Principal forces boys to hold hands as punishment

[E.J.]

http://abcnews.go.co...c-hand-holding/

I wouldn't consider holding hands to be humiliating, but those boys seem to. I wonder if the school also has a set of these handy:

[Cole Parker]

That principal, who has a doctorate, was stupid as dog shit to do that. He humiliated the boys and subjected them to slurs about their sexuality. That's supposed to be a teaching device?

What happens now when some obviously gay kid approaches one of them and has words of support for him? The kid's already been embarrassed, one of the worst things for a teen, and now is being spoken to by a gay kid, others are watching, so he does what comes natural for him. He belts the gay kid a good one to prove he's not gay himself.

So now the gay kid, who hopefully isn't too badly injured, has a lawsuit against the school for fomenting this. The kid who hit him gets expelled. The principal gets suspended and maybe fired. The school district has to pay a large sum to settle the lawsuit. Anti-gay rhetoric becomes rife because the kid who was expelled was popular.

This is education at its worst, and a principal who was just plain stupid and didn't think about what he was doing. He took a teaching moment and turned it into a lost opportunity and possibly a nightmare.

C

[colinian]

This shows that no matter how lofty a degree, it doesn't guarantee that the holder of same has any common sense.

Colin

[Camy]

I wonder if the school also has a set of these handy:

Of course this is the politically correct version where the lube and condom dispensers have been airbrushed out, and the chap is wearing trousers.

[Cole Parker]

Ah, Camy. Your version explains the boy's smile!

C

[EleCivil]

That principal, who has a doctorate, was stupid as dog shit to do that. He humiliated the boys and subjected them to slurs about their sexuality. That's supposed to be a teaching device?

Could not agree more.

First, forcing them to hold hands in order to embarass them sends a message to the rest of the students that two guys holding hands should be embarassed to do so. That principal just lost the trust and respect of every LGBT or LGBT-friendly kid at that school.

Second, publically humiliating children does not turn them into better people. Do we really think bullshit like this will make them NOT want to fight? If you spent all day being laughed at by classmates, aren't you more likely to get up from that chair looking to pop somebody?

I've had to deal with fights, before. One of my favorites is to enlist the kids to do grunt work around the school to cool down and burn off excess energy. As in, "Hey, I've got two dozen boxes of art supplies on the third floor that need to make it to the basement. No, we don't have an elevator. Oh, and make sure you work together and help each other on the big ones, or you'll fall down three flights of stairs, break your bones, split your faces open, knock your teeth out, and be horribly disfigured for life. See ya later!"

That, of course, is followed up with a de-escalation meeting when they're done, where we sit down, discuss what led to the fight, and talk about what we can do next time to avoid it.

But then again, I'm one of those crazy people who thinks that schools should be about teaching kids how to act right, rather than just beating on them when they act wrong.

[The Pecman]

Once again, EleCivil has the right answer. He's clearly somebody who's dealt with disciplining kids before, and gets that there's a right way and a wrong way to handle this stuff.

I'm appalled by any principal who thinks a show of public affection is punishment. Idiot.

[DesDownunder]

My fellow Dudes, I am so proud of your responses to this situation. Some of the comments on other sites have been less than rational, to put it politely.