Why is banter funny? I am here to raise awareness about an issue around the school which students know as “banter”. Mr Dastagir did an assembly a few months ago on this topic and people may have ignored his presentation because people are still using the phrase “it’s just banter” around the school.

Students are throwing rude comments about race, mothers etc and then saying that “it’s just banter”. In my opinion people say that because they are joking. However the victim does not see it as a joke. This is not acceptable because they are only thinking of their own feelings and not anyone else’s. Furthermore, the victim may feel worse because the student insulting him does not see the serious side of the insult: the part that is offensive.

The fact is that saying, “it’s just banter”, makes it seem acceptable to say rude comments  in and around the school and community making people feel uncomfortable around the school. Moreover it could destroy the reputation of the school. What would happen if that happened?

Another use for the word “banter” is as an excuse for being rude as by saying, “it’s just banter”, they are trying to get out of imply that the student is wasting the teachers time although the insult is very rude and they know it is offensive. In addition it also shows a lack of responsibility as instead of owning up or apologising, students are using “banter” to try to persuade the teacher that it was a joke because they may not see it as serious as other students see it.

I said earlier that people had ignored the assembly. The reason is because students enjoy “banter” and also because it causes fights for students to watch which allows students to use cusses for more “banter” or just to cause even more trouble. Most of the time fights are caused by a student taking banter too far and then saying “it’s just banter”. Racist banter is usually when it gets too far, or sometimes it is because of mothers being cussed. Then it becomes a real fight.

Banter is an issue which needs to be dealt with in and around the school because banter makes it seem “ok” to be rude to someone and then say “it’s just banter”. Furthermore the community around our school will feel uncomfortable and the school’s reputation will go down and overall the school will probably be closed down due to the poor behaviour of certain individuals using banter as an excuse to be rude to others.

In conclusion, what I would like to see is a private place where the student and the teacher can consult why banter is a bad thing. If the student still uses serious sanction such as red cards or worse because you have already done an assembly on banter and most students have ignored the message.

I’ve got one more question.

 How do YOU think we should stop banter?