<p>Is that bizarre, or what? Not the dress code, but “paddling” teenagers?</p>
<p>[Teenage</a> Alabama girl opts for suspension rather than being ?paddled? for ?racy? prom dress (video)](<a href=“Examiner is back - Examiner.com”>Examiner is back - Examiner.com)</p>
<p>The notion of adults paddling a bevy of teenaged girls for looking too sexy sounds more like the premise for a pornographic movie than an appropriate decision by a 21st century high school. Not too crazy about that dress, but cheers for this young woman for opting out of the bizarro paddling and being suspended. Although staying away from an institution that has such twisted adults in power might be more of a reward than a punishment…</p>
<p>I wish we knew the type of high school. Is it a private school or public? What happened to the notion of punishment fitting the “crime”? Was she allowed to stay at the prom and expected to receive her punishment later? I have photos of myself in prom dresses that show about the same amount of cleavage…but with longer length skirts. It looks pretty modest compared to some of the things I have seen around here.</p>
<p>I tried to look up Oxford High School and it appears to be a public school in Alabama.</p>
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<p>Indeed. It seems suspicious to me that the school officials couldn’t just kick her out of the prom if the dress was really just a problem. </p>
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<p>to silvervestersmom: I follow the link in the article and I found this line:</p>
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<p>Seems really weird; either we don’t have the full story, or these people are nuts. Or possibly both.</p>
<h1>1: I don’t think that the dress is inappropriate for a senior prom.</h1>
<h1>2: If my D went to that school and committed an infraction…there’s no way I would let her be paddled. That is just bizarre.</h1>
<p>I vote for the “possibly both” option in post #4. </p>
<p>A school prom is a big deal and at some schools the tickets are quite expensive, however, so I can see why they would be reluctant to kick her out. Even more so when you think that describing in advance what is or is not acceptable is by definition subjective and difficult.</p>
<p>Here’s what I think school officials should do: keep a bunch of gray sweatsuits on hand at the prom. Anyone wearing a truly inappropriate outfit gets handed a sweatsuit to put on, and that’s the end of it. No paddling, no suspensions, no dismissals from the prom. Just a dress code that’s enforced. Frankly I think this would be more effective than all these other punishments.</p>
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<p>There are so many other non-creepy ways to solve this problem that it would be too mean to list them all. In the original article, it even lists some of them; one school has each student bring in the dress to the FACS teacher for inspection and also to help make adjustments to make any dresses acceptable. Another principal simply emphasizes that the same dress code enforced at the school will be enforced at the prom too, and receives successful compliance from the students.</p>
<p>Im having trouble getting my head around the whole school-mandated “dress code” for the prom. Maybe it’s a regional thing?</p>
<p>Our HS (public) has a dress code for students in school. It basically says no t-shirts with profanity or reference to drugs or alcohol, and no strapless tops or too-short skirts/shorts. There’s no definition of “too short”.</p>
<p>As far as I know, there is no dress code for the junior or senior prom. At least I’ve never seen one…and with two daughters / four proms over the past four years there’s been plenty of opportunity. </p>
<p>At our proms, the girls tend to wear long dresses that still manage to show a lot of skin. But they are going for the elegant look, not “racy”. Again, must be a regional thing. Follow the link to see an example (my D’s dress for this year). This is kind of an average dress at our proms.</p>
<p>[2010</a> La Femme Prom Dress 15029](<a href=“http://www.promdressshop.com/Prom-Dress-La-Femme-15029.aspx]2010”>La Femme Prom and Homecoming Dresses)</p>
<p>My only question to D was whether or not she would be comfortable going strapless. She is, and she looks gorgeous in the dress, and I have no problem with her wearing a dress like this to prom. But I’m curious…what’s the typical style of prom dresses in different parts of the country? Would this dress be considered too “racy” for your prom?</p>
<p>I looked up the article to see what a too racy prom dress looks like, and there’s a picture with the subtitle “What’s wrong with Erica’s dress?” My first reaction was, “What’s wrong with Erica’s parents?” until I realized it was a picture of Paris Hilton, LOL. Scrolling down, I found the picture of Erica, who I thought looked a lot less racy than our local promsters.</p>
<p>Erica’s dress looks completely unremarkable to me, although in my community, long dresses are more common than short ones for prom. </p>
<p>I guess this illustrates differences in regional standards. Still, the idea of corporal punishment, especially for this kind of infraction, makes me uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Paddling still exists. I remember a few yrs back when we moved to a rural NC town. Our children came home on the 1st day of school with the typical 500 pages to sign. One of them was a corporal punishment permission slip. I about fell off the chair. I was so positive that I was reading this wrong that I waited until Bullet came home and said “Tell me, am I reading this correct, they are actually asking me if I want our children hit by them?” He had to re-read it over and over again too.</p>
<p>This was for the 2005-06 school yr. It still happens in public schools. I even asked the principal if many parents sign yes, and she said @30-40% of parents do, especially in the elementary and middle school :eek:</p>
<p>blankmind, I thought Erica was Paris Hilton at first too! </p>
<p>I would not call Erica’s actual dress “racy” at all. Poor kid . . . prom can be a big deal to high school students.</p>
<p>The “paddling” aspect is just strange. It does indeed make the situation sound like it’s straight out of a porno.</p>
<p>Wow, this is hard to believe on so many levels. </p>
<p>First of all, her dress looks perfectly normal to me for a cocktail dress. That is about the length of a cocktail dress for a teenager. Also, the cut of the bustline is pretty typical for a cocktail dress for a young woman. She happens to be “full” on top but I think she looks lovely. </p>
<p>Second of all, a punishment of any sort is hard to imagine. I don’t think such a thing about what kind of dress you wear to prom even exists at our school! </p>
<p>Third, the punishments are over the top. Suspension is way too much. But the paddling is archaic and I cannot believe in this day and age it is even allowed. And on a 17 or 18 year old woman? Wow. And yeah, it conjures up almost a pornographic image! (“your dress is too short…now bend over, so we can paddle your bare behind…you naughty girl”)</p>
<p>What rot.</p>
<p>Sounds like an excuse for zealots who enjoy getting a bit too “familial” with young children.</p>
<p>Unbelievable. First, I can’t believe any school districts still allow paddling. Second, I think her dress looks like what many girls around here wear to dances (although long dresses are seen more at prom). I guess her community is pretty conservative. It doesn’t seem right to me.</p>
<p>Incredible and yes, it does sound like porn. Someone is probably filming that movie right now.</p>
<p>Every year at prom time there are new stories about the particularly strict school disticts in the area…they are strict in that they turn girls away for dress code violations…I guess if you think you need a dress code (ours is at a hotel in another town - maybe it would be different if it was at the school?), you should provide some hoodies from lost and found or something for girls to wear. </p>
<p>That is what the middle school does with dress code violators - they sort through lost and found and give them a huge t-shirt to wear.</p>
<p>Besides all that, the girls have to pick from the prom dresses that are made and most have this type of cut in the bust or something similar. I mean what this school’s standards are may not even be sold on prom dress racks!</p>
<p>I see to recall other nonsensical prom stories coming out of Alabama in recent years, such as the one about the superintendent whom cancelled the prom when an interracial couple insisted that they would attend the event, despite his objections.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with her dress. The thought of a school official paddling (HITTING) a kid and thinking it’s an appropriate way to deal with a situation is wrong on so many levels.</p>
<p>Even more disturbing is that 16 students chose paddling over suspension. That these girls think it’s OK to endure that leaves me seriously concerned about their ability to go out into the world and have romantic relationships. I wonder how many of them end up in violent relationships?</p>