Dancing in Bangor

The Bangor Daily today has an article about Bangor High School stopping all school dances in the last few months due to the problem of teenagers grinding on the dance floor. Now I could say alot of things in this space that would make me seem old and out of step with the times. I will attempt to limit this to just a few comments.

Online newspapers allow comments and below those articles viewers comment on the stories. Norris Nickerson, the long time principle of Bangor High, appears pictured in the article looking, well a bit like Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace, grumpy and elderly. The contrast between Mr. Nickerson and the issue at hand makes for even more humor in the situation for those who want to find humor in it.

Do I think this story represents a major problem? When one considers all the problems in the world perhaps not. To me the issue is not the overt sexual behavior of students. When I drop my son off at high school I see overt sexuality just watching the packs of kids walking into school. Girls did not dress that way when I went to school. The issue is more respect for the surroundings. For the same reason that when I see teenagers shouting F bombs in public places with no regard to who is around them, little children included, this behavior is unacceptable. We cannot shelter our children from the world. Most parents do not even try. MTV videos are abysmal examples, Top 40 radio talks about threesomes, sex acts and somehow thinks the dropping the second half of the word mother" " makes children not know what is being implied. Family viewing time on television is non existent as we struggle to find any shows we can sit and watch as a family.

Why is this so?.Because it makes money. If it was not profitable to do this we would not see this. I have no answers and every family needs to make a choice about what they will allow in their home. However you feel about sexual behavior in teenagers any adolescent is going to have to learn that treating others with respect is essential to success in life.

No parent is perfect, but let us not kid ourselves. The problems with the coarsening of our culture starts at home. We all choose what we accept as parents and what we allow in our homes as influences on our children. Mr. Nickerson is right about this not being acceptable in our schools. Those who joke about him and the situation may not judge it as serious. It is serious. We all need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what we teach our kids at home about what is acceptable.