Great Britain: School ban on hugging (“To avoid putting anyone at risk, please avoid hugging.” )

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | November 4, 2006 | JOHN COLES

[Stoat]

 
Banned ... friends embrace

School ban on hugging

 
By JOHN COLES
November 04, 2006
 
 

 

A SCHOOL headmaster was branded a killjoy yesterday after he ordered pupils to stop HUGGING each other.

 

Steven Kenning told teens to quit embracing because it made them late for lessons.

He said hugging could be deemed “inappropriate” and “victims” could be hugged against their will.

The barmy rule was posted on the website of Callington Community College, Cornwall.

Mr Kenning said: “Hugging was happening extensively and becoming the norm. We were worried it might become inappropriate. So we nipped it in the bud.”

He added that there had been complaints from some pupils — so he told the kids: “This is very serious not only for the victim but for anyone accused of acting inappropriately.

“To avoid putting anyone at risk, please avoid hugging.” But the ban outraged parents and pupils at the 1,250-pupil college, with some claiming they had been punished for illegal hugs.

 

Detentions ... school has punished children
 

 

Bethany Read, 17, said: “We’ve even had a naming and shaming policy in assembly and people reporting others.”
 

John White, 16, said: “I can understand no kissing — but there’s nothing wrong with hugging. Some have had detentions for hugging.”

Local councillor Kath Pascoe said: “I don’t see anything wrong with hugging — it’s better than fighting.”

Last year Mr Kenning suspended pupil Daniel Pethick, 15, for streaking his hair like his hero Ashes cricketer Kevin Pietersen.

[Stoat]

Jan Meyer's Software Curta Calculator

Fascinating, thanks very much for posting!  I had never heard of a Curta before.

I'm still trying to make it work, but it's fun to play with and looks like it was a very important innovation for it's time.

[Stoat]

Mr Kenning said: “Hugging was happening extensively and becoming the norm. We were worried it might become inappropriate. So we nipped it in the bud.”

How can you nip something in the bud that is happening extensively? Don't you nip it in the bud when it's just showing up?

And what does it mean, "it might become inappropriate?" Was the current form appropriate? If so, then why ban it?

Why cahn't the English learn how to speak?

They'll probably master it at around the same time they learn to cook   :-)

Mr Kenning said: “Hugging was happening extensively and becoming the norm. We were worried it might become inappropriate. So we nipped it in the bud.”

How can you nip something in the bud that is happening extensively? Don't you nip it in the bud when it's just showing up?

And what does it mean, "it might become inappropriate?" Was the current form appropriate? If so, then why ban it?

Why cahn't the English learn how to speak?

[ThomasThomas]

Nip it in the bed!

[Mad_as_heck]

Mr Kenning said: “Hugging was happening extensively and becoming the norm. We were worried it might become inappropriate. So we nipped it in the bud.”

I guess it is necessary to regulate absolutely everything. Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch seemed less plausible before reading that.

In the current climate I guess its OK for the youngsters to engage in whatever depravity they can copy from MTV as long as none of that dastardly hugging is involved. That's crossing the line. Next thing you know they will be praying or something.

[Atchafalaya]

Who cares, I'd tell the powers that be to stick it where the sun don't shine.

[Stoat]

A couple of years ago, my daughter was given an after-school detention for hugging a boy in the a hallway of her middle school. Evidently PDA's were banned there.

By saying "evidently" it seems that this policy was either brand-new or so very poorly publicized that both you and your daughter were unaware of it.  this doesn't sound like a policy that was implemented very well, and so to punish an otherwise good student on this basis seems a bit heavy-handed to me.

 My husband and I didn't get too upset at her; we figured there could be lots of worse reasons to get a detention!

Indeed.  Who knows how many other 'secret policies' they have on the books that they implement at random?

[Stoat]

I'm in favor of banning all human activity.

Just let's all march to work, and march to our cave, eyes downcast and mute.

Much more productive and easier to generate our required tax revenue with minimal discomfort to others that way.
 

I suspect that minions of the Hard Left will soon be contacting you and asking you for assistance in designing their policies   :-)

(just kidding)

I'm in favor of banning all human activity.

Just let's all march to work, and march to our cave, eyes downcast and mute.

Much more productive and easier to generate our required tax revenue with minimal discomfort to others that way.
 

I suspect that minions of the Hard Left will soon be contacting you and asking you for assistance in designing their policies   :-)

(just kidding)

[MineralMan]

I'm dating myself, but I had a Curta Calculator back in the 60's. I was involved in road rallies and calculating speeds to make the next checkpoint was the job it was used for. If you had to slow down, you could figure out what speed you needed to go to make the average.

I wish I still had it. They bring big bucks on eBay right now.

[Stoat]

I'm dating myself, but I had a Curta Calculator back in the 60's. I was involved in road rallies and calculating speeds to make the next checkpoint was the job it was used for. If you had to slow down, you could figure out what speed you needed to go to make the average.

At the Wikipedia page so kindly provided by cynwoody  it mentions auto rallies as a popular use for the Curtas, and it all looks like grand screaming fun.  I'm sure that you had a great time and provided an essential service for the races.

I wish I still had it. They bring big bucks on eBay right now.

The passage of time reminds us all that we should have each invested in a huge warehouse decades ago and filled it with all of the consumer products that were available at the time, then locked the door to this time capsule, only reopening it now so that we can sell it all on eBay   :-)

If a time machine is invented during my lifetime, I want to take a big pile of cash back to the 1950's or 1960's and get a nice sports car, put it in the warehouse on blocks and then re-sell it in 2006 with zero miles on it :-)

(I also want to get in on the ground floor at McDonald's corp and a few other stocks that people didn't think would amount to much at the time but have since turned into multibillion dollar ventures)

I suppose that will never happen, because nobody has ever encountered a time traveler.  This suggests that a time machine will never, ever be invented.

"sigh"

[zbigreddogz]

This guy deserves to be...uhhh...redeployed as the D's would put it, to a job to which he is better suited.

I'm thinking the guy who scoops the poop at a horserace track.

[dfwgator]

When the picture is in preview, what I do is hit the refresh button on the browser to refresh the preview page. This will usually catch anything before you post it.

[Stoat]

This guy deserves to be...uhhh...redeployed as the D's would put it, to a job to which he is better suited.

I'm thinking the guy who scoops the poop at a horserace track.

The article suggests that many students (and parents) would agree with you.

This guy deserves to be...uhhh...redeployed as the D's would put it, to a job to which he is better suited.

I'm thinking the guy who scoops the poop at a horserace track.

[Politicalmom]

You weren't allowed to hug your girl friends? I went to a Christian high school in the 80s, and we were allowed to hug.