Banning Hugs from High School? Really??
You know what freaks me out? All the media hype around the new teen show Skins. Skins is an Americanized version of a British TV show of the same name (it's on MTV in the U.S. and Movie Central in Canada). It is a true-to-life depiction of teens at this moment -- all the sex, drinking, drugs and violence that goes on. According to reports, it makes Gossip Girl look like an after-school special.
You know what doesn't freak me out? Hugging. Teens do a lot of hugging, especially teen girls and along with the hugging comes squealing and giggling and more hugging. It is a strange and annoying ritual practised by teens everywhere. But according to The Globe and Mail, some schools are putting a stop to it by banning hugs.
Hugging is a distraction, says Principal Allison Couch from a school in Oregon. I am sure that's true but in a time when we lament the social distance caused by cell phones, Facebook, Skype and other forms of social media, it seems strange that schools would ban actual physical contact. But it does beg the question of why loud and constant hugging is such a cultural phenomenon. Is it because teens crave some social contact that does not have a screen involved?
I feel for the teachers who have to witness the constant hugging after classes end, the clogging up of the halls due to mass hugs and the probable metamorphosis from hug to making out. But since schools are a place to teach socialization along with mathematics, you would think that administrators could find other ways to teach teens how to greet each other without causing a breakdown in the school schedule.
Of course, this ban could only happen in the English parts of North America as in most other countries, and in Quebec, the acceptable way to greet each other is a peck on one or two cheeks. I wonder how these schools would deal with that?
What do you think? Do you think banning hugs is a good idea or is it over the top?
Check out this video for more on the controversy surrounding the new TV show Skins:
Want more? Last year, I was writing about how to talk to your kids about the earthquake in Haiti and natural disasters in general
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