Posted on 06/18/2007 8:46:38 AM PDT by Constitutionalist Conservative
Fairfax County middle school student Hal Beaulieu hopped up from his lunch table one day a few months ago, sat next to his girlfriend and slipped his arm around her shoulder. That landed him a trip to the school office.
Among his crimes: hugging.
All touching -- not only fighting or inappropriate touching -- is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: "NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!"
School officials say the rule helps keep crowded hallways and lunchrooms safe and orderly, and ensures that all students are comfortable. But Hal, 13, and his parents think the school's hands-off approach goes too far, and they are lobbying for a change.
"I think hugging is a good thing," said Hal, a seventh-grader, a few days before the end of the school year. "I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn't think it would be a big deal."
A Fairfax schools spokesman said there is no countywide ban like the one at Kilmer, but many middle schools and some elementary schools have similar "keep your hands to yourself" rules. Officials in Arlington, Loudoun and Prince George's counties said schools in those systems prohibit inappropriate touching and disruptive behavior but don't forbid all contact.
Deborah Hernandez, Kilmer's principal, said the rule makes sense in a school that was built for 850 students but houses 1,100. She said that students should have their personal space protected and that many lack the maturity to understand what is acceptable or welcome.
"You get into shades of gray," Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This is 6th through 8th grade. I know we hadn’t learned these lessons when I went to school in the 6th grade, although by 8th grade we were beginning to.
I’ve hung around these 6-8th graders, and they are no more mature than we were at that age, and are full of inappropriateness. Further, they are full of interest in touching, and need adult supervision to prevent them from such activities.
At home I can control touching, I can check the parents of parties my children attend, I can send my kids to activities at churches I trust to not allow dating-type activities, I can chaparone the school dances.
But I have no control over the supervision my children get at school. Since a good number of parents DO want their children refraining from touching at this age, it is appropriate for the schools to enforce such a rule, as it is a small burden for others whose parents might not care if their 11-year-olds are having sex or french-kissing in the locker rooms.
While a “no-kissing” policy, or even a no hand-holding policy might be reasonable, the policy described in the article would also send a kid to the principal’s office for a congratulatory high-five or pat on the back after a home run in kickball during recess or for winning the class spelling bee or any other instance where a handshake, high five, or pat on the back is perfectly reasonable. That is completely idiotic.
Pre-schools, day-cares, and elementary schools ALL have to deal with issues of what kind of touching is acceptable and unacceptable. By the time a kid gets to middle school he/she is certainly capable of understanding the difference and a policy specifically against inappropriate touching CAN be implemented. Your implied dichotomy between an environment where kids are allowed to have orgies in the hallway and a strict no-touching policy is the same kind of reasoning that caused these administrators who were too lazy to think of a reasonable and workable policy to come up with this nonsense.
But HOW are they gonna socialize?! So much for that arguement. Another reason to homeschool.
Maybe her father should have taught her how to take care of business. He would have trouble doing any more assaulting while writhing on the floor. And since nobody “saw” it....
The same thing is going to happen to those idiots in the congress if they pass this terrible amnesty law. There will be massive disobedience and CW!
I agree that a blanket prohibition on contact is overkill, in the article the kid who got in trouble had his arm around his girl friend in the cafeteria during lunch for OVER 15 seconds, and only took the arm off when he was caught — so there’s no indication he was going to stop.
No. This is to make it so the "School officials" don't have to make any enforcement judgements against truely disorderly kids. That is called real work and they aren't really into that.
Liberals are such hypocrites.
They believe and teach our kids there are no absolutes.
Then the adopt ‘zero-tolerance’ policies and enforce them zealously, that ANY offense no matter how benign is equal to the worst example they could cite.
No absolutes, yet apparently there are when they are called ‘zero tolerance’ policies.
Zero tolerance policies trash common sense and insults the intelligence of everyone except whoever thought such a policy was a good idea.
After having put 2 daughters through public school, I'm convinced that for your child to do well and avoid the various whims of the "officials" you better either have a brilliant child, lots of influence (lawyers, position) or a big fat checkbook to BRIBE...er, make donations with.
Bad guess. The idiotic school officials simply institute "Zero Tolerance" policies based on the behavior of about 2% of the students, mainly so they don't have to presonally discipline anyone. As for my daughters, I've told them to tell anyone with any funny ideas that their father has his own zero tolerance policy and it's backed up by more than some days off from school. (tell them I'm psycho and I am when it comes to the kids!)
And appropriate restrictions on things like “hugging” or hand-holding would still have applied to this particular kid in the story.
Use of the “one size-fits all” approach to every possible scenario alleviates bureaucrats from the responsibility for having to make a judgment/decision that they’ll be held accountable for...and anyone who knows public education knows that “accountability” is a “four-letter” word.
“Two simple rules: 1) No violence 2) No affection”
Unless the affection is of the homosexual variety...
Schools are institutions of learning and of discipline. You want to mess around, do so outside the campus, maybe even at home under the doting eyes of your parents. Not in school.
FRiends, you just don’t EVEN know the half of it.
Our system of public instruction has, over the last 150 years succeded in retarding the onset of adult maturity by at least a decade utilizing a variety of means and publicly embraced excuses. Schools are laborotories for every new crackpot educational theory that comes down the pike. “Great ideas” like teaching reading by the “whole word” method, had hobbled the minds of millions of people, and STILL the schools are regarded as sacrosanct.
Well, I’m telling you: the “Emperor” is butt-naked!
You may consider this extreme, but I assure you that it is not: the infliction of public education on Americans for the last century ranks among the greatest crimes against humanity ever perpetrated, and “We, The People” are culpable as accomplices.
Time to trade your schooling for an education. Go to my Profile and click through the links “ON PUBLIC EDUCATION”. But, beware, you are about to have every noble thought you’ve ever had about school annihilated an a nuclear blast of horrific Truth.
It is NOT a pretty picture.
This rule would certainly not stop the boy from doing this to your daughter so why have another stupid rule that gets kids in trouble for no good reason. Punish the kids who deserve it and leave the good kids alone!
Oh horsefeathers. How the hell did he manage that if she kept her mouth shut? I assure you jaw muscles are an order of magnitude more powerful that the human tongue. And what ever happened to a swift kick in the huevos?
Rummyfan said it best. Idiots and pendants!
Oh dear God . . .
It starts with the Rock n' Roll music I tell ya! I remember in my day, parents used to stick a live badger in their daughter's underpants before they went on a date. If you went to cop a feel, you'd get your hand bit clean off! There we were . . . a bunch of sex starved school students with no hands. The kids have it too easy nowadays.
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