No Touching Rule in a Virginia School

[asgoth]

Originally posted by Ismenia
Again.. how I feel on the matter...

My two daughters decide to solve problems by hitting one another. Sooo.. we decide that as a family... we will never touch each other again! No kisses..no hugs.. no nothing. Where I should be teaching them appropriate ways of handling conflict, I instead decide to take the extreme and forbid them from touching one another forever....

(snip...)

This does not quite compare, but i will comment it anyhow.

The only word i really might consider odd or bad in this is 'forever'. And honestly, i doubt it will be forever. But even aside that, we are talking about your family. Decisions which are viable to be taken in a family do not always translate to larger systems, like schools. This is one case.

So, i hope your decision will teach your girls the lesson you want it to.

[Ismenia]

I am not insane enough to do that! I was using it as an analogy. I would never do that with my children.

That is how I feel this school system is handling the touching issue. "Don't let them touch at all, because children can't be taught or learn appropriate touching behavior... so lets just take that right away from them." What it teaches the children in this school is that the faculty doesn't have enough respect for the kids and their ability to learn what is right and wrong. Do we want to raise a whole generation of children who think any form of touching at all is wrong? Or do we want to raise responsible children and young adults who are given the opportunity to make informed decisions about how to conduct themselves? Not every child will make the appropriate decisions, but I imagine a good majority of them would. You deal with the inappropriate behavior as it arises and assign consequences based on each individual case.

[Sier]

Children typically begin the school day at 8 o clock here. They leave at 3. That is a 7 hour school day. That is 35 hours a week, about a typical work week for an adult.

Whether the school board, government, teachers admit this or not, a child's life at school will directly reflect on how they handle their adult life both in society and at the workplace. Since they are spending a great portion of their time at school, this will reflect on their future experiences. In many cases, school sets a more important example than family itself due to the friends that are made and rules that are set forth.

Currently, schools are setting forth a policy which forbid children from bringing bibles to class, forbidding children to say certain words whether good or bad, forbidding children to believe facts or fiction in certain ways, and now forbidding children from touching. I'm really not sure that I want my own child growing up to become a godless, socially inept sociopath who will need 10 years of therapy just to correct the school's policies, which protect themselves from lawsuits from bothersome parents.

[Savaric]

Originally posted by Ismenia
I am not insane enough to do that! I was using it as an analogy. I would never do that with my children.

Rofl, I knew you were using an anology.

Originally posted by Ismenia
Do we want to raise a whole generation of children who think any form of touching at all is wrong? Or do we want to raise responsible children and young adults who are given the opportunity to make informed decisions about how to conduct themselves?

I don't think this policy is going to show kids that touching is wrong. They will just know there are certain times for certain kinds of behavior.

I think there's some important details about this case I'm not clear on. I only saw the story on tv and I didn't know what grade this school was. I wouldn't apply this policy below middle school- that age of kids definitely needs to be able to express themselves. But once they reach middle school and beyond is where they start developing some bad behaviors towards others.

Schools need to be places of discipline and respect. I just think this policy would set up a boundary for students to respect. Frankly if it were up to me they would all have uniforms. Freedom of expression is great but American kids are taking it to extremes (like it's a free country and I can do whatever I want and I don't have to respect you!). Also kids should be focused on learning and not socializing in the schools. Obviously I know it's important for social development to maintain their friendships and human interaction even at school. But I think kids are putting so much of their time and energy into their little social heirarchies that it is hurting their academic performance. I just don't see them becoming little robots from this sort of policy. It's not like they aren't still gonna be talking to each other and hanging out after school.

[Savaric]

Originally posted by Sier
Currently, schools are setting forth a policy which forbid children from bringing bibles to class, forbidding children to say certain words whether good or bad, forbidding children to believe facts or fiction in certain ways, and now forbidding children from touching. I'm really not sure that I want my own child growing up to become a godless, socially inept sociopath who will need 10 years of therapy just to correct the school's policies, which protect themselves from lawsuits from bothersome parents.

I haven't heard about the not being able to bring a bible to class. Where did you hear that?

What are the good words they aren't allowed to say?

Believe facts or fiction in certain ways- maybe you are referring to biology class?

What's wrong with being godless? You don't need to worship God to be a good person or be socially well-adjusted. Also I'm not sure we're talking about children here. I think this policy is applying to young adults?

[Katidyd]

What's next?! No touching self?! Just chop off their hands for good measures.

[kestra]

It'd be interesting to see how the teachers would handle the parents greeting and hugging their kids when they come to pick them up.
Does this mean no high fives, or hugs when a team scores a point in a game, or gets a home run, etc...?

[utugra]

Originally posted by kestra
Does this mean no high fives, or hugs when a team scores a point in a game, or gets a home run, etc...?

Most likely, it might hurt the other players feelings.

[Rosuav]

Let's take a step back here. If the other team scores a point, it might hurt your feelings! So the other team isn't allowed to score any points. Or, every time they score a point, you get one too, free. At the end, we decide that winning and losing is far too outdated, Anglo-centric, sexist, racist, and Republican, so we declare that both teams did a Really Good Job(tm) and pat everyone on the back and send them home.

Oh wait... not allowed to pat them on the back...