According to Sarah Netter at abc.go.com:
There's the bear hug. The sympathy hug. The pat-the-back hug.
To read the full article go to:School Hugging Ban: Oregon Middle School Principal Says Hands Off - Officials Said Students Were Using Friendly Gesture to Bully Others
All are now strictly forbidden at one Oregon middle school where the principal says some students were using the normally friendly gesture to bully or inappropriately touch other students.
"It built right after winter break," West Sylvan Middle School Principal Allison Couch said. "I was observing students hugging other students and the other students didn't feel comfortable."
And then there were the girls who would run the length of the hallway to hug each other between classes, squealing the entire way.
"We're just trying to quell the huge amount of distractions," she said. "With the girls they would hug five or six or seven times between classes."
While the PTA and most parents are behind Couch, there is a small resistance that has touted her actions as limiting the students' freedom. The debate took to Facebook with the newly created group "Stop the Hug Ban at West Sylvan!!"
"What a joke," one poster wrote. "Kids could be doing so much worse.". . . .
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Full discretion here. . . .I am a hugger and I love to be hugged. . . .To me hugging is a "Hello - How you been doing" or "I missed you" gesture. . . .Nobody but a pervert would think chest to breast. . . .dong to thong. . . .when giving a hug. . . .
"Hugging" will soon be going underground and we will be like the early Christians when they would make a partial fish symbol in the sand to symbolise that they were a Christian and if you were you would make your mark. . . .Okay that may be a stretch, but maybe we could create hand gestures. . . .Oh wait those would be considered "gang" signs.
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One blogger wrote:
I see this as just another instance of school administration loosing control. When did it become a problem for a young teen girl to "squeal" and be happy. I invision pretty soon they will start to gag the pre-schoolers because they make noise. They are slowly taking away every bit of emotion left in children and turning them into robots with no emotion, no noise, no feeling. Why can't the teachers and other staff members just learn to deal with a problem when it arises instead of trying to insure that they never, ever have a problem. If they do not let kids be kids, they will turn into monsters. When is someone going to realize they are totaling wrong in how they are dealing with the children today? Let them be kids and have fun and be delighted to see each other. How sad. This is a big big mistake. Everyone needs to be hugged.
One blogger wrote:
I see this as just another instance of school administration loosing control. When did it become a problem for a young teen girl to "squeal" and be happy. I invision pretty soon they will start to gag the pre-schoolers because they make noise. They are slowly taking away every bit of emotion left in children and turning them into robots with no emotion, no noise, no feeling. Why can't the teachers and other staff members just learn to deal with a problem when it arises instead of trying to insure that they never, ever have a problem. If they do not let kids be kids, they will turn into monsters. When is someone going to realize they are totaling wrong in how they are dealing with the children today? Let them be kids and have fun and be delighted to see each other. How sad. This is a big big mistake. Everyone needs to be hugged.
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I wonder when they outlaw hugging if you can still send a hug?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/oregon-school-hugging-ban-west-sylvan-middle-school/story?id=10150794
