Recently, some primary schools in South West London, Surrey and Kingston have banned students from having best friends! 

No really...I wish I was kidding. Is it me or does it seem it like schools lately are more preoccupied with setting bizarre and unnecessary rules than with actually teaching our kids?

Apparently, the policy has been instated to protect kids from the emotional turmoil of having a fight with said friend. Instead, teachers are asking their students to play in big groups.

"They are doing it because they want to save the child the pain of splitting up from their best friend," educational psychologist Gaynor Sbuttoni told The Sun of the new rule. "But it is natural for some children to want a best friend." Um...yeah, obviously!

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I mean, are these people serious? I never thought I would see the day where schools would actually discourage kids from forming close social bonds. It just doesn't make any sense. Aren't they supposed to be fostering interaction and teaching kids how to deal with life situations--like fighting with your friend, for example?

The truth is, children won't learn anything if they constantly get sheltered from these important, real-world experiences. After all, those experiences are part of growing up and they're what helps shape you as a person. To this day, some of my own closest friends friends are those I met in kindergarden and though we've had our ups and downs, they are an integral part of who I am.

The only thing baning kids from forming friendships will do is make them antisocial, maladjusted and miserable--and potentially rob them of a life-long pal.

Unfortunately though, this is hardly the first time schools have pulled a ridiculous stunt like this! Below, 7 more bizarre things that schools have banned for no good reason:

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