Eye of the Editors: PDA
Guidance counselors need to pay more attention to excessive public displays of affection during break times, rather than allow them to cause discomfort to other students.
February 24, 2016
Attention students of Diamond Bar High School—please, keep your hands to yourself. Tucked away in the pages of the DBHS official student handbook and planner is a rule that much of the student body seems unfamiliar with, one that prevents “excessive displays of affection.” While it may seem like a rational request for a school campus that is inhabited by thousands of minors, this rule is hardly enforced. As a result, students are subjected every passing period and lunch break to overtly enthusiastic public displays of affection that unfortunately, are ignored by faculty.
It is not the innocent acts of holding hands, hugging, or pecks on the cheek that are surprisingly allowed to occur on campus, but rather the inappropriate conduct that occurs behind columns and corners, places that students have learned to shield their eyes from while walking by. Teenage love may be a pure force, fueled by hormones and lust, but it does not need to be acted out in front of others. These occurrences are bound to happen, but it is the administration’s duty to prevent them. The sneers and uncomfortable eye contact of others is obviously not enough to cease the madness. As awkward as it is to approach a couple making physical contact, the job must be done.
As these excessive displays of affection continue to run rampant on campus, there is still no official rule dedicated solely to stopping them. The mention of these acts is shoved into a single sentence, one that also deals with “disruptive behavior,” in the third level of the guidelines for student conduct.
As this issue has been prevalent on campus for many years, it is surprising that is has not been mentioned in a larger way. It may be common sense to many, but without any ramifications, the participating students cannot be blamed.
