Since I started blogging I have blogged way too many cases of stupidity in our public schools, but every time I turn around, it seems like the schools are in a bid to out do each other.

Take this story, where at a middle school Virgina, they have a policy that forbids any form of contact between students.  No hand holding, no shaking hands, no high fives, nothing.

Va. School’s No-Contact Rule Is a Touchy Subject

Fairfax County middle school student Hal Beaulieu hopped up from his lunch table one day a few months ago, sat next to his girlfriend and slipped his arm around her shoulder. That landed him a trip to the school office.

Among his crimes: hugging.

When hugging is outlawed, only outlaws will hug?

All touching — not only fighting or inappropriate touching — is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: “NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!”

School officials say the rule helps keep crowded hallways and lunchrooms safe and orderly, and ensures that all students are comfortable. But Hal, 13, and his parents think the school’s hands-off approach goes too far, and they are lobbying for a change.

“I think hugging is a good thing,” said Hal, a seventh-grader, a few days before the end of the school year. “I put my arm around her. It was like for 15 seconds. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

Hal’s troubles began one day in March when he got up from his assigned cafeteria table and went to a nearby table where his then-girlfriend was sitting. He admits he broke one rule — getting up from his assigned table without permission — and he accepts a reprimand for that. “The table thing, I’m guilty,” he said.

Assigned tables?  Good lord…we have assigned tables at lunch time and you have to only get up on cue? 

What the hell?

A school security officer spotted the hug and sent Hal to the office, where he was cited for two infractions. He was warned that a third misstep could lead to in-school suspension or detention.

School officials said that the girl didn’t complain and that they have no reason to believe the hug was unwelcome.

Hal said that he and his classmates understand when and how it is appropriate to hug or pat someone on the back in school and that most teenagers respect boundaries set by their peers. Today, his seventh-grade year ends as school lets out for the summer. Next fall, he hopes Kilmer officials reconsider the rule.

“I think you should be able to shake hands, high-five and maybe a quick hug,” he said. “Making out goes too far.”

Nice, seems like the kids have more common sense then the teachers.

And likewise in this story, these kids have more sense then the adults around them as well.

Wounded toy soldiers

School officials snipped off toy soldiers’ weapons  on the mortarboard caps of fifth-grade boys graduating from a California elementary school. The tiny plastic rifles violated the Rancho Palos Verdes school’s zero-tolerance policy for weapons on campus, reports the Daily Breeze.

Each year, students decorate wide caps with princesses, football goal posts, zebras, guitars and other items to express their personalities and career goals . . .

On Thursday, before the ceremony, one boy was told he couldn’t participate unless he agreed to clip off the tips of the plastic guns carried by the minuscule GIs on his cap. Ten others complied with the order before the event.

Sure, snip off the tip of a half inch toy soldiers guns and its all better.  Good lord.

But the boys win the “creative responses to adult stupidity” award.

Two of the boys said they wanted to wear the toy soldiers to show support for the troops in Iraq. One of the boys had a clever response to the principal’s order:

To treat the “injuries” caused by the order to remove the offending weaponry, Austin wrapped the plastic stumps in white gauze and painted on faux blood.

I love it.  Again, we should have a bit more faith in our kids.  They are not the fragile flowers to be deeply wounded by the merest hint of a plastic toy weapon glued on a hat.  They seem to have no issues seperating toys from reality.

They obviously seem to have a more firmly grounded sense of reality then their teachers and administrators.

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