Either the Holy Spirit has gotten smaller over the years or kids are dancing a lot closer. Because there sure doesn't seem to be much room for it between partners at school dances lately. In response to the too-close-for-comfort dancing going on at school dances, Wells and Cape Elizabeth High Schools have cracked down on one style in particular: Grinding.

Grinding involves not a pepper mill, but pelvises. And sometimes groins. Also, rear ends. Take two teenagers, add hormones, music and a little bit of friction and you get the point. The addition of one more forbidden dance to the list drew a number of reactions from visitors at MaineToday.com, and depending on who you listen to, school leaders are a bunch of prudes or kids these days are a bunch of pervs.

Anonymous jumped in to counter assertions that what's happening on school dance floors is no more harmless than the Twist or other dances that raised eyebrows in their time:

"As a teacher who has seen these dances up close and personal, I can tell you that what goes on on the dance floor is not dancing. It is a form of sex. I am not a prude and I was too young to dance the Twist but I can tell you that I have been made so uncomfortable chaperoning the dances that I now refuse to go to them."

Anyone who's been dancing in the past 15 years (because let's not kid ourselves, "grinding" is nothing new) knows how quaint Ð nay, puritanical Ð doing something like the Twist seems nowadays. But will kids at dances 20 years from now wonder what all the fuss over grinding was about? That's what scares some of you.

BC warned those defending grinding that we could be setting children upon a dirty path of no return, saying, "So what's next for those of you that approve? Why not let the young darlings 'go to the park' and rut in public the way animals do? It would appear that common decency and appropriate behavior is dead."

Picture it: a teen rutting season! "Hormonal Teen Crossing" signs along Interstate 95. And new bumper stickers: "Brake for rutting teens. It could save your life."

As another visitor demonstrated, hormones don't necessarily thin out like hair does with age. Brent seemed to think that some adults were just suffering from repression.

"Kids are always going to test and push the limits and if I could find a 50-something lady to do a little grinding and gyrating with I would too."

Maybe those highway signs will need some rethinking, after all.

Still, how to explain what's going on at these dances? Justin said to look no further than the schools themselves. Specifically, the curriculum:

"Think about it for a minute, people. These are the same children who are FORCED to learn about sexuality in the mandated sex-education classes, which, by the way, are so eloquently promoted within the public school arena."

Exactly! If we didn't teach kids that they have such things as genitals and that things like contraception existed, they'd never put two and two together and come up with things like grinding. What we need to do is ban education, not dancing!

But what do the kids think? One high school student, Tim, argued that cracking down on things like grinding could have the unintended consequence of driving kids away from school dances altogether and toward less monitored and less safe activities:

"They will party or do some shady things with their friends that may or may not involve illegal activity. If I were a parent, I would be worried what my kid was doing after the dance, not during it. That's when the 'bad stuff' happens, in case you haven't caught on yet."

Some adults posting also thought the fury over grinding was misdirected and a distraction from bigger problems kids might face. That may be true, but where do you draw the line when you're trying to create a safe yet alluring environment for kids? And one does have to feel for teachers having to act as human chastity belts. I haven't seen their contracts, but I'm guessing that's not in the job description.

As a couple of you pointed out, the problem isn't necessarily the dancing itself; it's the location. Lisa put it this way:

"Dancing is most certainly a form of expression and has evolved over the years, raising many eyebrows along the way. HOWEVER, school is not the local club Ð it is a place where learning takes place and as such there are limitations on things that might interfere with that."

So maybe if schools can't keep the dancing clean (whatever that means), they shouldn't be in the business of organizing dances in the first place. Or maybe, instead of outright bans on things like grinding (we all know how well kids respond to bans), they should look to other tactics.

Adoptadog was one of a couple people suggesting alternatives: "Instead, try some other tactics first, like instituting a dress code, more active adult supervision, different music (bring back the oldies but goodies, YMCA, Grease, and everyone's favorite, the electric slide), and maybe even those old school dancing lessons from gym class."

All valid and good suggestions, but I had to chuckle at the "Grease" suggestion; some of the lyrics on that soundtrack can make some of today's hip hop seem quaint. Just goes to show how much and how little times have changed.