Schools
POLL: High Schoolers Don't Kiss and Tell — Literally
Students and faculty say Hamilton doesn't have a problem with pupils getting frisky.
You can see it in the background of every teen movie and episode of Gossip Girl, but when it comes to the real world, are students really that public with public displays of affection?
Apparently, when it comes to , inappropriate hallway behavior with a teenage Valentine is a thing of the past. Even the current student handbook is complacent on the problem, simply stating the school forbids “excessive displays of affection.”
“It’s pretty vague right now,” said Denise Lindberg, the spokeswoman for the district. “Is there a problem with PDA? No, and students don’t seem to think so either.”
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Jenny Keim, Sarah Werner and Melissa Braunreiter are three Hamilton students who decided to look at PDA for their advanced placement English course. The trio did a study and presentation on how the district could improve the handbook’s language.
“We found that it’s not really a huge problem at Hamilton,” Werner said. “We seem to have a lot of active teachers who are visible to break up any inappropriate kissing. There might be stuff like pecks on the cheek, but there isn’t anything wrong with that.”
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The students even interviewed teachers at Hamilton to get a multi-generational understanding of high school PDA. According to the teachers, hallway affection at Hamilton closely mirrors their experiences from high school.
However, one thing that may have changed since their teachers were in high school is the wider acceptance of out, gay students, something far less taboo than even one generation ago.
“We don’t really see gay couples showing PDA at our school, like holding hands or anything,” Braunreiter said. “But nobody really frowns upon that. It’s very accepted, and if anyone did see it, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Keim, Werner and Braunreiter presented their findings and suggested changes to the student handbook to the committee in charge of updating the book, and “staff was really impressed” with their work.
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