Not surprisingly, most students weren't thrilled with the idea. But at least one girl, interviewed on Good Morning America the morning following the prom, said the students had a good time, even though they couldn't stay out drinking all night, or head to the beach for the rest of the weekend. In essence, the parents and principal took away the (very strong) temptation to drink on prom night. But is this the right approach?
The story caught my eye, because my oldest son, Jason, went to a Junior Prom at Abington High School a couple of weekends ago, and will be going to Lower Merion's Senior Prom next weekend. At the LM Prom, all kids have to agree to take "Breath-a-lyzer" tests before they are allowed in. But, I still have concerns about how he and his friends will be spending their post-prom hours. And studies seem to show my concerns have a basis in reality. According to a national survey by Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) of more than 2,500 eleventh and twelfth graders, 90 percent of teens believe their counterparts are more likely to drink and drive on prom night. Yet, that belief does not translate to concern, as only 29 percent of teens say that driving on prom night comes with a high degree of danger.
After the senior prom, Jason is planning on joining other kids in a limo ride to a friend's parents' house at the Jersey shore. I'm thrilled he's not driving, but still on the fence about whether he should be going to this all-night shore party. My Mom says I shouldn't let him go. She seems to have forgotten that I stayed out all night when I went to proms as a sophomore and a senior - and we didn't have the luxury of a limo driver! Here's my quandary. On the one hand, Jason is almost 18 and he needs to make (and already has made, I'm sure) his own decisions about drinking and other temptations in social situations. He's a good student, and has given us no reason not to trust his decision-making so far. Even when he went to the Junior Prom last month, he got up and went to his job as a Sunday School Music teacher the following morning.
On the other hand, he's not a Senior. This is not his prom, or even his close group of friends. I really don't know much at all about the other kids who will be with him. And as we have too often seen in the news, a poor decision by one kid in a group of kids can have terrible consequences for all of them. Drs. Alvin Poussaint and Susan Linn, write, "Underage drinking is potentially lethal, even if kids do not drive:
- Ninety percent of all crime on college campuses, including rape and murder, is alcohol-related.
- A Department of Health and Human Services national survey shows that, in 1997, nearly a third of all high school seniors report binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row) within the past month.
- The same survey reveals that the same number of teenagers report regular drinking (drinking on more than two occasions in the past month)."
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