Twerking Suspension

By: Fedor Gaponenko

A group of high school kids have been suspended for making a YouTube video clip of twerking. For those who don’t know twerking is a hip-hop dance style that involves a lot of hip and bottom shaking.

While the dance may be inappropriate it doesn’t seem that it should warrant the suspension of 33 San Diego high school students. These students may also face being banned from prom, commencement and other school activities as part of the overall suspension, ABC 10 also reported.

I can imagine students being suspended for drugs, fighting, bullying, and skipping class and other harmful behaviors, but being suspended for inappropriate dancing video seems a bit over the top.

I’m not supporting their behavior or saying that such dancing should be allowed on school grounds, but what lesson does this suspension teach? Wouldn’t it be more productive to gather the students and talk with them, explain why they shouldn’t have made this video?  

In my opinion the video is a lot less harmful than other activities high school students can engage in. These students could easily be under-age drinking, doing drugs or having unprotected sex, making a video with provocative dance moves seems like it should be one of the least of worries for a public school.

If there’s a lesson to be learned I hope the students and faculty learn it, but hopefully the suspension is over quickly and they don’t get banned from other school activities.