Kick out the “freakers,” we say
It’s the first major dance of the year, Castro Valley High School’s annual Winterball. You wait in line with your friends, eager to get inside the cafeteria, and, subsequently, the dance floor. A few minutes later, your bags and coats are checked in and you’re ready to hit the gym for a few hours of mindless dancing. But what’s this? As you and your friends make your way to the center of the gym, you notice something strange. The closer you get to the center, the more people you see grinding against each other. “What could this phenomenon be?” you wonder as you back off, suitably embarrassed from such an awkward situation.
This is just one example of the freaking problem present at our school dances. At the moment, the administration is using a wristband system to try and counter such behavior. However, several new ideas were proposed to stop the problem, and if adopted, will begin taking effect starting next year. These punishments include a holding tank of sorts, where students would be led and given a talk by administration. The other possibility is just simply out kicking the offenders from the dance itself entirely. Though these methods may seem harsh, perhaps a bit of a heavy-handed approach is useful at times.
We at The Olympian believe that the best possible approach to the problem of freaking would be to remove the students in question from the dance, though there is a bit of debate on additional consequences. Some of the group wanted the offender(s) to be barred from the next dance as well, while the rest thought that removing the student from the dance was a bad enough punishment as it was.
We believe that this was the best choice because, though it is undoubtedly harsh as a punishment, a deliberately harsh consequence may discourage others from acting in the same way. Considering the fact that we were all warned about the consequences of freaking, we think that if there were people still willing to break these rules, they’ve already had their chance and shouldn’t be given just a warning.
The other ideas, such as the holding area and the wristbands are definitely good, but they would not be as effective as the more harsh punishment of immediate removal from the dance, which we feel would be the best choice. The other “consequences” aren’t exactly bad enough to discourage people from continuing their behavior.
In the end, we at The Olympian take a very serious stand on the issue of freaking. If students aren’t going to listen to the rules of the administration, then we shouldn’t give them the luxury of having a warning before punishment.
I think that the measurements suggested by the school are suitable for the problem they face. Since the school is hosting this event and endorses it, it is responsible for anything that goes on inside. And should they have reason to believe anything going on inside the dance could cause strife for the school legally or morally, they need to contain it however they see fit. You don’t like it? Fund your own dance. While I agree on the point of dancing is an art form, and taking it away could cause some proposition, one may also say that pornographic material is an art form. The US supreme court ruled that, as set by the precedent Miller Test, anything viewed as follows is considered obscene, and is not protected under the first amendment: “(a)…the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (b)…the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” That being said from a legal standpoint, I can see and agree with why the school is working on stopping it. Personally, though, I see no moral or ethical reason why it should be denied, and believe you should be able to do it when and where you want, so long as it is within rules given by said time/place.
To Desmond, agreed.
Dance is considered an art form, if you deny an art form, you are enforcing a fascist state. You want to remove students from a DANCE for DANCING? C’mon we’re not hurting anybody or anything at all, you will have record numbers of people not going to dances if you take away a dance form, so I strongly disagree with your statement, because maybe I think the way you dance is awkward, I would never want you removed from a dance. Thank you Based God.