U.K. school bans kids raising hands and opts for thumbs up

School children have been banned from putting their hands up in class – and told to do a Fonz-style thumbs up instead, the U.K's Daily Mail reports.

Parents said the rule was a joke and called it "daft".

They believe students at Burlington Junior School in East Yorkshire would look silly for imitating the Happy Days character The Fonz.

 Posters at the school show a raised arm with a thick red cross next to it and a picture of a child doing a thumbs up, Daily Mail reports.

The Daily Mail reports:

Dad-of-three Dave Campleman, 44, who has two children at the Bridlington school, said: 'I thought it was a joke at first. It's daft. I can't see the logic in it.

'Fair enough if it was across the board, but I've not heard of any other schools doing it.'

The driving instructor added: 'I think it's a bit pointless, it's not benefiting their education – they could focus on other things.

'Kids are used to putting their hands up, it is natural for them. Being told to do something different just confuses them.

'I am just bemused by it. I think they should go back to the old way of putting your hand up in class.'

Head teacher Cheryle Adams explained that the thumbs up gesture was a more positive hand signal had a "calming" effect on the eight- and nine-year-old children in the class.

The school has previously tried out other teaching methods, such as a lucky-dip system to choose pupils to answer questions.

It now hopes to introduce the new thumbs up system to its infant school, for children of just four and five.

Ms Adams said the children had accepted the non-traditional method of answering a question.

"It is to stop the pupils waving arms about, which can be distracting. It has calmed the pupils down," she said.

"Staff have noticed a positive difference in the amount of people answering questions. I don't think this approach to answering questions is a big deal. There is also no issue of children at the back of the classroom being missed or ignored."