Long Island principal cancels capitalist swine prom

[Gouda]

This decision from a Roman Catholic school, which is owned by the Society of Mary (Marianists). Not sure I go with his decision, but he's got some kind of right reasons. <br><br>(For the record, I was rooting for Kevin Bacon in <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Footloose</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, of course.) <br><br>Anna L, what does the prom committee say about this?<br><br>*******<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Long Island principal cancels prom</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Principal: School 'willing to sponsor a prom, but not an orgy'<br><br>UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- Brother Kenneth M. Hoagland had heard all the stories about prom-night debauchery at his Long Island high school:<br><br>Students putting down $10,000 to rent a party house in the Hamptons.<br><br>Pre-prom cocktail parties followed by a trip to the dance in a liquor-loaded limo.<br><br>Fathers chartering a boat for their children's late-night "booze cruise."<br><br>Enough was enough, Hoagland said. So the principal of Kellenberg Memorial High School canceled the spring prom in a 2,000-word letter to parents this fall.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake -- in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects."<br><br>"Each year it gets worse -- becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic," he said...</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Rest here: <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/16/prom.canceled.ap/index.html">edition.cnn.com/2005/US/1...index.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Can someone cancel the USA? <p></p><i></i>

[marykmusic]

For many of the same reasons, he should cancel graduation, too.<br><br>Someone always has drunk-driving accidents on graduation night, often fatal.<br><br>Alcoholic parents' children usually start drinking at a young age.<br><br>I didn't; but I'm usually an exception to any rule. However, I did everything on the list of "what not to do" as soon as I could. Drinking wasn't on the list... --MaryK <p></p><i></i>

[Avalon]

Some schools get families, staff, and local businesses together to present an alcohol-free post-graduation all-night party at a local resort. They raise funds for it all year in a multitude of ways, and there are a lot of desirable prizes given out throughout the night (I suspect things like the latest I-pods will be hot this year), to induce kids to stay there.<br><br>But in places where parents are already out of control, it might be harder to start such a tradition, without a DWI death to slap them in the face.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Gouda]

We had similar safe alternative post-prom and homecoming parties - initiated by, yeesh, parents, administrators and church people. A hip-free zone. No hip person would be caught dead or alive at those. But my real problem(s) with these guarded, though well-intentioned, after-parties is that they patronize these kids and they do it by corralling them with the materialistic promise of getting Stuff: Ipods and the like. This is just an extension of an authoritarian culture stained with consumerist obscenity. It seems unnecessarily stifling and misguided to do it that way. <br><br>This is where I might agree with the Brother Hoagland (any relation to Richard?) - you can't 'save' these kids from "financial decadence" by corralling them into a "safe" alluring space sparkling with consumer prizes - so cancel the whole damn thing! His action will not stop this from going on, but it sends a message, maybe sparks a debate, and it says that this vain, soulless greed will not be carried out in the name of the school he runs. He is probably not anti-capitalist or anti-consumerist, but when it gets that extreme...<br><br>I like spirits - whisky, wine, rum, grappa, tequila, raki, etc...and my relationship with them is respectful, life-affirming, even spiritual. Sleek pornographic marketing of alcohol promoting a herd mentality of joe sixpack over-consumption or elitist identity branding is the corrupting antithesis of approaching drink with respect, as part of a life-enhancing experience, perhaps to be shared with others, under the moon, on a crisp autumn night. Mmmmm. <br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Ted the dog]

I saw this article over the weekend...pretty crazy. I like what the principal had to say about "materialism for materialism's sake". Although I'm not sure how productive canceling the prom is going to be.<br><br>A point my girlfriend brought up....how many future potential students for that school will now opt out and try and go to a different high school that DOES have a prom? it's pathetic, but probably true. In this day and age where mothers are constantly trying to be "the cool mom" (see the movie "Mean Girls" for a perfect example) and play the part of "best friend" to their daughters rather than just being their mom, I could easily see that happening.<br><br>"NO! Do NOT got THAT high school...they don't even have a PROM!!!"<br><br>Which is ironic...because basically we're seeing a principal do what many people criticize US teachers for NOT doing....GIVING A SHIT ABOUT THE KIDS.... and now his school's enrollment will probably drop.<br><br>IMO, anyway.<br> <p></p><i></i>

[somebody]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>"It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake -- in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects."<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>I think it's fantastic what he has done! But, he will probably get fired for it. We had a huge problem from a very foo-foo mother, when we said the kids couldn't dress formally for an 8th grade final dance, in the early 90's. They ended up having their own formal party.... nice example to set for kids.<br> <br>I too, am anxiously awaiting to hear from Anna's prom committee! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[AnnaLivia]

Well, normally a headline like “principal cancels prom” would set us right to work making a principal doll to burn in effigy of course, but once we read the article we figured there’s no escaping that someone had to apply the brakes, even though the passengers wanted to hit the brick wall at high speed. It was his job, and the right thing to do as well, to realize the passengers were too drunk to leave the decision to.<br><br>We volunteer to teach these kids how to shop, because if there’s one subject we ALL excel in, it’s how to shop. Yeah, ya gotta keep your head (but when don’t ya?). Prom is wicked easy to spend on, and yeah, we all get our hair done at a REAL salon that day…and we get a new dress…and expect the guys to dress their best and bring a flower…but anybody who is spending for a night’s entertainment what we can buy a car if not a house for, needs some shopping lessons in the worst way.<br><br>We also volunteer to tell the secret truth to these kids about alcohol. Lucky for us, we have already seen through all the horsehockey your parents and this society feed you about consumption of alcoholic beverages, and some of us are straight-eights (which makes their hippie parents wonder where they went wrong), but most of us think that “getting happy” is a good thang, long as you’re smart enough to be in a safe environment and stay there, while overuse is SO no fun. We, um, learned the hard way that overuse leads to a wretched night of trying over and OVER to sell your BUICK to GOD on the great white porcelain TELEPHONE.<br><br>Most un-fun. And we have too much to do to be throwing our time away like that.<br><br>Gouda said that part really well.<br><br>We think it sucks out loud that kids could know so little about how to have real fun, how to shop, and how to drink. If the real world ever gets ahold of those kids, they’ll really have something to cry about. We feel bad for them. Could be their Committee was infiltrated by alien reptiles, for all we know, who were out to destroy prom.<br><br>As for the after-prom party, we really love the idea of somewheres fun to go so the special night can last a long time, but yeah, even our own parents here have turned it into “win a TV night”.<br><br>They seem kinda inexplicably to expect less and less of us, their own kids. And we’re kinda leary of clue-ing them onto the fact that they could and should be expecting more. ‘cause dang if adults don’t run hog wild with some ideas, and that one could backfire, we suspect.<br><br>We’re still working on after-prom. You might not know this, but it’s not easy to please an entire student body, and still get your math homework done.<br><br> <br> <p></p><i></i>