Jack Kingston: “Let me tell the gentleman, I will give three examples. A teacher in Saint Mary's, Georgia, told me that she had just…”

“Let me tell the gentleman, I will give three examples. A teacher in Saint Mary's, Georgia, told me that she had just returned from Athens, Georgia, where she went to a seminar where they taught teachers from all over the State how to behave around students. What they meant by that is one has to be careful to never be alone with a student because they might do something to the student. They should never go to a bathroom or a gym locker room alone with a student. These are prudent things, but then they went on to say one should not ever hug a student and one should avoid being with a student after class hours. Now think about that for those who may be a little slow on algebra, need to hear the grammar for a second time in order to get it. I had to often go back after class and talk to the teachers. They are telling these teachers not to do that. The worst part is she told me they were told not to hug the students, and she said I live in an area where we have a lot of young families, a lot of military families, dads are away, on ships in the Navy a long time. Some of these kids are actually from a broken home. They need a hug a lot more than they need an A. She went at taxpayers' expense to hear from the bureaucrats at the State Department of Education, who heard from the bureaucrats in the Washington Department of Education, do not hug your children down in Saint Marys, Georgia. I think this teacher was capable of making her own decisions.”