 | Have You Hugged Anyone Today? |
Remember back in the days when people had those bumper stickers that said “have you hugged your kid today?” Yeah, it seems like a long time ago. Well, apparently hugging people is a problem nowadays. What? You don’t believe me? Just ask 14 year old Cazz Altomare and she will tell you hugging gets people in trouble.
Altomare is a student of Sky View Middle School, which lies in Oregon. She was given a detention for hugging a fellow student. Her mother came into the school freaking out and understandably so.
"I'm trying to understand what's wrong with a hug," said Leslee Swanson, Altomare’s Mother. Gee, you and I are both in agreement here. Why don’t we ask Doug Freeman?
"We work hard at a no-touch policy, we also work with the kids, so they understand our reasons for that.” said Doug Freeman, principal of Joseph Lane Middle School in Roseburg.
Hey thanks for that answer Douggie. I think I couldn’t have sidestepped a question better myself. What is wrong with the hug? They are not kissing, necking, or doing the unthinkable, fucking. What is the problem here?
"The majority of the kids know what their moral values are," he said. “When a situation arises, the staff uses discretion and mutual respect to deal with the students. There's no need to blow it out of proportion," Wilson said.
Oh really. The fact that you are trying to tell kids it’s wrong to share feelings with each other with a harmless little hug. Yeah, there is no reason to blow it out of proportion. This goes back to the conformity and shaping young minds issues I have with schools. School is here to help your brain learn subjects, and guide youngsters throughout the trials and tribulations of life if they ask for it. If the students do blow in the bathroom, I can understand the cause for disciplinary action. If they are in the bathroom doing the nasty in one of the stalls, OK. I can understand that. But a simple little hug when someone is on the way to gym class, come on, don’t you guys have bigger problems to worry about?
I read about all these violent situations in middle schools. For instance, those infamous bus videos where the kid gets his ass kicked by many people on the bus. The schoolyard bullies and the parents out there who get way too involved into child sports they waste other parents over it. Let us not forget the use of weapons in our schools. And the biggest underlining factor in all of this, the fact our education system is one of the worst out there. Not enough money is being used to fund it. Some of the teachers out there would rather touch kids in bad places, than tell them to read Chapter 4 in their textbook. You think this isn’t happening? Enter the words “Teachers Molesting Students” into Google and the results are scary. Aren’t these problems that need to be dealt with before we worry about two kids sharing in a hug before they go off to class? Then again, isn’t the wedding of Mary Kay Latourneau and the student she was doing it with being televised? I guess America celebrates that kind of thing.
Bottom line, this girl should not be serving a detention for a hug. Hugs are ways of showing affection that are safe. We hug people when they win a game, we hug people when we are sad, we hug people when he haven’t seen them in a long time. I don’t think a hug constitutes breaking some sexual taboo, but I guess some people feel that way.
"Really, all we're trying to do is create an environment that's focused on learning, and learning proper manners is part of that," said Dave Haack, the principal of Cascade Middle School who also has a “hugging ban.” Well, Mr. Haack, if you believe that touching is a part of poor manners, I think someone needs to give you a hug.
Thanks for reading, see you later.
MJ
All quotes and facts came from the Associated Press based of the website The News Review.
