Schools Are Now Working On Ways To Ban Students From Becoming “Best Friends”

Schools Are Now Working On Ways To Ban Students From Becoming “Best Friends”

A minority of educators across the United States and Europe are working to eliminate the concept of “best friends” among their students. Because this practice often isolates people and makes them feel left out, they want every student to feel welcome and part of the crowd. In short, they want their institutions to be more “inclusive.” They decided the best way to get there is to take the concept of “best friends” away from children.

The movement was thrown into the international spotlight after Prince Harry and Kate Middleton spoke about how they enrolled their son George into Thomas’s Battersea prep school located in South London.

The school aims to teach children to “be kind” to everyone. This means that they discourage their students from having a “best friend” and instead demand the children interact with all children, so they have numerous friends.

Prince George’s school only “discourages” students from having best friends. Other institutions hope to ban the practice of this type of friendship from their facilities.

WCBS-TV in New York has reported that some American schools are actively working to ban the practice of “best friends.” And education experts are eating it up.

For example, clinical psychologist Dr. Barbara Greenberg loved the idea and is happy that schools are finally picking it up.

“There has been a movement in some American schools and European schools to ban the phrase ‘best friend.’ … The idea of banning the phrase ‘best friends’ is a very intriguing social experiment.”

Although dictating to students that they cannot use the phrase won’t stop them from having a best friend, Goldberg agrees that “close relationships” can be isolating. She hopes the practice is a step toward a more inclusive educational system that discourages cliques and bullying.

“I see kids come in all week long who are feeling dreadful because they are excluded and because they are either nobody’s best friend or their best friend has moved on… Let’s face it, you can’t ban somebody from having a close relationship, and you can’t really band somebody from having a best friend but what the schools are trying to do is foster the idea of kids having more than a single friend.”

While the British have been working to ban best friends for years, it is starting to become more mainstream and gain steam across the pond in America.

Readers of The Blaze are outraged that this British fad is spreading through American schools.

“The lunacy of the left knows no bounds.”

“This is one of the reasons my son no longer goes to public schools.”

“Can they still have a favorite color? Best loved snack?”

A skeptic saw this going way too far.

“What happens when we tell our kids their future spouses should be their best friends? Will the friendship police intervene? No, your mommy and daddy cannot be best friends?”

One viewer commented on how this practice could help reduce the number of school shootings.

“They don’t want other kids to feel excluded. Possibly also want to make sure cliques don’t start. Most school shootings are kids who felt secluded and outcasted.”

Do you think banning best friends will be a good thing for American students?