Beginning responsibility : a lunchroom goes bananas. (1978)

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] And now a PBTV News special. Good day. Wenda Walters and Morgan the Rat here. This is the day we've all been waiting for. The eyes of the world are on the students of Plumrest School as they await the outcome of the strange and unbelievable events that began just two weeks ago. Because PBTV feels this is such an important story, we present this short recap. Roll the tape. Tape is rolling. It all began two Fridays ago. It was a gray and rainy morning. Can I get going? Hey, Robin. [Applause] WE WANT LUNCH. WHAT? WE want [Music] Do you guys know what's going ON AROUND HERE? Lunch room. Your lunchroom's locked. Do you like it? YEAH. AND I'M HUNGRY. [Music] WE'RE DOING THE BEST WE CAN. WE'RE trying to find OUT WHAT'S GOING ON. And you don't know who's locked you out of the lunchroom? Let's go on in. Yeah. Okay. [Music] Who wants the door? TV news here. Um, could you identify yourself and tell us uh what's going on? Yes, I'm Miss but I don't know exactly what's going on. I'm real hungry, but the lunchroom's locked. We got out and came out for lunch. Why would anyone want to walk up the lunchroom? I don't know. No explanations, no nothing. It's never happened before. Mr. Frank is downstairs right now trying to work things out. If when he gets back, I'm sure everything will be all right. But we WANT I'm hungry, too. Pardon me. I'm uh Ralph Frankfurter, the principal. May I help you, gentlemen? Um, well, thank you, Mr. Frankfurter. Would you care to comment on the problem here? Problem? What problem? Well, we understand you've been locked out of your lunchroom. Oh, that that's not a problem. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best thing that's happened all year. I I don't think I understand. Well, about that lunchroom. That lunchroom has become the biggest problem in this whole school. It isn't even a fit place to eat. the way these kids carry on in there. That's a pretty serious charge. Would you care to elaborate? Yes. I'll put it this way. Every day we work hard to try to prepare that lunchroom for lunch to make it a clean, orderly, quiet place. And then the lunch bell rings. [Music] [Applause] [Music] in there. Come on, man. In there. Yeah. I don't care who locked up the cafeteria or why. As far as I'm concerned, it can stay closed until What is it? They want you. Who wants me? The food wants you. The food wants me? Yes. In the cafeteria? Yes. Should they? Okay. Come on. Come on, you guys. They're over there, but I'm not going back in there. Oh, the press is here. Glad you could come. Come on out, boys. We've got a problem. This lunchroom has become a terrible place to eat. We used to be happy. Show them, boys. [Music] [Applause] [Music] And just look at us now. We're down in the mouth. Some of us have been reduced to tears. A few of us have even gone mad. Out of business. We've had it. Throwing. Running. Shouting. Wasting. We quit. The lunchroom is miserable. And in the tiller there's summer respect around here, we're on a strike. We hereby announce the first official food strike in the history of Plumrest. Oh, come on. You'd certainly go on strike if you were treated indeently, wouldn't you? I'm sure we can change. Stick around a couple weeks and you'll see we can change. I think we can change. I think we can all change. Just give us a chance. I don't know. Can we trust them? Well, I don't know. What do you think? If we talk it over as a class, we can probably change a little bit. Well, I don't know. What do you think, boys? I don't want to. Maybe. Two weeks and not a day longer. There you have it, friends. Unbelievable, but true. Experts have viewed the videotape and have known to the nation for talking food. And now the food is threatening to strike. Well, it was clear to students at Plumrest that they had a big job ahead of them, but they were determined. Our news team stayed close to the story. If we don't do something about the cafeteria, the food is going to quit. I don't know what happened down in the cafeteria the other day, but I see a lot of problems down there. Do you see anything happening in the cafeteria that bothers you, Isaac? People are just taking the food and throwing it away. They if they don't want the lunch, they don't even take it and leave it on the table for somebody else to eat it. They're wasting wasting food. What else is happening that you see in the cafeteria, Bridget? They're taking food out of the cafeteria and squishing it. Squishing it. Are there any other problems that you see happening down there, Lucy? They're running in the cafeteria and they can get hurt that way. Serena, what are you shouting? It's really irritating. I can't digest my food very well when it's very noisy. I agree with you. It's hard. Sarah, um, people littering in the cafeteria. People littering in the cafeteria. So, not cleaning up after themselves. What else, Alisa? There's people throwing food at each other. People throwing food in the cafeteria. What do we think about that? YEAH. LOOK. What can we do about the problem of running that we were talking about in the cafeteria? Travis, we can set a good example for people. Good. By doing what, Zoe? Well, if you knew the person, you could ask them nicely to stop running. You could ask them nicely. Good. Serena, if somebody runs in the cafeteria, they don't get a lunch for a day. Does anyone else have any ideas about what we can do to help? Aries, I think we can make posters and hang them up in a cafeteria. Do another one. What? Don't be a slob. Don't be a sloth. I can have the pink right now. I'll give you the case. Don't waste don't waste. Walk. Don't run. Walk. Don't run. Walk. Don't run. We're back at Punrest School talking to the children who are trying to improve their lunchroom. And they're here and they've made these signs and I'm going to talk to a few of them. Hello there. What's your name? Lydia. And uh that's a very pretty sign. And you guys are going to put this up. Mhm. And uh try to improve the lunchroom so the food doesn't go on strike. Yes. Yes. And what's your name? Anthony. Mhm. You're probably in charge of putting all the signs up, right? No. Oh, you're not. Hello there. Did you help with the signs? Yeah. Yeah. What's your name? Dina. These are very pretty signs. Would you put them up for me? Let's put them up on the wall. It's just nice to eat when there's not so much noise. [Music] That's better. Yeah. And also I'm back at Plumcast Elementary School two weeks later surveying if the lunchroom problem has been solved. And frankly, from here it looks pretty good. I thought we could make it better, but this is great. I think it's great, too. Me, too. But Morgan, that's not the end of our story because the last word here belongs to the food. Will they or will they not strike? For the answer, we switch you to our remote cameras at Plumrest School. Strike? Not us. Now that the kids have shaped up, we're happy as can be. But remember, no fighting and throwing. Keep it at a walk. Don't waste. And enjoy your food. [Music] [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music]