There existed a limit wherein Craig Tucker could flip off the councilor and get away with it relatively unpunished. Unfortunately for Mackey, being suspended didn't really faze Craig, nor did anything else, really. And the object was for the fourth grade student to learn a lesson about what and what was not appropriate in school.
Doubtlessly, Craig knew what he shouldn't do – namely, giving people the middle finger – but he continued to do it anyway, which he obviously learned at home, and his parents really seemed to have no problem at all with it.
Mackey could have had Craig write about why flipping the bird was inappropriate, but he decided, instead, to have him present a report to South Park Elementary's first grade class, in front of his sister, which would possibly embarrass him into refraining from inappropriate behavior. It also had the added bonus of demonstrating that if he continued with his current trend, he would be forced – as punishment – to research a subject thoroughly in order to speak about it in front of an audience.
Mr. Mackey randomly drew the subject of Craig's presentation from a hat. DNA.
After a week of allowing his student to prepare, Mackey was pleasantly surprised that Craig had not only written the report, but purchased a poster of DNA to use as a visual aid for the class. And as he taped it up to the chalkboard in the front of the first grade classroom, Mackey sat in the back to wait. He would be sitting in to ensure compliance and appropriateness.
After a couple minutes, Craig cleared his throat, and tapped the image of DNA with a dowel. "This," he started, "is Deoxyribonucleic Acid, also known as DNA. It's inside all of you."
A good start.
Craig tapped the image again. Blank-faced, he continued. "You are going to die from this. In fact, this is the leading cause of death in the whole universe. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to cure DNA, as it's hereditary, passed down from your parents to you. This is deadly, and it cannot be stopped."
Before the shocked councilor could intervene, Craig concluded, "In the words of Jonathan Coulton, 'all the good things and bad that you do or don't have, you can find out for sure if you got 'em. But there's a spiraling staircase that you're falling down, and you're nothing but dead at the bottom."
Without taking his poster, Craig sauntered out of the classroom. Stunned, Mackey couldn't even move until one of the kids started crying, followed shortly by the others. Despite his intent to go after Craig and reprimand him for saying such horrible things to impressionable children, he was forced to run damage control for the entire class – and then for the angry parents who called him later.
It wasn't until the weekend that he realized that Craig had found a way to flip him off without actually flipping him off. He was also forced to admit that the little asshole was a god-damned genius.