CNN picked up the story of girls being told they could not say no to dancing with any boy thaf asked.

They reported that Weber County School District sent out a policy that girls may politely decline to dance.

Small victory for humanity.

Now if CNN will pick up on the bishop interviews!

I went to high school my junior year there. Attended a couple of proms, with a date. There was no such requirement ever mentioned when I attended in more conservative times than now.

It doesn't make sense to me, unless someone took the etiquette idea and went berserk.

I think 6th grade is too young for a dance.

The policy was to make sure everyone was included.

I remember they tried a 6th grade dance with us. No one was interested in dancing. So they assigned everyone a partner. We still refused to dance.

Finally the teacher called off the dance. Sent everyone to set up the refreshments outside and we had a picnic with music.

I suppose it depends on how you define a dance. Where I work, dances are often held during the school day for elementary and middle schoolers. Most of the kids dance in groups or do line dancing. Some kids pair off. Many kids use it as an opportunity to listen to some music, visit with their friends, eat snacks, and do some dancing. It's not a big deal either way.

It only becomes a big deal if one feels that boys and girls *must* dance in couples.

But we all want inclusion, right?

Maybe the liberal they hired that came up with this idea didn't realise he/she was in Utah

Maybe next time the girls and boys can just line up and be assigned a dance partner. Or maybe their parents can arrange something, like often in real life

Which liberal is that? What is his/get name and liberal credentials? Or are you making biased stuff up for fun?

ProvoX Wrote:
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> Maybe the liberal they hired that came up with
> this idea didn't realise he/she was in Utah

From the comments on the Trib's article:

"This has been a tradition here for over 30 years and for 30 years kids have looked forward to these dances."

Gee, looks like they didn't hire some liberal who came up with it. And that it's a "conservative Utah" tradition for over 30 years.

Oops.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2018/02/14/utah-elementary-school-students-no-longer-have-to-say-yes-when-asked-to-dance/comments/#disqus_thread

Awesome progress! They used to not be able to say "no" to
marriage proposals from already married geezers.

"politely" ?

Who defines "politely" ?

They are just supposed to say no thank you. Not you're too ugly or you have cooties or what ever 6th graders say.

Growing up outside of Utah, some of the people who were un-popular or didn't fit-in well at school, fit quite well in to our social group at church. We would see eachother at seminary in early mornings, say "hi" to eachother when passing at school, and then spend some evenings and weekends together at church activities. A friend of mine from the 'nerd-class' at school, took one of the most popular cheer-leaders (friends from church) to the senior prom. Most of the other kids at school never figured out how they knew eachother or why she would go with him.

Point being, if the church leaders lead correctly, the girls should be able to say "no" to dancing with a specific boy, but probably won't in most cases.

Girls said no when I was (trying to) 'grow[ing] up' [LDS]. I don't know why I asked (some of) them anyway. If a girl asked us boys, we had to say yes! We couldn't touch each other though. We were too far apart.

M@t

Yeah, but it's still stuck in the old boys-ask-girls tradition. How about girls asking boys as well?

Can't have that, because it would mean fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice! dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

To be fair. Supposedly there was a way girls could ask boys. At no point was it boys ask only.

The whole point was that one person was told they could not refuse another. So much for free agency.

Now the school supports them saying a simple no thank you but it took international media and one angry parent to change the policy.

And only in navel gazing Utard is this news? WTF?

CNN carried the story as part of their abusive husband/me too threads.

Lethbridge Reprobate Wrote:
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> And only in navel gazing Utard is this news? WTF?


Meanwhile, in parts of the Bible Belt, they would be arguing whether dancing should even be allowed.

I get that on the surface this might look like a good thing, but I actually think they are exacerbating a more pressing problem than the one they think they are fixing (see last paragraph). I used to live in the boundaries of this school. My kids went to these dances in 6th grade. Luckily, they were the subject of a few crushes and they thought it was mildly fun. Other kids were not so lucky, but the dance cards helped minimize the pain for those who were really shy or just judged substandard for mystery reasons by the other kids. Girls got the same number of "picks," being the one who did the asking, as the boys. The dance cards and the rule that if you got asked you let whoever asked you sign your dance card were a good thing. (In my opinion, a better thing would have been not to hold a Valentine's Dance for babies in the first place but no one asked me.) This is a relatively snobby school. The kids learn young who is acceptable material to associate with and who is "less than." (Guess which group nonmormons typically get put into?) Traditionally, there are a lot of snobby, mean kids at the school. The dance is held during class time, during the day. So if someone's parent decides the kid's got to go to school, whether they want to dance or not, that kid is going to be required to participate in it. Just thinking about it makes me hurt for those kids.

All this will do is make it so that there is a certain subpopulation that will be labeled unworthy of anyone dancing with them and everyone will "politely" turn them down. Even the kids who initially don't set up the pecking order will get wind of it and not want anything to do with the poor kids at the bottom because they will be afraid associating with these supposed bottom dwellers will get them blackballed from the in (mean/snob) crowd. It is a license for the kids at the top of the pecking order and the wanna-be crowd to rub salt in the wounds of those at the bottom.

I am privy to certain information about the high school this elementary school eventually feeds into. (I don't have a link or anything so I suppose the actual number I'm going to quote is technically hearsay, but the person I got it from knows the high school intimately and should have a pretty accurate picture.) They are just barely past the half year mark and there have been 16 suicides out of that high school so far this year. 16! One is too many and we're looking at 16 with still half the school year to go?!! My point is that kids don't need any more license to be mean to anyone who is different or deemed unworthy of being treated with basic human dignity; they are already awful to each other in way too many cases and that's at least part of why we have these heartbreaking stats! Wrong call, in my opinion, to cave in on the rule change. A much better solution would be to do away with the dance and save that for a more age appropriate time, and a time when it's after school so that kids who don't want to be humiliated can more easily opt out (without haggling with a parent for permission to skip school in order to avoid it). Most kids need a lesson in being kind to each other *far* more than they need a lesson on dancing/dating. What is so objectionable about treating others, even those outside your own little circle, with a little bit of compassion?!

To ANYTHING! A question, a dance, a date! Yea.

Any (non-mormon ladies) girls [women] here want to go (COME) ON a date? Tell me what you are like and I'll share with you - and the world - what I love and how I live. What? I am/ am I am cereal/ serious! Remarks and emails are welcome. I am playing. Its the work I do! You? Make it GOOD or make it GREAT. I Won't be late mate!

You can say no. I might say no. I know! You know? We'll take it slow... and quickly pick up steam. It's the dream! It'll never die. I might have pie in my eye(s). It's what makes me cry. Not the pie in the sky if you wonder why.

Happy Valentine's Day ladies and gentlemen.

M@t

I always had a rule for myself regarding dancing.....I always accepted if a girl asked me to dance. Always. I figured if they saw something in me that was enough to approach me and ask, it was the least I could do....it's only a dance. And rejection can be tough on kids/ young adults.

Kids are animals and can be evil. I recall in 7th grade, the snobby popular girls, cheerleader types, were ridiculing the girls from poor families.

Bless his heart, Mr. Lord publicly chastised the snobs, and made them clean toilets in the bathroom to put them in their place.

Of course, Mr. Lord didn't last long and went back to work in the lumber mill.

Character development is no longer allowed in our government schools. You treat people decently only if you feel like it.