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Lemmy user succinctly explains why Prom became such a prominent US teen tradition
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2024
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I think there are a lot of assumptions but it is still a good read.
It's a good read, but as with absolutely any discussion around high school on platforms like this, it heavily shaded with the cynicism of the adult that looks back on their high school days bitterly and thinks little of the teenagers who don't hate it as much as they did/do.
The whole comment is based on the assumption there's some kind of FOMO-esc pressure to make prom incredible, where kids feel like they "must" go big or they'll miss out.
But it sidesteps the simpler explanation: maybe some teenagers just genuinely enjoy making prom a blowout. Going big has been part of the tradition for a long time, and maybe it's not pressure those teens are feeling, but simply excitement.
The basic notion of prom is that it is the night to go big. It is the last high school dance. It seems incredibly reductive to assume teenagers would not look forward to making it a special occasion if it weren't for outside pressure.
Everyone I knew that made prom a big deal 100% peaked in high school, and incidentally, were the "popular" kids. So, it colors the perception a bit for me.
Yeah, it is fun, but some citations would be nice.