Promposal Disposal

Promposal Disposal

As of April 25th, Lyme-Old Lyme students have officially been banned from “promposing” on school grounds. According to the email that was sent out to teachers, any students who participate in a promposal will “jeopardize their ability to attend the prom.” This ban has sparked a lot of controversy and discussion among students and faculty alike.

Those in favor of the ban believe that, as the email stated, promposals “have the potential to create an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation.” They fear that those being asked in public will face undue pressure to say “yes” when in reality they may not desire to go to prom with the person who asked them.

Hope Femia and myself support the opposing stance.

In my opinion, one of the problems with this ban is that the majority of those who are participating in promposals are mutually consenting couples or friends. This ban is not simply preventing uncomfortable situations; it’s eradicating the fun that leads up to prom. In regards to the minority of cases which create an uncomfortable or embarrassing situation, I will address my second point: The school should be focusing more on discouraging students from using social pressure to coerce a desirable answer, and less on ignoring the situation, pushing it off of school grounds, and ruining the fun the majority of students. It seems odd that in a school which encourages respect and good character we aren’t teaching our students to be empathetic people—people who don’t use pressure from peers to coerce others into giving the response they want. Instead our school seems to merely be shoving the responsibility off of their shoulders and off of school grounds (ruining the normally excited and enjoyable atmosphere given off by pre-prom festivities).

Hope Femia adds to this conversation with her view on the ban:

In my opinion, banning promposals from LOLHS is unfair to the majority of students who enjoy watching promposals and to those that enjoy being asked by their boyfriend, girlfriend, or close friend. I believe the underlying reason LOLHS banned promposals this year is not simply because the administration is worried that the people being asked will feel pressured into agreeing to go with the person who asked them; it is because the school is worried of their importance of being politically correct. With the recent controversy surrounding American politics (specifically our new president), citizens believe it is important to protect children from being hurt or getting their feelings hurt. In this way, society is not preparing its future working generations for the real world. By taking away promposals, you are not allowing the people who get asked to stand up for themselves: if they do not want to go with the person who is asking them, they should tell them that when they are asked. You would not be lying to the person, and you would be saving yourself a lot of anxiety. Also, I see it as if a person is willing to ask someone to prom in public, they should be able to handle rejection. Honestly, I believe banning promposals is one-sided, because the majority of students enjoy watching promposals—I know I do! To conclude, I believe that LOLHS banned promposals to not only save embarrassment for the person being asked, but also because they strive to be politically correct. The school wants to deliver the message that they will never allow anything to happen that makes any student uncomfortable, but in this case, it just does not get them ready for the real world, where they will be forced to deal with countless uncomfortable situations.

What’s your opinion on the promposal ban? Take our poll!