Some ways that German schools are exactly like US schools... except not at all.

Every year, students finishing Gymnasium (the highest level of high school in Germany) must take the Abitur. The Abitur can be most closely related to the SAT in the US even though it's really nothing like the SAT. But it is the big final test which affects the students later acceptance into college or other potential career paths. And the students, after completing their Abitur usually come back for one last Abischerz. This literally means something like Abitur joke, but for all intents and purposes is the equivalent of a senior prank in the US. 

Now, I've never actually seen an Abischerz, but from what I was told by teachers or my other ETA friends who had them, no matter what the actual prank entailed, the seniors carrying it out were usually already drunk upon arrival and continued drinking at school. And, unlike US senior pranks that are usually done under the cover of night leaving results for the whole school to marvel at (or scorn) for the next day (such as hanging the parking man's golf cart from the back of the football stadium or painting over the parking lot numbers, to name a couple I experienced in high school), the Abischerz is done during a school day, as a sort of "performance" (for lack of better word), usually involving some sort of audience (teacher) participation. Now, like I've said, I've never actually seen an Abischerz, so I can't really say for sure how much of what I described is entirely accurate, but it's what I've gathered from my various sources. 

This year, however, my school had seen enough of the drunken debauchery of the Abischerz. So they decided, instead, to have only a half day of school one day to be followed in the afternoon by an Abifeier (this one means Abitur celebration, more or less). It was sort of like field day in the US... kind of. The seniors set up the entire courtyard of the school with giant inflatables, a mechanical bull, food and drinks, a stage, and constant music. On the stage the principal sat "chained" to a chair, basically symbolizing that he had no control over what was going on, that he couldn't get up and monitor behavior. Four teachers were selected (I'm not quite sure how, probably because they had a lot to do with the graduating class) and spent the afternoon dressed as teletubbies and forced [nicely] to partake in activities (i.e. starting a conga line, competing against students for best time on the mechanical bull, etc.). 

According to one of my teachers, this was the biggest event the Abi-students had ever put on, the first time it was really something for all the students (remember, German high school starts at 5th grade), and the first time there was no alcohol involved. And while I did see one or two beer bottles going around, it was for the most part "good, clean fun," if you will.

So, in short, after the test that is something like the SAT, except not at all, they took what was usually something like a senior prank, except not at all, and turned it into something like a field day, except not at all. 

And those are all the painfully inadequate US/Germany comparisons I have for today...