Anti-Hugging Rule Questioned

* Re “No Hugs? Get a Grip, Kids Say,” Feb. 12:

I couldn’t help but feel dismayed over Principal Tammy A. Brown’s sad defense of her enforcing a no-hugging rule at Fullerton’s Nicolas Junior High.

Her labeling hugging as “inappropriate behavior” and disruptive to the learning environment displayed the same lack of depth as the assistant principal of Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach, Gayle Schenck, when she stated that enforcing the rule somehow “just makes for a safer environment.”

All of this surface nonsense took me back to the iconoclastic roots of my own teen years when our respect for authority was permanently tainted by similar paternalistic policies that may have been valid in some larger sense, but were never properly explained to the satisfaction of our own budding intellects.

The ideals of discipline and control are certainly necessary in the development of a young person’s life. However, to ban fundamental human behaviors with explanations lacking proper depth is to rob those young people of life’s true lessons and serve only to fortify the natural rebelliousness that created a need for the bans in the first place.

FRED MOFFETT

Orange

* As a member of the Nicolas Junior High School community, I would like to share my opinion and some facts about the wicked press we received.

Thanks to a person telling a story that was untrue, your newspaper has done damage to a school community that does not deserve this treatment.

You did not take the time to make sure that the incredibly damaging story had any validity. You did not take the time to think about the fallout that would come.

A story [was] fabricated in order to “be heard,” according to the student who told it (“Some Hugs Embraced by Fullerton School,” Feb. 13).

STEVE BEHAR

Teacher,

Nicolas Junior High School

* In a time when violence seems to be all around us, I find it puzzling that a junior high principal would punish students for a simple act of kindness, a hug.

Principal Tammy A. Brown went on to say that public displays of affection are not appropriate on campus and forbidding all such behavior is simply fair and consistent. All this because friends sometimes hug each other?

When I have the opportunity to walk my daughter to school and she runs over to her friends and they hug, it gives me a wonderful feeling, knowing these kids can show their feelings in a simple, uncomplicated way.

Maybe this display of friendship is what we all need to see more often. Perhaps it would serve to keep the violence at bay.

RUSSELL BOYD

Anaheim

* I was appalled and even frightened at this rule banning hugging, kissing, back patting, high fives and all other displays of affection at a Fullerton junior high school.

Principal Tammy A. Brown and her crew of obsessively paranoid parents hold a stance that was comedic enough to have me bursting into laughter with every ignorant and uncompassionate word uttered.

All of this commotion is undoubtedly linked to every parent’s worst nightmare: early sexual activity. An earnest fear, but do you really think that by stopping guys and girls hugging in the hallways it is going to stop early sexual activity?

If you do: Welcome to reality, welcome to the ‘90s and I propose that you “get a grip” and try putting your child’s feelings before your own.

Hugging is a very important part of someone’s emotional well-being. At that age it gives insecure kids the reassurance that someone cares about them and that they have people they can trust.

I think being able to have that is more important than defusing lunatic fears.

GABE BOWNE

Newport Beach

* Imagine, hugging, kissing, back patting, high fives and all other public displays of affection are prohibited at Nicolas Junior High School in Fullerton. I think the “body snatchers” have already arrived.

The Fullerton school board is overreacting, fearing that such displays of emotion will lead to sexual harassment claims and a breakdown in learning.

But creating a prison-like environment and turning the students into robots is not the solution. An educational system is supposed to nurture and provide support for students, not isolate and alienate them.

I think they are confusing encouragement of students with harassment. Everyone needs a little pat on the back once in a while--we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t

What a cold, unfeeling, desolate world it must be in this section of Fullerton. It’s just a matter of time before smiling at one another will be banned, as such behavior is too human-like.

KENNETH ZIMMERMAN

Huntington Beach