Gross: Florida High Schoolers Too Embarassed to Shower After Gym Class

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A High School Locker Room

Dave Kaup/REUTERS

Hit the showers!” These words have struck terror in gym class students for generations. But the school shower marks more than an opportunity to towel-whip the undersized or mock the hairless or hirsute: it is a right of passage for adolescents across the United States.  Except, it seems, in Florida.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that shower stalls are staying dry in the state’s public schools because students are too embarrassed to undress in front of their peers and school staff are too afraid of lawsuits if they try to force public bathing.

(See pictures of summer school programs.)

To which Newsfeed says: “Euwww! Gross!”

Some experts agree. Cheryl Richardson, a program manager with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, told the newspaper that the lack of post-exercise showers can lead to the spread of infectious diseases such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which can be deadly.

But a solution may be at hand. At one Fort Lauderdale, Fla. high school, the athletic director has begun handing out disinfectant wipes for student athletes. And a Maryland company called (we kid you not) My Kids Stink started selling a product in May to meet the needs of students, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

(See more on what makes schools successful.)

The paper quotes Harvey Metro, an accountant and father of three boys, who came up with the idea for the large QwikShower Wipes because his kids — all athletes — did not shower at school.  “It was just kind of gross,” said Metro. “I don’t know how they walked around school like that.”

Well said, Metro, well said. NewsFeed will hold its nose next time it passes a high school.