14-year-old suspended for hugging friend

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/03/student-suspended-for-breaking-schools-zero-tolerance-no-hugging-policy/


I'd like to know what kind of learning is the school's focus since they're obviously teaching kids that punishment for doing nothing wrong is only as fair as punishment for doing something wrong.

What is this, a monastery? I wish my daughter would get suspended over something that inane.

I've heard about this policy getting adopted into more schools. It started with teachers being banned from hugging students (which no one had any concerns about when I was a kid). Next, contact sports will be in the line of fire!

I wish the educational system would put this kind of time and energy into REAL concerns.

Oh no it's perfectly fine in school sports for bones to be broken, spleens to be ruptured and what not, but no two students ever better DARE put their arms around each other, that's bad, that is inexcusable behavior .

It's a stupid policy but that's the policy. As the kid's mother said, she wants to get it changed. I'd be more pissed if it was being enforced arbitrarily as the kid claims.

In the society we live in, it makes absolute sense to have such a policy. I think about the repercussions of a boy hugging a girl who is not receptive of the hug and makes a huge deal out of it. That could lead to harassment charges. So, it makes the most sense to outlaw hugging in schools.

Alan Smithee wrote:It's a stupid policy but that's the policy. As the kid's mother said, she wants to get it changed. I'd be more pissed if it was being enforced arbitrarily as the kid claims.

RedBedroom wrote:In the society we live in, it makes absolute sense to have such a policy. I think about the repercussions of a boy hugging a girl who is not receptive of the hug and makes a huge deal out of it. That could lead to harassment charges. So, it makes the most sense to outlaw hugging in schools.

Well then next they should ban sports and all dances, because far MORE touching goes on there than just in a hug and nothing saying that's all warranted attention either.

Supernova wrote:

Well then next they should ban sports and all dances, because far MORE touching goes on there than just in a hug and nothing saying that's all warranted attention either.

The sports such are usually not co-ed. And, yes, dances should be banned.

RedBedroom wrote:

The sports such are usually not co-ed. And, yes, dances should be banned.

But the policy isn't no boys hugging girls, it's no hugging period. I find it funny, people say school prepares kids for the real world, so we teach them that basic normal human behavior is a bad thing and just as worthy of punishment as something that actually IS bad. Kind of a chain gang mentality there, punish everybody whether they're guilty or not.

Supernova wrote:


But the policy isn't no boys hugging girls, it's no hugging period. I find it funny, people say school prepares kids for the real world, so we teach them that basic normal human behavior is a bad thing and just as worthy of punishment as something that actually IS bad. Kind of a chain gang mentality there, punish everybody whether they're guilty or not.

I am coming at this as the parent of a Jr. High boy. I think a no hugging policy does prepare him for the real world. Intimate gestures are best out of school and work. And I won't argue the "hug factor" of sports. Because everyone knows there is a difference considering sports in schools are not co-ed and like it or not, there is a distinct difference.

Alan Smithee wrote:It's a stupid policy but that's the policy. As the kid's mother said, she wants to get it changed. I'd be more pissed if it was being enforced arbitrarily as the kid claims.

Agreed. It's a silly rule, but rules are rules.