Every dance I’ve attended in high school had “grinding” as the featured thing to do. According to Wikipedia, “grinding is a type of close partner dance where two or more dancers rub their bodies (especially the genitalia) against each other in a sexually suggestive manner.”

Of course, there was some controversy among administrators about this particular type of dancing, and some administrators even went so far as to walk in between students who were grinding in order to make room for “the holy ghost.” Most students tended to blow off or laugh at the administration’s attempt to keep students away from each other.

Now some administrations across the country have taken up this anti-grinding cause, banning this type of dancing from school dances. One Delaware school made its students sign a contract promising they would not grind at dances.

This has enraged many students, and some have planned dances off school property to protest the school dances. At one Vermont high school, student refusal to attend the upcoming dance where grinding was banned led to the cancellation of the dance.

The ban becomes a problem when protesting students decide to plan out-of-school dances. There, they more than likely have few or no chaperones to monitor their dancing or any other activities in which they decide to participate.

This move may hurt more than help the administrators’ attempts to keep their students’ purity intact. It seems almost logical that if their students can’t grind at their school dances, then they may find somewhere else to do it. Because of students’ protests, some schools may face a financial burden because of a lack of ticket sales.

Rules such as the grinding ban show a lack of respect on the administrations’ part toward their students. Though a ban on grinding may be fine for younger students, such as those in middle school, high school is where students are supposed to be treated with more respect because they are supposed to be more mature.

In these cases, the administration no longer treats students as the future adults of America, but instead as the children they were considered to be in junior high. This creates a lack of respect on the students’ part from the administration.

Rules banning grinding may, at the end of the day, accelerate what the administration seems to fear and cause discontent throughout schools.

It seems as though, in failing to view their students as adults, the administrations ban on grinding shows a refusal to compromise with their students. It seems that many schools would rather ban grinding outright than talk to their students about why they have problems with grinding. Perhaps if they had treated the students respectfully and discussed the subject rather than banning the now-forbidden dance altogether, there would be far less student outcry.

KC Aransen is a sophomore psychology major from Arlington.