FAIRFAX, Va., June 18 (UPI) — Students at a middle school in Vienna, Va., are at arms-length with one another to avoid being punished under the institution’s new no-touching policy. Officials at Kilmer Middle School have defended their strict no-touching policy, alleging it helps them to keep order in the school’s lunchrooms and hallways, The Washington Post said Monday.
“How do kids learn what’s right and what’s wrong?” Vienna resident Henri Beaulieu asked. “They are all smart kids, and they can draw lines. If they cross them, they can get in trouble. But I don’t think it would happen too often.”
Her son Hal, who was disciplined recently after hugging his girlfriend in school, agreed with his mother’s condemnation of the school’s no-touching rule.
| I guess they’re trying to give each kid his own space without interference. Seems like the rule is a little extreme though. It’s just common sense not to touch someone without their permission. |
Stop! Don’t touch me there! That is my private square!
“Stop! Don’t touch me there! That is my private square!” … Hmm, the private square goes all the way around each student now.
Is there any valid NEED for any of these kids to EVER touch each other at school?
I can’t think of one.
Well, I think these students most likely will learn.
That government authority will always act in an authoritarian manner and claim it is in the oppressed interests.
Might as well learn in as early as possible.
Our school district started a football program a few years ago. We had problems getting many of the boys of middle school age to make the hits required in the game. They pulled back from full on contact and obviously felt strange when they tackled.
Many of us look back to the grade school where the principal constantly preached “hands off” and “no touching” to the students.
Glad to report that the boys where able to overcome their programming and had a 13-1 season last year!
2–See, it works. Authority does not care if you want a hug from your honey. Learn to live without human conduct. Earn/consume, be an individual.
#2 – Yes… There is a need… its a basic human need and we all have it.
Exactly.
This phrase defines teenagers (at least the male ones) the most:
“If you touch them, they will come.”
#2. Is there a valid need to do anything at school?
I had a girlfriend in school. What is wrong with holding hands or giving a little kiss? This country is going to hell.
Cut from my child’s elementary school online “Code of Conduct”:
“Keep hands to yourself.”
I shudder to think what kind of social beings we are creating where millions of years of evolutionary behavior suddenly changes to that of children not touching each other, not playing freely outside and not talking to people they don’t know.
What we need are those “Matrix” incubators so we can always know with 100% certainty where all children are and that they are safe.
RBG
No holding hands? no slow dancing? no contact sports? No hugs, or pats on the back, or rubbing shoulders?
This school is going to produce some maladjusted adults with no appreciation of simple affection.
Its right out of Footloose. I bet the administration of this school is all made up of conservative Xians.
#11 – This school is going to produce some maladjusted adults with no appreciation of simple affection.
Going to?
Perhaps it already has…
Oh dear, I think the Principal has been overindulging in the works of MC Hammer and acted on the not so subliminal message “U can’t touch this”
Hammer time.
>>Yes… There is a need… its a basic human need and we all have it.
Hey, we all have a basic human need to have sex. But do we need to do it in class?
While I can certainly appreciate their overcrowding problem, as I teach in a school with the same issue – I am not a fan of unnecessary rules. If they already have rules about inappropriate touching, sexual contact and such, then this is not needed.
“…should have their personal space protected and that many lack the maturity to understand what is acceptable or welcome.”
AHA… so there we’ve defined what exactly needs to be taught. But implementing a zero-tolerance rule is so much easier than actually teaching children, isn’t it?
“She has seen a poke escalate into a fight and a handshake that is a gang sign.”
And this rule solves that. No one will ever be angry enough to be in a fight, and no one will be in gangs, now that they can’t shake. Problem solved.
Why do teachers and and administrators lack the ability to think sometimes?
Angel – You horny bastard!
A friend of mine had a kid that went before a school’s disciplinary committee. He was warned by a lawyer that a school board is akin to a Kangaroo court, and the lawyer was right.
Becase of the Feminazi phrase “inappropriate touching”, we now ban touching all together. Of course, touching releases oxytocin a hormone that reduces aggression, anxiety, and restores hope. So we ban touching but make Ritalin more available. Nice. I thought school was supposed to be a place kids went to learn about stuff, like I don’t know, boundaries.
It’s too bad Bush wasn’t in this school. He would have been sent to detention for what he did with Germany’s female head of govt.
#6 and #10 — There is a valid need to do one thing at school — learn. That’s what you are there for. I am all for social interaction, hugging, kissing, and holding hands. However can’t you do that on a date outside of school? Isn’t that what the weekends and evenings are for?
You can’t be groping each other at work either. If you do, you are either going to get fired or sued. You might as well learn that life skill while you are in school.
I’m just saying….
You know… I just have to say it… Some of you people are dense.
Are we really gonna listen to bullshit platitudes like “school is for learning. Period.”
The first time my kid is disciplined for tapping a guy on the shoulder or holding hands with someone or any of the other thousand wholly appropriate touches that humans do with humans every day… Touch that is at the very core of our existence… then that school adminstrator will learn, from me, what the real definition of inappropriate touch actually is.
#21 and #22 — “School is for learning” is a bullshit platitude? And it makes no sense? Then, pray tell what is it for?
#22 — go around making threats about what you are going to do to school admins if they have the nerve to actually expect your child to follow the rules and you just might find yourself getting some inappropriate touch in the local jail cell. Just remember to keep your back to the wall.
#22….OFTLO…..LOL…….you will let us know your cell number and visiting hours won’t you??? 🙂
After looking at the photo at top again…..I think I see what Angel is talking about.
The senario, from the body language is as follows……
Boy on left….**gee baby, whats wrong**
Boy on right….** damn Bob, not in school, you want people to think we are gay???**
#23 – Yes. It is a bullshit platitude. Virtually any all-encompassing statement of over-simplified absolutism is a platitude.
I mean, it’s just plain dumb to answer a statement that this schools no-touch policy is ill-advised with an answer like “School is for learning!” It’s the kind of bullshit that means nothing and adds nothing to a debate.
Of course its for learning. And learning doesn’t mean running a pint sized gulag where kids are afraid of any kind of natural expression. We already train kids to be automatons, do we need to suck their hearts out too and make them cold on a personal level? Learning is also a social process, and a complex process. Sometimes touch is involved.
You want to make a rule saying no making out at school? No genital fondling? No grabbing the tits? Okay… I’m in favor of those rules. But surely an intelligent guy like yourself can see that blanket “no touch” policy is ill-conceived and unnatural.
My kid will follow any rules that are reasonable. Rules that cross the line, that strip him of his humanity, will be challenged. That is just one way I can help him undo the obedient citizen programming he’s subjected to.
As I’ve said before, what good is having someone in a position of authority if you can’t challenge them?
We really need to quit encouraging our kids to follow rules blindly. It’s dangerous.
#24 – Thanks for being the sort of guy who keys in on the humor.
#27 – Excuse me, but may I please have your permission to quickly pat your shoulder in a show of appreciation for the great thing you did? Oh, never mind, the moment is lost.
Odd that you pointed that out Pedro. Aren’t you one of those guys who likes to rail against “political correctness”? What is more “politically correct” than seeking permission for a spontaneous display of affection or approval?
Maybe I should sell T-Shirts to those school kids that have printed on them a blanket permission statement to appropriate touch. Or maybe this is also one of those schools with a BS rule against writing on clothing or backpacks.
Joshua said, “#22….OFTLO…..LOL…….you will let us know your cell number and visiting hours won’t you???”
What? You can have cell phones in the slammer?
#30…hhopper….I think I meant booking number… 🙂
Not being Paris Hilton, I don’t know how they ID you in the slammer.
#29 – you allow your friends to have contact with you. I don’t supposed you like to grant that kind of pleasantries with the bully, do you?
Nice straw man, thanks for playing…
Do you not think there are already rules against bullying? Do you think its okay to hit another kid, or push him/her, or otherwise physically molest another in some way just because there isn’t a rule that requires permission be obtained before some form of touch can happen?
OFTLO, you do realize that you called my position dense and then basically agreed and expanded upon everything I wrote. If you call me dense and then agree with my position, what does that make you?
#33 – Dude… I didn’t single you out or refer to you at all… I said “some of you people are dense” – You can all decide for yourselves who I meant.
Besides, if I agreed with you, and it appears I do, then its our position.
#34 – It’s not the same thing.