This American Life: Prom

This past weekend's episode of the NPR radio program This American Life was about the great American highschool tradition, prom. It was an interesting episode with four acts: about a prom night in a Kansas small town, when it was hit by a deadly tornado; an interview with an author of books for teenagers; a radio documentary-style recording of a prom night of a Chicago highschool; and finally, about prom at a highschool in Racine, Wisconsin which is taking American prom to a whole new level. You can listen to the full episode here.

In Indian highschools, at least in Bangalore where I went to school, we have something called "send-off party" and/or "class socials". "Send-off party" is a farewell party given to the out-going class by their immediate one-year junior class. "Class socials" as I understand it, is a party which the out-going class has exclusively for themselves. In some schools, they have both. In some, they have one or the other. In any case, the parties in Indian highschools are real benign affairs compared to the American prom which sounds like a real high-pressure act.

The prom is supposedly a formal dance party held in the school. Ergo, you need to go to it with a dance partner or risk being merely a second-class participant. That is pressure number 1 - to hook up with a suitable dance partner for the prom. I can imagine the number of proposals for prom dates, rejections and dejections which fly across American highschools from coast to coast during prom season.

But prom night doesn't end with taking a date out to dance in the school auditorium. The more thrilling adventures of traditional prom are what happens during the after-prom - the hours that start right after prom at school upto the early hours of next morning:

1. Doing something cool involving alcohol and/or drugs. How can prom be complete without getting wasted and/or high? That is pressure number 2 for the kids.
2. The final pressure number 3, of course, is to get laid on prom night. I hear and read that many kids these days have had sex well before prom. But that doesn't matter. It is the great American coming of age tradition to get laid on prom night!

I don't know about you, but I think that's a lot of pressure on American teenagers for one night. I'm glad I did not have to go through such an experience... Although I can imagine that for an American highschool kid who manages to have the full prom experience of dancing with the best girl of his choice, getting thoroughly wasted with his friends, and getting laid with his best girl, life must seem perfect. At least for that one night.