In October, Brooklin High School in Whitby, Ontario, became the latest public school to cancel its prom, along with two others in the same Durham District School Board. This is part of an ongoing trend on both sides of the border, and some of the arguments against prom are tremendously depressing, if not downright ridiculous. The DDSB cites safety concerns, the time involved in planning, the challenges of safe supervision, and the increasing concern about liability and risk to students. You hear tales of staff burnout, because teachers are so famously and tremendously hard done by.
Arguments Against Prom Could Apply to School Itself
You could use those arguments against secondary school itself, surely. Maybe someday soon they will.
Students Take Matters Into Their Own Hands
But the good news this week is that the students at Brooklin essentially took it upon themselves to organize and fundraise for their own prom, with help from a company that specializes in exactly these situations. That is how big the trend is. So it is going ahead.
The silver lining in all this, Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy told the Toronto Star, is how students navigated through this collectively and how they got it organized. But they did not just organize for their class; they have set in place a means for the future.
In many ways, I would say the lining is more valuable than silver. If this pandemic cohort of students had not already sussed out that officialdom will let them down, over and over again, and that they will have to mop up the mess themselves now that they are nearly grownups, graduation is a perfect time for them to clue in.
Modern Proms Have Legitimate Problems
I have some sympathy for at least some school administrators. Proms cost a fortune, like everything else does these days. Brooklin High School is $115, which is actually $5 less than the previous year school-organized affair. And that is just to get in, never mind the young lady dress, the young man tuxedo rental, the corsage, the boutonnière, the limo.
But of course, that is me describing my prom, which was sort of a stereotypical wealthy kid prom. Technically it was a ball, thank you very much. That does not mean it has to be everyone prom.
Outrageous Spending Trends
There is also a trend toward truly outrageous spending on proms. The cost of attending prom in 2026 is expected to range between $800 and $1,500 per student, with fully planned experiences potentially exceeding $2,000, ABC News in Detroit reported in April, all figures in U.S. dollars. This is often cited as a justification to abandon the events for equity reasons.
Obnoxious as I find that trend, high-school seniors are 17 or 18. They are about to enter the real world, or worse, university. If they cannot handle someone having a fancier dress than them, if they cannot laugh off prom snobs and tell them to screw off, they are going to have an awfully hard time wherever they wind up next.
I went to a fancy-pants all-boys private school. One of the things it did really well was put senior students legitimately in charge of things, not for a course credit or a leadership medal, but simply to accomplish a task.
