Prom Queens & Ed Reform
If American schools are stages where our children act out and explicate our societal values, then perhaps this week's focus isn't only about dancing pineapples and whether parents have the legal right to shield their children from harmful bubbling. Maybe we should be scrutinizing another springtime tradition: the school prom.
The word "prom" entered the American dictionary in 1894, and Dorothy Parker notably wisecracked, pre-Depression, that if all the women who went to the prom at Yale were laid end to end, she wouldn't be surprised. The prom's been an institution almost as long as there has been secondary education. And it now costs more than $1000, on average, for kids to attend.
A few years ago, high school teachers in my small town, concerned about students who felt left out of the festivities because they couldn't afford to go, dreamed up and pushed through a kind of retro prom, held in the high school gym, with $10 tickets, simple decorations, donated prizes and little perks like having teachers (in formal wear) serve as valet attendants. There was a program to recycle/swap costly prom dresses, and an announcement that this year, tuxes were optional. Staff members started urging their students: Are you going to
The word "prom" entered the American dictionary in 1894, and Dorothy Parker notably wisecracked, pre-Depression, that if all the women who went to the prom at Yale were laid end to end, she wouldn't be surprised. The prom's been an institution almost as long as there has been secondary education. And it now costs more than $1000, on average, for kids to attend.
A few years ago, high school teachers in my small town, concerned about students who felt left out of the festivities because they couldn't afford to go, dreamed up and pushed through a kind of retro prom, held in the high school gym, with $10 tickets, simple decorations, donated prizes and little perks like having teachers (in formal wear) serve as valet attendants. There was a program to recycle/swap costly prom dresses, and an announcement that this year, tuxes were optional. Staff members started urging their students: Are you going to
