ABSTRACT
Humour and sex may be equally dangerous to authority. The experienced schoolteacher recognizes the potential threat of humour and sex and suppresses manifestations of both. He knows that either leads quickly to the taking of liberties. Sex and humour may take the power out of schools as social and educational systems; but both may promote an extension of communication to difficult or risky topics and across age and status barriers. A proud society - whether a nation or a school — which is concerned to avoid dishonour, may be deeply offended by the mildest criticism; the offence is less when the critic is either a jester or a pretty girl. Schools which contain boys and girls and jesters may be adaptable and flexible; they are likely to lose their thrust and power. Humour breaches control, and a teacher may have difficulty in plugging the tidal wave of laughter and merriment which greets his joke.
