School bans all form of touching—including high-fives.

[2861U2]

Why are you two making this a left/right issue? I dont think it has anything to do with politics. A school is just making a dumb decision which will not benefit students in any way. The administration at the school I guess dont understand the large role physical contact plays in the real world. Stalling childrens' exposure to this does no good.

 

[financeguy]

Why are you two making this a left/right issue? I dont think it has anything to do with politics.

It isn't a left/right issue in the usual sense. However, my own view is that some leftists tend to enforce this kind of nonsensical policy in the interests of controlling people (a milder version of communist brainwashing in the former Soviet Union).

Originally posted by 2861U2 A school is just making a dumb decision which will not benefit students in any way. The administration at the school I guess dont understand the large role physical contact plays in the real world. Stalling childrens' exposure to this does no good. [/B]

I agree. But who is ultimately behind the policy?

 

[BVS]

You see FG is full of conspiracy theories, homosexuals are to blame for women's weight issues, men are discriminated against therefore their life expectancy is shorter, etc... oh he has some good ones.

 

[financeguy]

You see FG is full of conspiracy theories, homosexuals are to blame for women's weight issues, men are discriminated against therefore their life expectancy is shorter, etc... oh he has some good ones.

You have a hard time listening to criticisms of the left. That much is clear.

 

[BVS]

You have a hard time listening to criticisms of the left. That much is clear.

No not at all, just don't like baseless attacks and uninformed conspiracy theories of any kind.

 

[yolland]

I think that's enough on that tangent guys.

 

[maycocksean]

It seems to me that this form of schooling will lead to the development of well-schooled, "well-mannered" robots.

I wouldn't want my kids brought up in that way.

Ah, you got me.

That's supposed to be secret, man! Us turning them into robots.

:rub hands together : and cue maniacal laughter. . .

 

[maycocksean]

Why are you two making this a left/right issue? I dont think it has anything to do with politics. A school is just making a dumb decision which will not benefit students in any way. The administration at the school I guess dont understand the large role physical contact plays in the real world. Stalling childrens' exposure to this does no good.

Here's a thought. How about addressing the reasons this policy was put into place in the first place? How about some better ideas, or was this just overly heavy-handed application? Some intelligent discussion on this WOULD be worthwhile.

I've come to believe that when something is an "easy target" like this, you can be sure the reality is more complicated than the media (which is in the habit of sensationalizing and oversimplyfing things) is leading you to believe.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Fair enough. But we could go ahead and make some suggestions as to what measures might be taken instead to deal with the issues.

I dunno. . .I'm just not yet fully convinced that this incident is worthy of our outrage. At my school we generally discourage boy/girl touching and PDA especially among the older students. If I see one of the couples putting their arms around each other or leaning on each other, I'll just simply say "Hey guys let's give each other some space" and that's about it. The kids don't make an issue of it and neither do I. I was about to comment that I wouldn't handle it as harshly as this school did and then went back read the article and found the boy was just given a warning. I would find a student and his/her parents wanting to make a case out of such an approach frustrating, annoying, and waste of all of our time. My feeling is that the kids are at school, they're here to learn--they're not on a date. I talk a lot about my students carrying themselves "professionally." (We're talking middle school and high school age students). And it's necessary--when we go on field trips I have to tell the kids not to lie down in public, or hang all over each other (and of course not run around wildly) and I explain that there's nothing wrong with any of that behavior. It's just that we're in a "professional" setting and it's not "professional behavior."

I don't feel outraged at all. I'm neither a teacher nor a parent and don't spend a lot of time with middle school or high school students so I'm the last one to know what works. But I'd just like to think that the reasonable things you suggest here were tried first before banning was instituted. There will always be difficult kids, and maybe I'm just horribly naive, but seems like most would respond well to talking about why something is or is not appropriate.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[kafrun]

Everyone knows touching is the root of all evil.

 

[yolland]

How about addressing the reasons this policy was put into place in the first place? How about some better ideas, or was this just overly heavy-handed application? Some intelligent discussion on this WOULD be worthwhile.

I don't disagree with you, but on the other hand, the article doesn't adequately address "the reasons this policy was put into place" to my eye, and despite Googling around a bit I was unable to find any more background on it. I understand completely that certain types or degrees of physical contact are a priori inappropriate for a classroom environment, and I don't doubt that they've had to deal with numerous instances of unintentional (or not) "casual" touching escalating into fights or distress, but I guess my gut reaction tends to be that treating those on a case-by-case basis (save for openly malicious stuff, drastic physicality like tackling or over-the-top PDA, of course) ultimately needs to be taken in stride as part of the job, even though difficult-to-manage situations will inevitably crop up sometimes. I especially dislike the idea that female students categorically need an outright ban on all touching because some of them are "uncomfortable" with hugs--that really is the kind of thing that students who feel that way need to become comfortable articulating themselves, and if need be (e.g. if said articulations are ignored) report the problem to a teacher or administrator.

 

[maycocksean]

Oh, I agree the article doesn't give us much to go on terms of the issues that led to this policy.

My hunch is that this whole episode is about overreaction. A teacher overreacting.

The student and his parents overreacting.

And the media spinning the story in a way that makes all-too-easy (but certainly profitable) outrage in the reader.

I would also suspect there's a WHOLE lot of context left out about the original incident as well. I mean, MAYBE there is a teacher idiotic enough to threaten a kid with detention over a brief, arm-around-the-shoulder hug, but I'm guessing there's probably more to it than that.

But of course that's mere speculation. . .we just don't know.

 

[intedomine]

What a load of crap, to be touched by a human being can be one of the most conforting things for an individual.

It's like the uproar over teachers sleeping with students. If the student is above the legal age, there's nothing wrong with it. Let it happen, it's putting smiles on faces.

 

[redhotswami]

to touch is to heal...

 

[IrishDawg]

They banned hugging and holding hands at our middle school for a while, but about every parent called in complaining and it didn't last long.

 

[ylimeU2]

There is a clip about this on CNN.com

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/06/21/koch.no.touching.rule.cnn

For those who were interested in why the rule in the first place, the principle of the school briefly talks about it. One of her reasonings is that the school is crowded and kids high-fiving in the halls create traffic jams.

The other reason she gives cites northern Virginia's diversity and how some cultures represented here may be offended by hugging and handshakes. I live in noVA and it isn't that I don't respect other cultures, but if that is the reason...gimme a break. What does that teach anyone? To avoid things you don't like? Ignore the world?

 

[dazzlingamy]

PDA's kissing, groping, sucking the life out of each other I get. Purely because its just nasty to see!
But high 5ving? hugging? I mean every single day of my high school life I hugged and kissed my friends. Every monring and afternoon. We are a very close bunch, including male friends (and i know they loved it! hahaha) but its a sign of closeness of friendship of love.
If someone has a problem with being touched, they need threapy. I mean im not talking about random people running around hugging but if you can't handle having an arm around you, or a igh 5, because you don't like being touched, you've got a big problem which needs to be addressed. Not the other way around!