SOUND OFF: How Should Schools Handle 'Grinding' at Dances?
Some Rhode Island students were made to leave a homecoming dance early after protesting their school's "no-grinding" policy.
A Rhode Island high school is under scrutiny after administrators cut short a homecoming dance this weekend.
Middletown High School dismissed students from the dance early because of "unsafe behavior by students who did not agree with the no-grinding rule as outlined in the Middletown High School handbook," the district announced in a statement Sunday.
The school handbook, reported Middletown Patch, includes a "no-grinding policy," which notes that "sexually explicit dancing will not be tolerated."
According to Middletown Patch, the DJ told some students they were not allowed to make song requests and that he only played music they could not dance to. Eventually, the students sat on the floor in protest and began to chant expletives.
The dance was scheduled to end at 11 p.m., but students were dismissed around 9:30 p.m.
The school is now being criticized both for its policy on grinding and dismissing the students early.
What do you think? Should schools crack down on sexually explicit dancing among students? Or, is a policy against such dancing going overboard? Tell us in the comments.
Avon Barksdale
12:53 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Take video and sell it to subscription content sites, then take the revenues and fund early reading programs. This is the internet economy, it's time schools learned how to monetize.
Walter Thibodeau
3:15 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Supervision!
Dances that were held by the DARE officer for Middle School Students in Attleboro, were chaperoned by Police, Parents and adult Volunteers. If the students were caught grinding after one warning they would have to sit outside the ballroom in a "TIME OUT CHAIR" for a period of time, until they were ready to dance without grinding.
After two or more "TIME OUTS" the students parent would be called to come and pick up their child. If the Parent could not be reached at that time the student would stay at the dance without full participation until the Parent could be reached and picked up their child, or one of the chaperones would take the student home, after the dance ended, with an additional chaperone accompanying them in the car. A repeat offender could also be banned from participating in a future dance. This tactic was used sparingly.
Fiscal Conservative
3:48 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Students purchase tickets with "No Grinding Allowed" on the ticket. Each student signs a paper stating the policy of the school department upon entering the dance. If they then are caught doing so, parents are called to pick them up. They may not go on the dance floor again. Policy is policy. As adults we must conform to certain policies, we may not like or agree with. This is a learning experience for students on how the "real world" works. Get use to employers telling you what to do, if you don't agree, go somewhere else. It's time to bring back "respect" for authority. It's still a semi free country, if they don't like the policy...don't go. They're the one's who are missing out, not those who are willing to follow rules.
Avon Barksdale
3:52 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Students should also sign Dean Vernon Wormer's "No Fun Of Any Kind" pledge before entering the dance. And the movie "Footloose" should be banned outright in America. CONFORM
Fiscal Conservative
7:42 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
I guess I'm just an old "Fuddy Duddy" who still enjoys less explicit activities in public. These public actions do disturb me. More and more forms are being brought out into the public. Freedom of expression is fine, but, I do think there still is a place for "modesty" in one's life. I guess I'm just not a FC, I'm Conservative in my thoughts and actions. Obviously, you tbelieve that only those who think as you are entitled to their opinions. Those who disagree with your point of view are "outdated", such as I. By the way, I had plenty of fun in my youth, many, many, many years ago. We just did things differently back then. Still vaguely remember picking my wife up in the "old horse and buggy" to see those old one reel silent movies. Charlie Chaplin was so funny, too bad movies aren't as good any more. So be it.
Avon Barksdale
3:54 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Does "sexually explicit dancing" also cover dancing done on your own, or only with a partner?
Fiscal Conservative
7:44 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
I'm sure you have the "correct" answer to your question.
RBiggs25352
4:05 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Grown-ups explicitly banning "grinding" sounds like a great way to encourage students to engage in "grinding". Whatever that is. Sounds similarly dangerous to that Elvis Presley fellow, with his suggestive hip movements.
Why it is so important to form a punitive response to "grinding"? Could someone explain why this practice is so dangerous? I fear that "grinding" may be corrupting our nation's youth, as surely as rock music and shaggy haircuts.
deb of see-attleboro
4:22 pm on Thursday, October 18, 2012
According to Wikipedia, grinding generally implies a male rubbing his crotch against the buttocks of a female. We'll just call it "safe sex".
Michelle
7:45 am on Friday, October 19, 2012
This is very interesting. It's hard to debate this. One one hand, it can seem petty and ridiculous when we should be making sure the kids don't do drugs, don't get pregnant, do well in school, etc...Hey, teenagers will be teenagers, right? But on the other hand, there needs to be respect for authority and these soon to be adults need to be prepared for the real world. No, you can't go to the company holiday party and grind your co-worker, lol. A friend of mine recently withdrew her child from a school in Boston because the second graders were swearing too much. But, it's a right of passage for a teenager to swear. It's up to the adults to set limits because the kids will just keep testing us. At a recent holiday dinner at my sisters home, my 15 year old niece was swearing at the dinner table. I was extremely offended. It was not the swearing that offended me, (I socialize with adults who swear, I do it myself!) it was the fact that she had no respect for the adults at the table and my sister was not doing anything about it and defended her daughters behavior by saying "you swore alot when you were her age" Yes, I did, but not around adults!
paul
8:44 am on Friday, October 19, 2012
You have to pick your battles with teens. No soda, drinking, tatoos, piercings, sex, staying out late, drugs, hanging with the wrong crowd, etc. Do we really need cops at the dance holding kids apart with batons? Let the kids dance for Gods sake and parents, make sure your teens know how to act in public.
JD
9:24 am on Friday, October 19, 2012
This whole "debate" is nonsense. What's the actual source of concern here? Kids grinding at school dances will allegedly promote underage sex. How about this... parents actually take responsibility for your children and raise them to be responsibly young adults. Parents nowadays are taking on too much of the "it takes a village to raise a child" mentality to displace blame from their own crappy discipline.
christopher tingus
10:52 am on Friday, October 19, 2012
It is unnecessary for teenagers to engage in grinding at dances - dances are for fun and given the explosion in world population, this generation too will have its opportunity to contribute to a world which has nearly one billion, yes one billion fellow human beings, many of them teenagers or younger who have little or no access to a clean glass of water! A youngster who has not even reached 18, whether male or female, hormones bursting, well, there is no need to grind and lost of reason just to have good 'ol simple fun and enjoy one another and be Respectful for these soon to be women and men have far differing ideas about many things and yes, given the uncertainties of the day, more than one police officer should be at every dance....Unfortunately this is not 1940- 1950 - 1960 when kids saw on August 5, 1957 American Bandstand broadcast national and the cha-cha- the Twist, the Bop, the Swing, Lindy, rock'n'roll, Boogie-woogie and so forth were so much fun and should be reintroduced as should the dance moves of the 1920's and 1930's as these kids don't even know anything baout what fun even our parents had seemibgly far more than this obviously dysfunctional time when grining is so darn suggestive and degrading when there is real fun inbeing young and dancing --
Fiscal Conservative
3:27 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
When in Jr High the school I attended sponsored Friday night dance classes for us "wild younguns". The school made sure we knew all the proper dances of the time, specifically the Waltz and Fox Trot. This was before the Twist, Bop or whatever else there may have been. Us simpler folk still enjoyed the experience. Been many, many moon since I last tripped the "light fantastic". Don't know if my two left feet could still perform on the dance floor.
deb of see-attleboro
4:27 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
When dancing becomes foreplay, the line has been crossed. The way I understand grinding, it is foreplay.
The kids should have a little class. Save it for later in the backseat. Or maybe the "free range" parents of today allow little Janie and Johnnie to have sleepovers so they can take care of business.
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yaygrinding
3:49 pm on Sunday, November 11, 2012
I don't see the problem with grinding. We're kids and this is how we dance. When you were all young you had dance moves that were shamed upon as well. Like when Elvis Presley did his suggestive hip movements and Michael Jackson did the crotch grab. You were all just like us at some point, so stop freakiing out about it. If we can't grind at school dances, I'm positive we'll find alternative places to do it, where the enviornment is not nearly as safe as it would be at a school. So its your choice: let us dance at a safe school, or cause us to throw house parties....