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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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 Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:58 am Post subject: Of Elites and Their Spoiled Children... |
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UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- Brother Kenneth M. Hoagland had heard all the stories about prom-night debauchery at his Long Island high school:
Students putting down $10,000 to rent a party house in the Hamptons.
Pre-prom cocktail parties followed by a trip to the dance in a liquor-loaded limo.
Fathers chartering a boat for their children's late-night "booze cruise."
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.
"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."
"Each year it gets worse -- becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic," he said.
"We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility. [Kellenberg] is willing to sponsor a prom, but not an orgy."
The move brought a mixed, albeit passionate, reaction from students and parents at the Roman Catholic school, which is owned by the Society of Mary (Marianists), a religious order of priests and brothers.
"I don't think it's fair, obviously, that they canceled prom," said senior Alyssa Johnson of Westbury. "There are problems with the prom, but I don't think their reasons or the actions they took solved anything."
Hoagland began talking about the future of the prom last spring after 46 Kellenberg seniors made a $10,000 down payment on a $20,000 rental in the Hamptons for a post-prom party.
When school officials found out, they forced the students to cancel the deal; the kids got their money back and the prom went on as planned.
But some parents went ahead and rented a Hamptons house anyway, Hoagland said.
Amy Best, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at George Mason University in Virginia and the author of "Prom Night: Youth, Schools and Popular Culture," said this is the first time she has heard of a school canceling the prom for such reasons.
"A lot of people have lamented the growing consumption that surrounds the prom," she said, noting it is not uncommon for students to pay $1,000 on the dance and surrounding folderol: expensive dresses, tuxedo rentals, flowers, limousines, pre- and post-prom parties.
Best pinned some of the blame for the burgeoning costs on parents, who are often willing to open their wallets for whatever their child demands.
"It is a huge misperception that the kids themselves are totally driving this," she said.
Edward Lawson, the father of a Kellenberg senior, said he and other parents are discussing whether to organize a prom without the sponsorship of the 2,500-student school.
"This is my fourth child to go through Kellenberg and I don't think they have a right to judge what goes on after the prom," he said. "They put everybody in the category of drinkers and drug addicts. I don't believe that's the right thing to do."
Some parents waiting to pick up their children on a recent afternoon said they support Hoagland.
"The school has excellent values," said Margaret Cameron of Plainview. "We send our children here because we support the values and the administration of the school and I totally back everything they do."
Hoagland said in an interview that parents, who pay $6,025 in annual tuition, have expressed appreciation for his stern stand.
"For some, it [the letter] was an eye-opener," he said. "Others feel relieved that the pressure is off of them."
Chris Laine, a senior from Rockville Centre, said the cancellation was "unfortunate, but you can't really argue with the facts they present. ... It's just what it's evolved into. It's not what it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago. It's turned into something it wasn't originally intended to be."
Besides, Laine noted, the senior class still has a four-day trip to Disney World scheduled for April.
"We go to all the parks with our friends," Laine said just before hopping into his jet-black Infiniti and driving off to meet friends for an after-school snack.
"We fly down together and stay in the same hotel and so it's not like we're totally losing everything." |
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/16/prom.canceled.ap/index.html |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| Spoiled little s-h-i-t-s. |
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Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:34 am Post subject: ... |
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| Spoiled little s-h-i-t-s. |
And daddy got his "tax relief". 
Any stories about the "welfare princesses"? |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| Playing the devil's advocate here, just what is a school that thinks it can control its students beyond school sponsored events and off school grounds? Hey, they have every right to deny students entry into a prom if they're boozed up or high and control behavior while at a school function, but I think its totally ridiculous for a school to be concerned about behavior a a rented house or boat, etc. IMO this is a problem with what society expects of schools. Schools are not for being a parent or a social teacher (no matter how much you liberals "feel" it should be) but rather for education. You know, having a student know how to write or even read their diploma would be a good thing. If you can't teach the basics effectively then how can you expect to teach your morals to students? Yes, I know this is a private, Catholic school but plenty of public schools are guilty of the same kind of thing. Flame away! |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:31 am Post subject: |
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No need to flame. The school was within its rights to cancel the prom. That is a school-sponsored event.
I also remember a pretty sensationalist story a while back concerning some students who used the journalism club's video equipment to film some female students doing strip teases after school, in a private residence.
Everybody was talking about it. The administration found out. And the school punished them, citing misuse of school property, private residence, and after-school time or not.
I don't remember how the case was resolved. |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:36 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| No need to flame. The school was within its rights to cancel the prom. That is a school-sponsored event. |
True enough, but the reasons they cite are ones that fall outside the scope of the school's responsibility. It's like a school saying "We're cancelling all athletic events because buttered popcorn is bad for people."
OK, maybe not. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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| no, it would be as if the school canceled football games (and perhaps other athletic events) because the post-game parties were full of drunk teenagers. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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Would this story have been news if it were a middle-class school in Duluth instead of spoiled brats in the Hamptons?
Ken:> |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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Kids in a middle-class school in Duluth do not put down $10,000 down payments on $20,000-a-night party houses.
This story is not about boozing but rather flaunting wealth. |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
Kids in a middle-class school in Duluth do not put down $10,000 down payments on $20,000-a-night party houses.
This story is not about boozing but rather flaunting wealth. |
Again, I don't see what business it is of the school's that someone is throwing money around. |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| no, it would be as if the school canceled football games (and perhaps other athletic events) because the post-game parties were full of drunk teenagers. |
Do people think parties will go away because football games are canceled? One has nothing to do with the other. Unless, of course, they're partying on the football field. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Moldy Rutabaga wrote: |
Would this story have been news if it were a middle-class school in Duluth instead of spoiled brats in the Hamptons?
Ken:> |
I've been to Duluth. It's a helluva depressing city.
I've always felt it's probably better kids born to wealth actually grow up with only other wealthy kids around their same social status. When I went to catholic high school in Windsor, you had the entire social strata. The rich kids eventually hit an age where they realize "they" are rich and enjoy certain privileges that other students don't. Nice Florida tans during spring break, nice clothes, a car, etc. They don't grasp that they only have this by an accident of birth and the hard work of their parents. They begin to assume they're entitled to it. They're just naturally superior and this is theirs by right. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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| wannago wrote: |
| Gopher wrote: |
Kids in a middle-class school in Duluth do not put down $10,000 down payments on $20,000-a-night party houses.
This story is not about boozing but rather flaunting wealth. |
Again, I don't see what business it is of the school's that someone is throwing money around. |
It's a Catholic school. They teach morality, too. That's one of the things about this story: these are good Catholic kids who are boozing, doing drugs, and organizing orgies on prom night. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 4:46 am Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| wannago wrote: |
| Gopher wrote: |
Kids in a middle-class school in Duluth do not put down $10,000 down payments on $20,000-a-night party houses.
This story is not about boozing but rather flaunting wealth. |
Again, I don't see what business it is of the school's that someone is throwing money around. |
It's a Catholic school. They teach morality, too. That's one of the things about this story: these are good Catholic kids who are boozing, doing drugs, and organizing orgies on prom night. |
Absolutely. As a private school they can do any damned thing they want - including legislating morality. However, I think they could have taken a different approach that didn't punish what is likely the majority of kids whose nights likely would have been a good bit more tame. Baby with the bath water. |
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