MESA, Ariz. -- A school policy banning student hugging prompted dozens of east Valley students to protest with a giant group hug across the street from campus.
"I think it's ridiculous," said Chelsea Branham, a 14-year-old student at Shepherd Junior High School in east Mesa.
Branham said she got detention this week for hugging her friend after school.
"It's not like it's supposed to mean anything," she said. "It's not like I was making out with him or something."
Branham joined her classmates on Friday for a 20-minute, public hug-a-thon.
"She's taking a stand and I'm standing behind her to do it," said Stephanie Wiegold, her mother.
The "no-hugging" rule had previously been in the student handbook. After many students began expressing concern about public hugging and kissing in the hallways, the school began reinforcing the guideline by punishing huggers, which led to Friday's protest.
Prior to the demonstration, the district said the principal and students brokered an agreement to clarify the "no-hugging" rule. According to the guidelines, small hugs, less than two seconds, are permitted but longer ones and kissing are not.
"We can only hug two seconds? That's ridiculous," Branham said. "It's barely even a hug."
"What we're doing here is hoping to help kids understand what's happening," said Kathy Bareiss of Mesa public schools.
The district said a list of acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors will be handed out to students on Monday.
Darth Wong wrote:Did you notice that the article said some students complained about the hugging, prompting the crackdown? I wonder who these fucking students were.
The kids nobody will touch?
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I went to a High School were people dressed as (little as) they pleased couple routinely made out in the corridors during pauses; if you are distracted during lessons by mildly revealing clothes you are an irresponsible idiot who would be distracted by the clouds moving outside. Oh, in five years there was not a single episode of violence and academic results didn't seem to suffer at all (there were serious problems, but not related to actual results or public displays of affection).
And I live in the beating heart of catholicism.
Darth Wong wrote:Did you notice that the article said some students complained about the hugging, prompting the crackdown? I wonder who these fucking students were.
The kids nobody will touch?
And the Jesus-freaks. My question is, who's timing?
Something like this could have been useful at my high school. Not because I'm offended by people making out but because they clogged up the hallways. The school was originally designed as an "open" school, but when that didn't work out, they ended up putting in walls that seriously impeded the traffic flow. In addition it was operating at twice the intended capacity, so when you throw in morons that would spend a minute or two making out between classes, I see where a two second rule could be handy.
Darth Wong wrote:Did you notice that the article said some students complained about the hugging, prompting the crackdown? I wonder who these fucking students were.
The kids nobody will touch?
This is pretty much true. There's been a big deal at my school lately about juking and grinding at school dances, with the administration having recently banned it at our next major dance. One of my friends is going to the dance with the leader of the anti-juking movement (who has been marauding about Facebook yelling at people for being "immoral"), and I offered to give him a katana if he'd try to juke and grind with her. His response was, essentially, "No way, I'm not getting that close to her."
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Admiral Valdemar wrote:What happens if I took 3 seconds? Do I get suspended or a verbal warning? Does the sex offender list come into this as well?
I NEED to know these facts!
Moreover, who the fuck is going to notice and time the hugs? At my school, in the time it takes for you to get across campus to your next class, you can see several couples making out or fondling each other without an administrator in sight. If kids can be practically fucking just a few feet from the entrance to the main building, who's going to notice a long hug?
My brother and I attended the same high school for a year, and that brought up an interesting scenario in my head: What if the people who got in trouble for hugging over two seconds were family members? I'd love to see this moronic rule turned around and shoved down the school admins' throats using their own arguments: Apparently they're anti-family.
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I went to this Junior High School. The PDA was never all that bad when I went, and also when I went, the administration was just as tyranical about it. They must have actually loosened up...
Honestly this school is a fucking nightmare anyway. And this is perfectly in line with the rest of their ridiculous puritanical mormon agenda... it is worth noting that the district as a whole is controlled by mormons...
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Spin Echo wrote:Something like this could have been useful at my high school. Not because I'm offended by people making out but because they clogged up the hallways.
If hugging is causing obstructions or keeping kids from getting to class, then the teachers should be enforcing loitering and obstruction rules, not rules against affection if they're on break and not in anyone's way.
An awful lot of US schools, and businesses, have rules against ‘public displays of affection’. The only thing that I’m surprised about here is that they allow hugs at all.
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This seems alien to me, even though my own college had a policy on 'inappropriate displays of affection', because it was believed it might negatively impact on the schools appearance to the outside world. In my opinion, ninety odd percento f the student body impacted negatively on the appearance of the school to outsiders, but I know for a fact that no one in my tenure at GYC was anyone punished for kissing, cuddling, hugging or the stroking of hair. A couple of teachers would tell you to stop if you did it in front of them, but no detentions were ever meted out.
And not even one of them attempted to define what constituted as 'inappropriate'. Two seconds? Did they perform some sort of study to see how long before fundamentalists would scowl in disgust at immorality the hug?
Darth Wong wrote:Did you notice that the article said some students complained about the hugging, prompting the crackdown? I wonder who these fucking students were.
Made up ones.
There were people at my HS school that would do this in the hallways. Most of the time it would just illicit some "getaroom!" calls. If I was feeling particularly dickheaded myself, I would just walk right between the people doing it. Always fun. I was myself guilty of it a few time though.
But complaining to teachers and faculty? No way. I just can't fathom that. I know people have posted that it has happened, but I just can't wrap my head around it.
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Fucking bastards...humans are social animals. Close physical contact with friends is one of the simplest, safest ways to reenforce social bonds. It's necessary for our physical mental health, and those fuck-headed bureaucrats want to limit it in case some couple decides to make out.
What a fucking threat to the school environment for teenagers to suck face after classes...
The "obstructing the hallway" argument would be a lot more convincing if these schools also had bans on standing and talking for longer than 2 seconds, since I recall the biggest obstruction in high school hallways was people standing around and talking to each other, not people hugging or kissing.
The ban on "public displays of affection" seems like it's just a holdover of Puritanism to me.
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Oh, I can go one better than that... The private girls school that my younger sisters and indeed my partner went to put an embargo on standing closer than two feet from any other girl you were facing put an end to all the rampant lesbianism which was obviously taking place.
This happened with the arrival of a new principal the year after my sisters finished.
Darth Wong wrote:The "obstructing the hallway" argument would be a lot more convincing if these schools also had bans on standing and talking for longer than 2 seconds, since I recall the biggest obstruction in high school hallways was people standing around and talking to each other, not people hugging or kissing.
What I tended to find was people standing and talking were at least aware of their surroundings and would shuffle around a bit if people were trying to get through. People making out were lost in their own little world.
I'm probably a bit biased because I've lost track of the times I spent in high school going "Excuse me.. excuse me.. would you mind.. Hey assholes, would you not make out in front of my goddamn locker!"
Melchior wrote:I went to a High School were people dressed as (little as) they pleased couple routinely made out in the corridors during pauses; if you are distracted during lessons by mildly revealing clothes you are an irresponsible idiot who would be distracted by the clouds moving outside.
You're joking. . .right?
During my hormone-addled pubescence, I cannot recall ever being turned on by the clouds. The hot girl in the class, however. . .
Time makes more converts than reason. -- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
I barely recall high school anymore, but I do recall a 'teacher talk' on the subject, which basically amounted to "keep it tasteful, keep it short, and keep it out of class". I seem to remember a few kids bitching because teachers called their parents to let them know about their kids' relationships, but teachers themselves didn't seem to act like student romance was any of their business.
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General Trelane (Retired) wrote:
You're joking. . .right?
During my hormone-addled pubescence, I cannot recall ever being turned on by the clouds. The hot girl in the class, however. . .
The presence of attractive girls prevents you from focusing on the lesson/text/whatever?
If you don't care about paying attention you can waste time even without looking at girls.
Melchior wrote:I went to a High School were people dressed as (little as) they pleased couple routinely made out in the corridors during pauses; if you are distracted during lessons by mildly revealing clothes you are an irresponsible idiot who would be distracted by the clouds moving outside.
You're joking. . .right?
During my hormone-addled pubescence, I cannot recall ever being turned on by the clouds. The hot girl in the class, however. . .
The presence of attractive girls prevents you from focusing on the lesson/text/whatever?
If you don't care about paying attention you can waste time even without looking at girls.
Sigh. . .I guess you're not joking afterall.
So if I'm distracted from class by one thing, I must likewise be distracted by anything? Sheesh!
And if I'm distracted by a pretty girl, I don't care about paying attention? Please.
Apparently you don't realise that different things have different distraction values. A pretty girl is far more distracting than clouds. And the same pretty girl with her clothes off is even more so. So how about you think before you assert? Or before you call people irresponsible idiots?
I'm beginning to think you never went to highschool. Simply put, highschool is laughably easy. If the lessons aren't challenging, distractions abound.
Time makes more converts than reason. -- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
