The biggest threat to discipline at Oregon Middle School is

[Revere]

Hugging.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/20...est=latestnews

- FOXNews.com
- March 20, 2010
Principal Bans Hugs in Oregon Middle School

After students would 'scream and run down the hallway and jump into each other's arms," the school decided enough was enough and have halted hugs as well as other behaviors deemed detrimental to teaching and learning.


A 'culture' of hugging that reportedly got out of control led an Oregon middle school principal to outlaw the displays of affection, Oregonlive.com reported.

After students would "scream and run down the hallway and jump into each other's arms," the school decided enough was enough and have halted hugs as well as other behaviors deemed detrimental to teaching and learning, Oregonlive.com reported.

Principal Allison Couch told Oregonlive.com that the ban came after a school bus incident resulted in a call to police, but did not describe what happened.

In a memo, Couch wrote that she'd treated the hugging in schools like a computer with a virus She believes the policy may sound unreasonable to someone outside the school, but if someone filed a lawsuit because of unwanted touching, a bigger news story would have resulted, Oregonlive.com reported.

Parents are split on this new rule.

"I think it's a little bit too much. I think kids can regulate the amount of physical contact," one father said.

[April15]

The real story;
The campus of nearly 600 seventh- and eighth-graders joined a growing list of schools nationwide that have halted hugs as well as other behaviors deemed detrimental to teaching and learning.

Couch said she was prompted to act in part because of a school bus incident that drew police. Though she would not describe what happened, she said no students had been harmed.

Also, it appeared to her that some students were hugging others who did not want the sign of affection.

In a March 10 memo written to other school district officials, Couch wrote, "Several parents have called because their child is being hugged, and because there is a 'culture of hugging' here they didn't feel that they could say no."

In at least one case, hugging was used as a form of mockery -- when two eighth-grade girls hugged a seventh-grade boy, she said.

"'They did that to be mean,'" Couch said the boy told her later. "'They don't like me. They did that to be mean.'"

[Revere]

OK, "being mean" is the biggest threat.

[Trueblue]

It definitely sounds like a big problem for them. Probably not their biggest problem, though.

[April15]

Originally Posted by Trueblue

It definitely sounds like a big problem for them. Probably not their biggest problem, though.

Harassment or hazing is very detrimental to young children. It can render a child socially impotent.

[My Winter Storm]

Banning the kids from hugging each other is a bit pathetic. Every student I know hugs their friends. Stupid rule, IMO.