This is just bizarre:
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."
Is there something about running a middle school that turns your brain to mush?
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.' "
She has seen a poke escalate into a fight and a handshake that is a gang sign. Some students -- and these are friends -- play "bloody knuckles," which involves slamming their knuckles together as hard as they can. Counselors have heard from girls who are uncomfortable hugging boys but embarrassed to tell anyone. And in a culturally diverse school, officials say, families might have different views of what is appropriate.
You know that's bullshit. The real fear is of teen and pre-teen sex. So long as they can't see them being affectionate with each other, they can tell themselves all their abstinence-only bullshit is working.
(Via Ogged at Unfogged.)
do you know how i might get ahold of hal or his family to voice my support? aesutton @ gmail.com please. thank you.
Posted by: anthony s | June 21, 2007 at 08:48 PM
Not a clue, dude.
Posted by: Mithras | June 21, 2007 at 09:06 PM
"You know that's bullshit. The real fear is of teen and pre-teen sex. So long as they can't see them being affectionate with each other, they can tell themselves all their abstinence-only bullshit is working."
That's absurd Mithras. Ask any colleague who specializes in school law representing school boards.
Draconian zero tolerance rules are put into place in school districts where you have the following combination:
a) A section of the student population -usually a numerical minority but a sizable one - from whom outrageous behavior might possibly arise at any unsupervised moment. The school isn't "out of control" but it could go up for grabs at any moment.
and
b) A set of administrators with a collective track record for erratic student discipline where the gross inconsistencies in identical or similar cases are legally indefensible if challenged.
Their judgment is so reliably poor that school boards have been advised to remove their discretion and subsequently you get these idiots citing kindergarteners for " sexual harrassment" or expelling some 6th grader for a creative writing assignment involving a gun in a story.
Thus proving that even zero-tolerance is far from idiot-proof in a public school.
Posted by: zenpundit | June 22, 2007 at 11:07 PM
Hmmmm. How about teenage girls who are (a) being grabbed by the boys but who (b) know that complaining about it to authorities will only make the situation worse? I don't know what the solution is, mind you, but I don't think it's necessarily just about keeping teens from having sex.
Posted by: Narya | June 26, 2007 at 06:19 AM
How about teenage girls who are (a) being grabbed by the boys but who (b) know that complaining about it to authorities will only make the situation worse?
Even without a "zero touch" policy, if a teacher witnessed a boy grabbing a girl then that teacher could act because it's obviously not welcomed - call it the "no unwanted touch" rule. If no teacher witnesses it, it all depends on whether the girl reports it. Making the rule "zero touch" rather than "no unwanted touch" doesn't improve the chances of that.
Posted by: Mithras | June 26, 2007 at 10:51 AM
I used to go to school with Hal Beaulieu, and I know that he wouldn't do anything bad, or mean anything wrong by putting his arm around a girl. That rule is nonense.I can see some touching not alowed, but not able to give a high five, or shake hands. If they are trying to make their appearance of the school look better by doing this, then they are terribly mitaken.
P.S. If anyone knows how I might contact Hal, please email me at [email protected]
Posted by: Stephen | November 17, 2007 at 12:13 PM