Kiss can be just a kiss
Many readers and letter writers were appalled last year by
the report out of Lexington, N.C., that a first-grade boy had
been punished for sexual harassment after kissing a girl classmate
on the cheek. All common sense, it seemed, had flown out the window.
Last week, the federal Department of Education issued guidelines
to help schools identify sexual harassment and in so doing restored
some of our faith in humanity by invoking the need for "good
judgment and common sense."
How refreshing!
The guidelines emphasize that a youngster's kiss on the cheek,
a hug by a teacher, a slap on the back from a coach do not automatically
constitute sexual harassment.
Innocent childhood behavior should not be stigmatized as "wrong"
the way it might be in an adult workplace context. For first-graders,
a kiss can be just a kiss. Congratulations to one federal bureaucracy
for its demonstration of rational thought.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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