The Warring States of NPF - Hugs banned in schools???

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Hugs banned in schools???

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Cupcakes are out, and in an increasing number of schools, so are carbonated soft drinks. And over the past year, some schools even started banning tag on the playground.

Just when you think there’s nothing that gives you warm and fuzzy memories about your own childhood left to ban, schools are coming up with a new one.

Hugs.

“Would you want your children to be hugging or kissing at school without your knowledge?” asks David Hadley, the principal of Fossil Hills Middle School in the north Texas town of Keller. “That’s the issue.”

Hadley’s school is one of a growing number that has banned not just hugging but all other PDAs — Public Displays of Affection — including holding hands.

One student at the school, eighth-grader Ashley Highberger, told NBC News that after she was reprimanded for holding hands with a fellow student, she started a petition to overturn the no-PDA policy.

She’s got 300 signatures, she said, but the policy remains.

It’s not just Texas. At the Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Ill., hugging hasn’t been banned outright, but teachers and administrators have banned what they call “extreme hugging” in hallways.

Dr. Victoria Sharts, the school’s principal, says that’s when groups of students — usually girls — elaborately exchange hugs every time they see each other during breaks between classes. The practice clogs hallways and can make kids late for class, she said.

“They can hug their friends as long as it’s not in the hallways,” she told NBC. “We know there are times when it’s necessary, and we want to support one another.”

But with sexual harassment a hot-button issue, some districts ban all physical contact, hugs included.

In Fairfax County, Va., Kilmer Middle School has banned not just hugging, but all physical contact — including high fives.

One student who put his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder was issued a warning and threatened with detention if it happened again.

At Kilmer, administrators said the ban was enacted because while most touching may be welcome, some touching isn’t.

“You get into shades of gray,” Kilmer Principal Deborah Hernandez told the Associated Press earlier this year. “The kids say, ‘If he can high-five, then I can do this.’” It’s not just in America, either. Last year, a school for children 11-18 in Great Britain told students to stop hugging so much.

“Hugging was happening extensively and becoming the norm. We were worried it might become inappropriate. So we nipped it in the bud,” headmaster Steven Kenning told “The Times” [of London].

As with everything related to school, some parents like it and some don’t.

“It’s a highly hormonal age, so for me, I’d rather she didn’t go around hugging,” Antonia Fernandez, a parent, told NBC.

Another parent, Lawrin Riles, thought banning hugs was going too far.

“You're not going to have everybody late just because they took a minute to hug another kid for their birthday or because they won the game over the weekend,” Riles said.

article found here.

This makes me ever so sad, even in symbolic terms. It reflects a priority of education over love.

Of course, there's more to the issue than that, but it seems like a dangerous blanket policy that really takes the warmth out of a day.

So, what measures are to be taken, why, and how far should they go?

Man, if I was in this school I'd be playing up the hug protests...

Seriously though, government needs to back the hell up on this crap.

And they wonder why society is getting more and more messed up each year...

I tend to think its crap like this. I mean, if two parties are mutually agreed that they want to touch each other (man that sounds dirty), its seriously not the school's business if they're allowed or not.

Seriously, one court okays a principal making a girl strip naked, and this other school here isn't allowing physical contact between students... how messed is that?

*Somewhere in the future.*

"Our new school policy removes all possibility of inappropriate interpersonal contact by removing the students from each other. They'll be assigned a soundproof cubicle which their teachers' lectures will be broadcast into via computer. Any student questions will be filtered out and teachers will ignore ones concerning other students. Lunch will be delivered by vacuum tube. Association with classmates on school grounds before and after school will be strictly prohibited."

Seriously. I've seen people do worse than hug in the halls. And DEFINITELY do worse than give a high five. This is just idiotic. It's like saying, "OMG THAY HUGED NOW THAYL HAV BABYS!!!!!11!" They should concern themselves less with what happens in the halls than what happens under the stairs.

Every school I've attended banned PDA's from day one, I kind of thought this was the norm. Some of them were a lot more lenient about it than others but it was always a general policy.

As for school's emphasis education over love, I mean, it is a school. Love isn't exactly it's job. Although I'll admit that learning about social interaction is as important a part of school as actual textbook learning, and public displays of affection are a part of that.

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“Would you want your children to be hugging or kissing at school without your knowledge?”

I don't even know where this quote is coming from, it's like Big Brother is leading the PTA.

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...teachers and administrators have banned what they call “extreme hugging” in hallways.

This sounds like the worst extreme sport ever.

This is completely ridiculous. Since when has hugged become something shameful and bad? I can understand outlawing stuff like... I dunno... dry humping or something, but hugging? Good Lord.

And honostly with how stressful high school can be for some kids, I think they should require you hug at least one person a day.

I can't count the number of times that I've hugged my friends for anything, good or bad. Seriously, I remember when I went to school after my brother got diagnosed with cancer, I got tons of hugs from people, and it honostly helped me feel better and feeling better helped me focus on my classes instead of thinking about bad stuff.

Or when my friend's parents died. Were we supposed to not hug her that morning in the halls when we saw each other for the first time that day?

If anything, people need more hugs.

I know schools are supposed to focus on education the most, but when people spend at least 8 hours a day, five days a week for twelve years of their lives, it's inevitable that school plays a major part in their emotions and personality. And for some kids, school is the only escape from the trouble at home they may have.

And if people exchanging a hug in the hallway is cramming the hall and causing people to be late for class, they need either longer passing periods or wider halls, since I don't see how two hugging people, even if they were hugging for quite awhile, would hold up traffic THAT drastically.

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Originally Posted by I_Like_Swordchucks

Seriously, one court okays a principal making a girl strip naked, and this other school here isn't allowing physical contact between students... how messed is that?

I don't actually see the two approaches as even slightly opposed and wouldn't be the least surprised to hear of a principal enforcing one such policy being altogether happy to entertain the other. The entire point of such policy is to strip the students of autonomy by whatever means available, be that forced nudity and humiliation or forced isolation.

I paticularly like that this is being put forward as an anti-harassment measure. People incapable of comprehending the concept of "consent" really shouldn't be allowed to hold positions of authority.

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Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

Well, yeah, but I think that's more an overarching pattern and goal of an educational institution rather than the motivation in these specific cases.

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Originally Posted by DFM

Well, yeah, but I think that's more an overarching pattern and goal of an educational institution rather than the motivation in these specific cases.

Oh, I absolutely think it's the motivation in these specific cases. I mean I don't see how two policies that are explicitly designed to strip students of personal autonomy for completely irrational reasons could be motivated by anything other than, well, an irrational fear of personal autonomy.

I don't know about the forced stripping incident, but in this one I have a hard time believing the school board was sitting back and stroking their white cats while muttering "Hugs are making students feel too empowered. Something must be done." They more than likely just got tired of everyone hugging all the time and felt it was distracting and not conducive to a learning environment.