April 13, 2010While reading the N.Y Times I stumbled through an article that I found very interesting. It was about this high school in Manhattan that was trying to demote underage drinking and usage of drugs by holding the prom on a school night.
Holding Prom on a School Night
It's a tradition for teenagers to hit the Manhattan clubs or make a road trip to the Jersey Shore after prom. Pearl River High School has scheduled this year’s junior and senior proms for school nights. And the morning after each one, the principal and the Parent Teacher Association will be waiting at the school door: anyone not there by 7:34 a.m. sharp will be unable to make up academic work or participate in sports events that day. They are trying to demote alcohol and drug usage for minors after prom. Parents and educators across the country have tried for years to wrest control of after-prom traditions, using measures like sleepovers in school gyms, no-alcohol pledges and proms scheduled for the night before graduation, unfortunately non of those methods really worked.
Nonetheless, students threatened a boycott and circulated a petition calling for the proms to be moved back to Fridays. They protested that they were being punished for the bad behavior of a few. Some parents also criticized the school for interfering with their right to decide what was best for their children, they felt as if the school was calling them irresponsible parents that can't take care of their own children and know what they will be doing.
Personally I too would boycott the prom. I would get the whole student body to plan their own prom their own way in the day desired. By doing that no one could really control what they wanted for theme, the day, the location or the timing.
“Honestly, it just seems pointless,” said Bridget Mathis, 16, who planned to skip her junior prom, scheduled for Wednesday.When you’re thinking about having a good time, you’re not thinking of going out on a Wednesday night.”
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