[news] - Girl, 13, gets detention for hugging two friends

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this means all autistic people No hugging cause it's wrong and sexual (sarcasm)

from http://www.caller.com/news/2007/nov/07/gir...on-hugs-school/ as proof this is No lie.

Girl gets detention for hugs at school


credited from anonymous artist

Two hugs equals two days of detention for 13-year-old Megan Coulter.

The eighth-grader was punished for violating a school policy banning public displays of affection when she hugged two friends Friday.

"I feel it is crazy," said Megan, who was to serve her second detention Tuesday after classes at Mascoutah (Ill.) Middle School.

"I was just giving them a hug goodbye for the weekend," she said.

Megan's mother, Melissa Coulter, said the embraces weren't even real hugs just an arm around the shoulder and slight squeeze.

"It's hilarious to the point of ridicule," Coulter said. "I'm still dumbfounded that she's having to do this."

District Superintendent Sam McGowen said that he thinks the penalty is fair and that administrators in the school east of St. Louis were following policy in the student handbook.

It states: "Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved."

Coulter said she and her husband told their daughter to go ahead and serve her detentions because the only other option was a day of suspension for each skipped detention.

"We don't agree with it, but I certainly don't want her to get in more trouble," Coulter said.

The couple plan to attend the next school board meeting to ask board members to consider rewording the policy or be more specific in what is considered a display of affection.

"I'm just hoping the school board will open their eyes and just realize that maybe they shouldn't be punishing us for hugs," Megan said.

since people in wrongplanets chat rooms hug to make someone feel better or autistic people that just need simply a hug what is your opinion about schools banning hugs, high fives, maybe even socializing, and banning shaking hands.

Who comes up with this garbage, anyway? They have to be severely emotionally disturbed.

The school's excuse is "Follow the handbook"?! What kind of ignorant crap is that?!

This politically correct crapola granola keeps getting dumber and dumber.

What do you bet that the people who wrote that rule never received any affection as a child, so they got jealous and decided to punish the people they envied: People who actually have friends to hug.

The administrators never answered the question: WHERE'S THE HARM IN A HUG?

If I was back in high school, and I got detention for hugging friends, I think I would punch the administrator in the face. Hey! If I'm going to get punished, I might as well deserve it. (Although, given the way they overreact, they might call it "attempted murder" and have me sent away for months.)

Seriously tho, this punishment is an exercise in submission. The administrators are showing that they can punish any student for anything, and someone ought to get back at them for it: Stick gum in their car locks, or something! (It's immature, yes, but not as immature as giving detention for hugs.)

I thought America was a free country!
Maybe you will realize that it is not !
Very sad change your childs School to one
Where there is a better understanding of children
of this age, it is very natural for children to show
affection towards their friends at this age and should
be encouraged not dicouraged,to be natural caring individuals.

All this politcal corectness is brought about by Pro Bono Litigation.
Maybe you could get together with other parents and stop this stupity
and make them retract this stupid rule.

Good luck !

You all gave really good points and opinions.

Really what harm is in a hug? Is It Sexual, No. Does it lead to sex, No. Does it comfort people and make them feel all warm inside, Yes .

Hugging is like a cure for the common cold cause being depressed or lonely could increase your chance to get a cold.

So hugging is nothing but good, unless the hug is forced on someone well lots want hugs.

Just because maybe the minority may hate hugging, doesn't mean we should all have to obey the no-hugging rule ~ quote from Brian Hill (me).


Oh btw can I give you all a hug or can I get in trouble here for that?

As a teacher, I agree with the policy. Not that this hug was over the top, but if you don't have a no hugging policy you end up with bf/sgfs hanging all over each other, stroking each others backs and making out. If you say "well its okay to hug for 2 seconds." then you get people hugging for 4 claiming its not that much longer, which leads people hugging for 8 seconds, then X seconds, then a minute." and if you try to stop it the students are yelling "But they're allowed to hug, we aren't doing anything different." The same with the kissing, "We only kissed for two seconds. They're over their Hugging for a minute." (yes, that really is an argument you'd actually hear)

Also its not entirely uncommon for someone to be hugged who doesn't want to be hugged, something I'm sure most aspies can relate to.

I don't know what grades her school has, but if it was set up like my school she could just as easily be getting a long hug from an 19 year old boy attempting to woo her, as she could be getting a goodbye hug from her 11 or 12 year old girl friend. So in that way a no hugging policy also helps protect the children from the older students. A lot of the junior and senior boys in my school would date 8th and 9th grade girls because they were "easy" compared to the older girls. It would have been much more difficult for those relationships to have developed in the first place if they weren't allowed to hug and hold hands in school. After all with that kind of age difference you pretty much have to develop your relationship in school, because both parties parents would be adamantly against it.

She should give the detention supervisor a *BIG* hug after serving her detention!

I think they need to ban smiling next, because that might also convey positive feelings.

"Public Displays of Affection" (PDAs) are where you stick your tongue down someone's throat, or rub your hands all over their body -- if she starts doing those things, then she's violated the school policy. But if she's just putting one arm around each of her friends, briefly to say goodbye for the weekend, punishing her is simply ret*d.

Geez, in Mexico City, they have sex outdoors, in public parks, right in front of each other, as long as they cover themselves with a blanket while doing it. People there consider it romantic, not obscene.

Megan, or at least the person in the picture who I assume is Megan, looks considerably like a former classmate.
Schools seem to be favoring ridiculous discipline nowadays.
I once nearly got suspended from school for searching for someone to talk to in the lunchroom during the lunch time!

I think that students should be allowed to hug their friends.

Sid :O)

I was in grade and highschool in the early-mid 80's. We had these rules too, "no bodily contact". They equated hugging, holding hands, kissing with fighting (punching, slapping, kicking, et al). It was upheld during school and during school events (extracurricular) like skating parties, sports games, after school.
From my experience, I don't think it's the administration that is really behind this but parents that are embarassed when their kids "cross the line". My friends' moms worked at the school and reported to my mom when I "broke the rules" on bodily contact. This despite the fact that their own kids were doing much, much worse in the hallways.
We really didn't have a separation of church and state in my school and that seemed to be really about the mob desires of the parents. It could get really nasty there.

On a related note, when my son was having meltdowns and tantrums at school, we gave permission for the teachers to lead him out of the classroom by the hand. They were afraid of this tactic because they weren't legally "allowed to touch" the students. I replied, "my son comes home with ladies' perfume everyday, he's getting hugged by the teachers, what's the difference?"

It's all context, imo.

"Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved."

How exactly does it reflect poor judgement?