<p>There are segregated proms in some areas because of religious faith. Some Muslim girls cannot attend regular proms so they have segregated proms. It’s 2007 and people are tolerant of religion. ;-)</p>
<p>Murky,
This had nothing to do with religion. Up until this year there was the white prom and the black prom. The white homecoming king/queen and the black homecoming king/queen. etc.etc.</p>
<p>Apparently the segregated proms weren’t ‘official’ proms sanctioned by the school and this is the first ever official prom at that school. I’m glad they decided to have one that can bring the student body together and even more heartened that it looks like it has strong support by the student body and hopefully parents.</p>
<p>They may not have been “official” proms (supported by the school) but they were the “only” proms held each year. Did you read this quote from the new principal? (a former Social studies teacher) (get ready…)</p>
<p>Yeah - that statement didn’t make much sense to me. What does ‘tried to have one prom’ mean. Does it mean they actually planned to have an official prom but nobody bought tickets? I’m guessing they just never pushed the issue and it took this new principal together with some student leaders to actually pull it together. And a big question - why’d the parents allow this to continue this way so long? It’s usually the parents who get heavily involved in arranging school proms.</p>
<p>Since the proms are not school functions the kids go where they want. Apparently some won’t attend a school-wide prom because of tradition (so they say) and will go off and do their own thing. I don’t agree but I don’t see how anything can be done about that either.</p>
<p>It disgusts me that kids still think like that- that they don’t want to “mix”, and what venues allow all white or all black parties- if a black kid wanted to go to the all white prom, are they banned or blocked? wow, and we give these communities federal money for roads, sorry but join the 21 century already</p>
<p>and people wonder why there is such disdain for some “traditions”</p>
<p>and where were the public officials in all this? it makes me ill</p>
<p>As for Religious reasons well, what can I say, why bother faking it and calling a prom to appease the teens, say it is what it is, that girls and guys shouldn’t mix because …? why again</p>
<p>things can be done, don’t rent a hall to the jerks who don’t want to mingle with them “black folks” - isn’t there some sort of laws about that, renting public space to people who discriminate</p>
<p>ah, the south, and don’t say don’t judge it all, when areas let this go on and do nothing, they approve of it and until large groups in the south step up and say, this is wrong, then yeah, I jduge the south</p>
<p>cgm,
Ironically, I don’t believe it was the “white folk” not wanting to mingle with the “black folk”. It was a mutual decision for each group to have their own prom, and the town is predominantly black.</p>
<p>As for Religious reasons well, what can I say, why bother faking it and calling a prom to appease the teens, say it is what it is, that girls and guys shouldn’t mix because …? why again"</p>
<p>Uh, what? In Islamic faith, it is against the religious rules to mix the two genders at such a social gathering like a prom. It’s not about ‘having sex’, etc. It’s part of the religious rules. Please have a little more tact, thanks.</p>
<p>“Murky,
This had nothing to do with religion. Up until this year there was the white prom and the black prom. The white homecoming king/queen and the black homecoming king/queen. etc.etc.”</p>
<p>Sorry that I assumed it was gender-segregated! I’ve only heard about gender-segregated proms. But racially segregated proms? Wow… just wow.</p>
<p>The good news is that is seems that the kids at this school don’t really want to be segregated for their dances and are taking the steps to eliminate that practice. I applaud these kids and the new principal.</p>
<p>Experience growing up in the South during the Civil Rights era suggests it’s probably the parents who wanted the proms segregated more than the kids.</p>
<p>This is the south. And I could see how, in the past, there could be a difference in the tastes of the mostly 50/50 split class in music, dj or band, and theme could differ to an extent. This year’s class officers are 2/2 black and white. Maybe, finally, they came to some agreement on all the specifics and it all came together. I can see how polarized things can be (mine have been involved in gov’t) when it comes to who’s gonna play, or be the dj, what kind of music, the theme, the decor, etc. It can get quite testy. Maybe it was a good compromise all those years for everyone to just do their own thing…HOWEVER, this is a good thing.</p>
<p>Ooh you have a point about the music. I forgot how divisive that can be. When my D. was a junior, the class president was supposed to give the class as a whole two choices to vote on for prom music. They boiled down to: techno pop and more techno pop. You don’t get too many do-overs in adolescent society; the kids never really treated her the same after.</p>
<p>What exactly is a “gender-segregated” prom for Muslim purposes? Are you saying there is a prom for girls only, and a prom for boys only? If so, what is the point of the event? (And how should “tact” enter into this? Are Muslims afraid of or offended by talking about it?)</p>