Image Credit: Matt Cardy / Stringer / Getty Images
New Banksy artwork that appeared on the side of Bristol’s Bridge Farm primary school was accompanied with a note from the artist, which contained what might just be the worst piece of advice that could potentially be given to a group of school children ever.
The graffiti art, which depicts a child rolling a flaming tire, was painted on a playground wall at Bridge Farm, but a message that the artist left alongside the drawing is much more noteworthy. The message, which was scrawled on a piece of paper that has since been framed by Bridge Farm’s teachers, reads: “Remember it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission”.
Is that the single dumbest piece of advice anyone could ever offer to a group of school children? That’s a rhetorical question, because yes, it absolutely is. Banksy has made a lucrative career out of vague anti-establishment artwork, but to tell hundreds of kids that they should be Stickin’ It To The Man first then Apologisin’ to The Man later, is basically telling them to act like little shits all they want as long as they say “I’m sorry” afterwards. It’s head-scratching that Bridge Farm’s teachers have decided to proudly display this note, as if their jobs as educators of young minds isn’t difficult enough without some anonymous doodler showing up and telling the kids to start misbehaving.
Banksy’s note is presumably a reference to his own work, which has never been officially sanctioned beforehand, but the child equivalent of “do a naughty thing first, apologise for said naughty thing later” is disobeying your teacher, or refusing to do your school work, or punching another 8-year-old in the mouth. Being anti-authority isn’t exactly a mindset parents would want their children to adopt, either, so we can imagine some moms and dads of kids in Bridge Farm may be a little displeased with the artist’s appearance at the school.
