No Hugging Allowed

When I was in junior high school at Laurel Hall, one of the stupidest incidents I witnessed was the school principal using the public address system to reprimand a student who was hugging his girlfriend. It was after school and I couldn't believe the principal thought it was somehow within his right to limit this display of affection. The pair wasn't making out, the boy simply had his arms around her while she opened her locker.

Well, it's a few decades later and apparently this no-hugging rule has become widespread. The story today is of Sky View Middle School in Bend, Oregon. Its detention of 14-year-old Cazz Altomare for hugging her boyfriend has "infuriated" her mother, Leslee Swanson.

Sky View Principal Bill Wurtz justifies the no-touch policy because "Two eighth-graders walking down the hall holding hands might make some sixth-graders feel embarrassed". So there you go, individual freedom is sacrificed so younger kids aren't embarrassed. Once again we hear the for the kids mantra.

"The more people blindly accept these fundamental rights being taken away from them, the easier it becomes for them to be taken away" Swanson said.