The plague of PDA at SCHS: Why kissing on campus is not cool

By: Julia Wilson | Head Editor

March 6, 2020

There is one inescapable thing that seems to plague San Clemente High School today–it is not bullying, it is not the flu, and it is not even teenage nicotine addiction.

Instead, it is the raging PDA or “public displays of affection” that seem to follow you around wherever you are on the SCHS campus. A school campus should be a safe place for students, focused on learning and growing, but it can be challenging to even focus on where you are walking when you are forced to navigate through students who cannot keep their hands off of each other.

“No one wants to see people smacking their lips together when we’re half-awake after first period,” San Clemente High School senior Trey Benedict said. Benedict compares just how awkward the PDA here on campus makes him feel to “when I’m watching a movie with my parents and a PG-13 scene comes on, it’s just so awkward for everyone involved.”

Not only does it make the students here at SCHS uncomfortable, but the poor teachers that have to walk around the corner to find their students performing CPR on each other is just weird and gross. For many students, PDA makes any situation, regardless of who is involved, just plain uncomfortable.

In a poll, 140 random Triton students were asked a simple yes or no question: “Do you think PDA belongs on a school campus?” The results yielded in 120 votes for no and 20 votes for yes, overall reflecting that out of 140 students, over 75% of them agreed that PDA does NOT belong on a school campus.

While most students are against the excessive PDA here on campus, those who are not bothered by it don’t seem to recognize it at all. 

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable or anything,” SCHS senior Genavieve Koenigshofer said. “More importantly, it’s not my place to tell other people how to act.”

Although it is important for students here at SCHS to explore their independence and create happy and long-lasting relationships on campus, there comes a point where it hinders other students from reaching their full potential. Whether you are a student or teacher, witnessing PDA is extremely uncomfortable and makes it challenging to take SCHS as a sophisticated learning environment. So, if you are ever unsure whether you are engaging in PDA or not, it is just best to keep your hands to yourself, keep your eyes on homework, and keep the lovey-dovey buisness off of campus.