Elementary School Bans Touching
By Don | May 22, 2008
Armatage Elementary school in south Miineapolis has become a no touching zone after the principal said she received numerous complaints from students and parents about children being touched aggressively.
This is no mere policy about pushing and shoving and inappropriate contact but stretches to banning games like tag and touch football. I assume this also extends to softball and baseball where a player sometimes needs to be tagged out. What about basketball where gurading the opponent may mean a hand check or other contact when chasing after a loose ball?
While the principal Joan Franks claims support from most of the parents not all of them are happy about the decision particularly since it was instituted without any consultation with them.
One parent Jamie Henriksen interviewed by the Minnapolis Star-Tribune told the paper that kids shouldn't be afraid to play with each other. She has two boys and said that they could be hugging one moment and wrestling the next. After all they are boys.
It wasn't clear though how the school was going to enforce the rule. If anyone has observed recess periods at elementary schools they tend to be quite chaotic with kids running and playing all over the place. There aren't enough adults to watch what can be hundreds of children in an open air environmment. So how they will police this will be anyone's guess.
Of course in this politically correct world and with the government always eager to watch us ever more closely perhaps the school can intstall playground cameras and when offenders are spotted a photo can be sent to their home along with a suspension notice. Don't laugh, with policies such as the no touch rule this idea probably won't be far behind.
3 Comments | Post a Comment
We’ve become a very lawsuit-minded country, and some parents will sue the school or teachers over the slightest perceived offense. Too often a court will support a frivolous lawsuit. A touch on the shoulder is enough to start a lawsuit, particularly if it is from a teacher. Hugs are forbidden, but some elementary teachers do not shy away from receiving them just because of the threat of legal action. Some lawyers, wanting more clients and more money (as if they didn’t have enough already!) need to be reined in. People in other professions have tons of unnecessary paperwork, do a lot of unnecessary procedures: physicians, for example, because of the fear of having to pay out huge and unrealistic sums both to the “victim” and in court and hours and hours of legal fees. This principal may have instituted this rule because she feared a lawsuit with courtroom questions such as, “The children were hitting each other and you didn’t stop them?”
Anyone see Demolition Man? It takes place in the year 2032, when Los Angeles is a no physical contact zone.
Looks like this may not be too far off. Here’s a great story - I heard today of a High School teacher who was sued for alleged sexual relations with a kid (and here’s the kicker) when the kid came up behind the teacher during an after school club, and gave him a squeeze on the shoulders followed by a pat on the back! What has humanity come to?
May 23 at 12:09 pm | #1 | Link
maybe they’ll introduce the “quite” game, where students are awarded generousley for being “quite”, and whoever stays quite the longest wins!
Being quite was never so much fun!