Boys Made To Hold Hands As Punishment For Fighting

LOL.

I totally read "Westwood" as "Westboro"

I am so dyslexic at night... haha... and derping

On topic... I can imagine these two boys and their classmates talking about it in middle school and high school... not sure if this is a good move on the principal as it can affect their future, especially social lives

 

On one hand, I understand the "punishment."

On the other hand, it's essentially telling us it should be degrading and embarrassing to hold hands with someone of the same gender.

I'm not sure what to think of this. If they make LGBT youth who get into fights with the opposite gender do the same, then I guess it's not a bad thing?

 

I am kind of torn on this. On one hand it is effective and could make people avoid violence, but It makes it seem that being seen as gay is a punishment or something negative.

 

I don't think it's necessarily makes out two males holding hands to be a shame worthy activity. I think the principal knows that having one's sexuality called into question can be humiliating for high school students. That the principal doesn't think that two males holding hands should be laughed at, but knows that his students will.

 

I don't think this is meant to be a slight toward gays at all. How many teachers use this same practice on little children? I know my mother does with her 2-5 year olds at her school xP.

I would interpret the principal's actions as such: "If you're going to stupidly fight like children, I will treat you like children", and thus, she punished accordingly. Very Things-I-Learned-In-Kindergarten-esque. The overall message is that you should've been taught as children that violence is the lowest and least effective way of resolving problems, and since you clearly didn't get enough of that lesson as a kid, I'll go ahead and re-teach it to you now.

That said, the second people started taunting the two guys and calling them gay, the Principal should've realized her mistake and decided on a different punishment. Public humiliation is one thing, and it might be effective, but there are better ways to implement it than this.

 

This is a good punishment for little kids, but I don't think its appropriate for High School.

 

.....I'm against it. Detention's best. Later on kids might assume that two people of the same sex holding hands means that they did something wrong(they might not think about it, but it'll pop up in their mind).

 

If they made the fighters hold hands, then the principal should've made the teasers hold hands too.

Good idea in theory, but not in practice, unless it's carried through all the way.

 

This is awful. Its reinforcing the belief that being gay is a shameful thing

 

yup

 

I don't like the idea of calling it "public humiliation" It shouldn't be humiliating for two people of the same sex to be holding hands in front of others. That's just the way I see it.

 

personally, I think a punishment like that should be reserved for students who are homophobicly bullying other students over their percieved or real sexuality. a dose of 'walk in their shoes' might change perspectives a bit.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

It seems like this is a bad idea either way no matter what the intentions are. it just does not seem like a good punishment at all.

 

I think Lucky hit the nail on the head and I agree 100%.

 

Exactly, and that is where this falls apart.

This tactic is can be fairly common in kindergardens and young children because hand-holding in the prepubescent environment is platonic. Children would see it as the teacher forcing them to act like friends, and considering the way chidlren bounce back from emotions, it is quite effective. Many friendships even blossom that way.

However, the problem with this is that the initial objective was to humiliate this boys, which sends an entirely different message.

 

This is a punishment i would like.

 

That's it I am going to go find Seann William Scott and punch him. Of course I'll accept my punishment.

 

I disagree that what makes this punishment problematic is embarrassing the kids. Some people deserve to be embarrassed, deeply, and I think punishments of this sort can sometimes be justified. But this one is not because

a) we don't know the nature of the fight and whether or not is justified; it could have been a fight one of the students didn't want; and

b) the punishment is not being applied by stigmatizing fighting. The only thing that makes this work as a punishment is the background of heterosexist bullying. The verbal abuse these kids suffered was beyond what they deserved, and not even for the right reasons.

This administrator should be fired, because that's not keeping kids safe. That's just abusing them, and that's an offensive against the public trust. As such, it should be a firing offense.