sex at the unnamed school.

Not surprisingly, the vagueness of the rule challenged student creativity. One student showed up wearing only Post-It notes. Others wondered publicly if all they were permitted to wear was clothing appropriate to an Amish farm.

But, apparently, most students simply wondered, such as one young female student who told AP: "We're not allowed to wear tight clothes, and we're not allowed to wear loose clothes. What are we supposed to wear?" For the people suspects most students knew exactly the kinds of clothes the code intended to prohibit but weren't about to succumb to its wishes without a struggle.