Slog May 6, 2013 12:39 PM

Lunchtime Quickie: Students Suspended for Twerking?!

by Kelly O

Comments

1
The kids here aremuch more sensible than the school officials.

A lot of people on Slog say they don't want children, usually imagining things like lost sleep, the restrictions on doing what they want, or the fights and struggles. None of that fazes me in the least, but I worry about dealing with moronic parents and school officials and their trumped up moral panics. THAT is going to be truly hellish.
Matt from Denver on May 6, 2013 at 12:47 PM · Report this
2
They're shaking their asses like a stripper, on school grounds and posting it to Youtube, hope they enjoy the suspension.
Kinison on May 6, 2013 at 12:48 PM · Report this
3
Graduating from high school reflects on the school that graduated you, and implies that you presumably have enough sense to think like an adult and think things through. That the kids are being suspended for a week and denied access to prom for this jackassery is fair. The school could barred them from graduating too.
Knat on May 6, 2013 at 12:49 PM · Report this
5
@1. Since when is calling out bad behavior in kids a moral panic?
raindrop on May 6, 2013 at 1:07 PM · Report this
7
I'm an old fart whose daughters are in their twenties and I fail to see what's so bad about this dance move. It's kinda tacky, but I've seen much lewder back in the 1970's. The kids aren't nekkid.
swing state voter on May 6, 2013 at 1:13 PM · Report this
8
whores!

burn them at the stake!!

or at least give Lululemon a kickback.
Rowlf on May 6, 2013 at 1:13 PM · Report this
9
@ 5, in a world where bullying is still tolerated by school officials, especially conservative strongholds like SD, this doesn't rate as "bad behavior." And worrying about a high school senior's expression of sexuality DOES rate as miral panic.
Matt from Denver on May 6, 2013 at 1:20 PM · Report this
10
Moral, not miral.
Matt from Denver on May 6, 2013 at 1:21 PM · Report this
11
I watched the video muted at work. The incontinent camera work only made the actual twerking less appealing. I understand some people like twerking, I accept that, I've come to terms with it, but upside down wall handstand twerking? I don't know, that's a bit much.
Zebes on May 6, 2013 at 1:24 PM · Report this
12
@9
Winner.
Foggen on May 6, 2013 at 1:45 PM · Report this
13
Oh, please.

Srsly? Suspended for this? From a public school?

Sure, if they were in some tight-assed parochial school, I could see that happening. But, public school? Really? Some school board members evidently have a problem.
Brooklyn Reader on May 6, 2013 at 2:03 PM · Report this
14
@9: Bad behavior includes being inappropriate and tacky.
raindrop on May 6, 2013 at 2:05 PM · Report this
15
@ 14, how so? Who is harmed?
Matt from Denver on May 6, 2013 at 2:09 PM · Report this
16
@14:
Wrong again.

Obscene behavior is bad behavior, but just tacky isn't or there'd be a lot more suspensions around here given the clothing I've seen.
swing state voter on May 6, 2013 at 2:17 PM · Report this
17
I never commented on the suspension, that's debatable. But whether you define the behavior as bad, inappropriate, tacky, silly, or stupid - I say it deserves an admonishment in some form.
We've already had a generation of bratty "do-as-I-please" kids turn into a generation of bratty "do-as-I-please" adults - so those that have no problem with that there's absolutely nothing I can say to elevate your uncivil perspectives.
raindrop on May 6, 2013 at 2:35 PM · Report this
18
WTF? Might as well suspend the cheerleaders, wrestlers, and swimmers while they're at it.
cracked on May 6, 2013 at 2:36 PM · Report this
19
I appreciated too how the report found some lily white student reps to denounce it, while everyone else was asking what the big deal was. Those people are future civil leaders!
cracked on May 6, 2013 at 2:37 PM · Report this
20
On school GROUNDS!!! Oh, my stars!

[clutches pearls, swoons on couch]

At least now I know what this "twerking" is. From the context on TWIB podcasts, I was guessing it meant "vomiting." How embarrasking.
ScrawnyKayaker on May 6, 2013 at 2:39 PM · Report this
21
I couldn't watch, my new AT&T super fast LTE service keeps timing out. I will say, I am confused by what people younger than me do. In fact, my disgust with those younger than appears to be increasing linearly with my age. Who would have guessed?
ScienceNerd on May 6, 2013 at 2:42 PM · Report this
22
@17 How about a response that's proportionate to the "offense?" E.g., call them into the principal's office and say "Dudes, you're making us look like idiots. If you want to embarrass yourselves, do it at the mall."

@18 Good point. If you're holding a pair of pom-poms, shaking your ass while wearing next to nothing is "school spirit."
ScrawnyKayaker on May 6, 2013 at 2:50 PM · Report this
23
The premise of the report that the kids in the video are innocent victims of the Evil Video Editor is hilarious.

"Little did they know the video this Evil Video Editor was shooting would show up on (*dun-dun-DUHNNNN*) YOUTUBE!"

Because apparently all of the willing participants in this video live in an alternate universe where it's 2001.
lopes on May 6, 2013 at 2:51 PM · Report this
25
And the hall monitors come out on the side of overreacting authoritarianism. Whoda thunk?

@24 and @9 nailed it. And @22's hypothetical response is what you would have seen at a school with sensible administrators.
LJM on May 6, 2013 at 3:18 PM · Report this
26
@ 17, here's where you're tripping over yourself.

Since when is calling out bad behavior in kids a moral panic?


I never commented on the suspension...


This isn't an issue because some kids were behaving as kids have since kids have existed. (Whether we're now more permissive is one thing, but it's pure fiction to imply that brattiness is a new thing resulting from that, as you do.)

Now, I had asked you what the harm was. You have ignored that completely. Do you believe behavior is truly bad if it's harmless? If so, why? You have to be specific.
Matt from Denver on May 6, 2013 at 3:28 PM · Report this
27
@22: Works for me.
@24: You know what I meant, you're just being snarky.
raindrop on May 6, 2013 at 3:29 PM · Report this
28
@17 Kids these days derp derp derp
sirkowski on May 6, 2013 at 7:40 PM · Report this
29
*yawn*

I know with the internet and whatnot it is different today. BTW so do the kids. Twerking as part of a project for a video class (yeah thats what this was its about 43 seconds into the posted vid report), yeah I can totally see why the kids did this. It is a creative project in a lot of ways, apparently not so well exicuted but it had potential.

Posting it on Youtube not such a good idea but the logical step these days. Tons of crap is posted and if adults would remember their adolesence's sense of humor this could have gone viral in a positive, funny and yes educational way.
Machiavelli was framed on May 6, 2013 at 9:00 PM · Report this