Behind the Tags: What Motivates Vandalistic Behavior

Schools all around are being vandalized and it’s hurting staff and students. However, even though it is happening everywhere else, Harrison can be better than all of the other schools if we all try. The janitor Jason has to clean up the bathroom the first of every month, cleaning graffiti and vandalism in all the bathrooms. While you destroy it, Jason fixes it. The Director of Operations Adam Lohbeck said “The amount of damage done to our facilities due to [vandalism] is particularly costly and infuriating. The total costs can vary by year, but I’d say we are talking tens of thousands of dollars on an annual basis if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in many years.” We could have a better budget for educational purposes but instead, we need to constantly pay for things that get vandalized in our schools.

The consequences of vandalism are already severe: you have the possibility of expulsion from the superintendent as well as being financially responsible when caught. Lohbeck states “When we can identify the perpetrator, there are some pretty heavy consequences for vandalism – both financially and in terms of exclusion from school/activities.” The high stakes consequences to vandalizing may lead people to think, why vandalize? Well, it is due to people not having an outlet to deal with emotions and the rush it brings them. Instead of talking out what bothers them, they take it to the bathroom to deal with it, which is not a healthy way to cope with emotions and will only lead to trouble in the future. 

Since the “Devious Licks” trend vandalism has only grown. If you are unfamiliar with the Devious Licks trend, it originally began on TikTok with students destroying and taking things from school. Although it brought out laughs worldwide, it didn’t leave schools anything to laugh about. Starting around September 2021, schools worldwide had to address the issue quickly holding meetings and assemblies to try and get the students to stop. Ever since this trend, vandalism has been widely more normalized even when the trend came to an end. 

Looking at the effects of this trend from the perspective of a teacher is even more sad, as most things taken from teachers were bought with the teacher’s own money for their classroom, leading to teachers feeling bad. To get more perspective I interviewed math teacher, Joshua Locke. Locke says, “It was my first-year teaching when the trend started and it really brought into perspective how high schoolers are,” he continues, “during the trend, things did get taken from me, I lost a clock, pencil sharpener cover, and a stapler during this time. The clock was more of a joke and given back soon after, but the others were harder to receive back. But students who saw what happened made sure it was returned to me.” Locke’s perspective as a first-year teacher during this time could have easily swayed him into not wanting to be a teacher anymore, and vandalism can scare people away as it’s important to keep things looking nice and together.

Vandalism worldwide can be severely reduced if we all put in the effort. You should want to have nice things and be able to use our facilities. Mother Theresa says, “Wash the plate not because it is dirty nor because you are told to wash it, but because you care about the person who will use it next.” Working on improving emotions without vandalistic behaviors is a big thing everyone should work on and talk about it instead of destroying it.