Oak Park School Bans Hugging

Oak Park School Bans Hugging

Mike Puccinelli
CBS
Monday October 01, 2007

OAK PARK, Ill. Schools just say no to bullying and fighting, but hugging? CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports that a local middle school wants the embracing to stop.

"Last year we would see maybe as many as 10 students on one side (of the hallway), 10 on the other and then, going in opposite directions, would sort of have a hug line going on and you could see where that would be a problem," said Victoria Sharts, principal of Oak Park's Percy Julian Middle School.

So this year Sharts decided to draw the line on hug lines by banning all hugging among students within the building.

Sharts said, "Hugging is really more appropriate for airports or for family reunions than passing and seeing each other every few minutes in the halls."

When teachers started enforcing the new policy last month all hallways and classrooms in the 860-student school became hug-free zones.

When our cameras rolling during passing period today there was no hugging to be seen.

Sixth grader Isabella Miller disagrees with the crackdown. "I don't think that that's right"

Her father agrees with her.

"It seems like a crazy idea to me," Mark Miller said.

The principal says the rampant hugging is creating bottle necks in the hallway and making kids late for class. Furthermore she says although hugs are supposed to be handshakes from the heart some times they don't seem so innocent.

"Too long, too close, and usually between boys and girls," Sharts said.

After school, while safely outside the building, the students seemed determined to show what they think of the policy, one hug at a time.

Sharts said the hug ban is just one element of a comprehensive discipline and anti-bullying plan. High-fiving in the hallways is also frowned upon.



http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_271193938.html

ahhhh, land of the free :rotflmao:

What about reach arounds???? don't tell me those are banned too!!!

What the hell? That is why I teach at a private school. Could be that this could be taken as sexual harassment. We have a seminar once a year about this. Someone would feel left out. Or someone wouldn't get their reach-around. Grow up!

So first they ban playing tag in the schoolyard, and now they've banned hugging? Seriously, do that many people in America have obscenely large sticks up their collective arses, or is it just the few that make up for the many?

Its a few that make up for the many. Tell a child he cant do something during school hours, he/she will do before, or after. Welcome to America's most stupid...

I'm not too familiar with that particular part of Chicago but from what I hear it's pretty conservative. I'm not too surprised at this news. It's the midwest United States, after all, and since I've lived in the midwest all of my life I can say that yes indeed things tend to be a bit more...reserved here. Low key. Public displays of affection (other than holding hands) are inherently not low key - at least by the standards we are referring to.

Hugging is intimate and intimacy is, well, something that happens behind closed doors in this neck of the proverbial woods. At least that's what I see. But you should see how the kids dress for school these days - especially the girls. I've seen pre-teens dressed like hookers on Halloween night walking back from classes here in small town Michigan. How can they ban hugging and not ban the halter-top? Makes no sense to me. And the boys, well, you'd think they would be too busy pulling up their sagging, beltless jeans to take the time to hug a girl. If one of those young bucks takes his hands from his waist to give a girl and embrace he might drop his saggy pants altogether and then the school would see that they have have to ban boners. Good luck trying to enforce THAT one.

In Indianapolis Public Schools have started a dress code that they intend to enforce. One of the local high school sent 108 pupils home and they can not return until their parent(s) come to school with them in the proper dress. The gangs and the boys in the hood are not happy about it. It will stop the droopy drawers and the halter tops in their collective tracks. At first, they were going to hold the bus drivers accountable for bring the student to school in the wrong dress(!). Now, they are going for the parent or parents who are ultimately to blame. If you want to be adults, you are going to dress like adults or you will not go to school, period. PS-No hugging aloud.

The fact that they wanted to hold the bus drivers responsible for issues with how the parents let their kids dress... :lmao:

Of course, we all know that the bus drivers are responsible for your kids dressing like something out of a 50 Cent video, that's just common knowledge.

At least they're holding the parents responsible on something for once.

http://wanxpon.free.fr/Noobsters/freehugs.jpg

:(

Banning hugs is fine, whatever... I'm more interested in why these kids are lining up and hugging each other enough to cause a problem. What is that all about?

Banning hugs is fine, whatever... I'm more interested in why these kids are lining up and hugging each other enough to cause a problem. What is that all about?

That's a really good point. Is there a culture of compulsory hugging going on within the student population? Perhaps instead the problem is being overstated in order to justify the administrative decision. In any case I agree that the scenario that has kids lining up en masse to hug each other each day paints a rather bizarre picture.

The isolated act of a hug between two people is benign even in a school hallway. However a "hug line" as descibed is abnormal group behavior and speaks to a bigger problem. But what problem would that be - the same one being solved by banning high-fives? I think that high-five ban is an indication that the description of the hugging scene in the school hallways is being blown out of proportion by school officials in order to paint a picture that fits the obviously conservative agenda of the school administration.

Hey - at least it's hugs they are lining up for and not drugs!