British elementary school bans hand raising in class and opts for the ‘Fonz’

Children are always told in school to be polite and raise your hand when you have something to say, but now a British school is banning the act.

The elementary school in Bridlington, a town about 400 kilometres north east of London, is hoping to create a more relaxed classroom while at the same time making the Fonz proud.

Burlington Junior School is asking students to raise a thumb and wait to be called upon.

"It is going to make the class look like they are all imitating the Fonz from Happy Days," said one parent, who did not want to be named, to the Telegraph. "On a serious note, when these kids go up to secondary school next year they could be a laughing stock because all the other children will be putting up their hands."

"I thought it was a joke at first," said Dave Campleman, who has two children at the school, to the Telegraph. "Kids are used to putting their hands up, it is natural for them. Being told to do something different just confuses them . . . I think they should go back to the old way of putting your hand up in class."

Teachers are even putting up signs around the school to discourage hand raising. According to the Telegraph one of the campaign posters shows a red cross imposed over the image of a raised hand.

While the idea may seem different, it is not without precedent. A British study from last year shows children learn twice as quickly when they are banned from raising their hands and instead write their answers on a whiteboard and raise that in the air all at once.

The thumbs-up idea may be getting the thumbs down from many parents, but headteacher Cheryle Adams claims the approach is getting more students to speak up in class.

"Staff have noticed a positive difference in the amount of people answering questions," she told the Telegraph. "There is also no issue of children at the back of the classroom being missed or ignored."

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