PROM BAN

I read earlier in the week about a Catholic high school principal and his ban of the prom festivities for this year’s seniors. I thought the argument used was especially interesting – in the principal’s words, the main problem is the “flaunting of affluence”. Needless to say, the drugs, sex and alcohol are also of concern. But he gave priority to the financial side of it, citing the now-common practice of renting houses for after-prom parties that could go around $20,000 a night.

I went to high school in Brazil, so the prom (which we only called graduation party, if anything) was not such a big deal. I wasn’t even planning on going, but my parents and a few friends convinced me last minute – seriously, I remember I had to track someone down two hours before the party for tickets to the catering hall and such.

It was an okay event, with dancing, and I don’t particularly remember the drinking – but then again, in my home country we have a different approach to alcohol; I daresay it never occupied our thoughts that much. At the end of the night, some of us got in cabs and went home, others were picked up by parents and so forth. There was no drama. We were 17, 18 for the most part.

When I came to the US in my early twenties, I was introduced to a whole new world of “dances” and “dates”; things like homecoming, limos, frat houses and keg parties… I remember being surprised at how much people my age, or younger than me, drank. Or better yet, how drunk they could and would get, given the opportunity. Everything seemed to revolve around alcohol, even more than sex. It took me a while to grasp it all. This wasn’t common in Brazil (where legal drinking age is 18), and same for Israel, where I also lived (despite the fact that every culture probably has its own “drug” of choice).

I am not a parent, but I can’t say I completely disagree with the refusal of Kellenberg Memorial High School to condone the prom – or what it involves. But on the other hand, it seems futile, given the fact that the students’ parents are coming together to plan private prom parties as I am writing this here.

It seems to me that younger people (ok, I thought that young people would make me sound too old, I’m only 33!) in the United States believe that they can only have fun when they are stupidly inebriated, and that all excesses are allowed during prom night, Halloween, St. Patrick’s etc. Maybe it is not a cliché – maybe they are truly repressed, and/or bored. And as American culture goes (unfortunately), maybe they think that money can do away with both their boredom and repression by financing a little fun.