|
|
News |
|
|
|
Opinion |
|
|
|
SKN Observer |
|
|
|
Advertising |
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
| ‘Parents Gone Wild’ with Prom Expenses |
| By Sheena Brooks |
|
|
 |
High school prom-goers |
| |
The recent show of excess by parents of primary and secondary graduands has been the subject of much public debate.
The public and private primary and secondary schools on both St. Kitts and Nevis hosted graduation ceremonies over the past two weeks. Some persons in the community have expressed sentiments that range from concern to utter disgust at parents spending large sums of money to outfit the youngsters in posh attire, and to hire limousines for transportation.
The head of a high school Parent-Teacher Association spoke with The Observer on the matter, informing that the average prom could cost parents upwards of EC$1500.
“It’s usually cheaper to outfit the boys for these ceremonies, unless you buy exclusive brands in tuxes. The dresses these days can run parents up to US$400, and then you add shoes, nails, hairdo, and accessories and quite easily the parents have spent more than EC$1500,” he said.
The PTA president said while it was the parents’ choice on how much to spend on their child, he felt proms like many other school functions had become a “fashion show”. He opined that most parents were not wealthy but were merely “keeping up with the Joneses”.
“If you look at the Mufti Day at the high schools you have to wonder if St. Kitts is full of rich people, and it’s supposed to be a day the kids can wear their casual clothes. I know of situations where parents buy new outfits just for Mufti Day. The prom situation is getting out of hand in my opinion because it is the poor parents who are trying to show themselves to brag about how much they spent for the event. Every year around graduation time it’s like ‘let the competition begin’. Next thing you know half of them owe Courts, and TDC, and their landlords at the end of the month,” he said.
Speaking to The Observer, Mrs. Browne, a parent whose daughter recently graduated from a private high school in St. Kitts, said it came down to individual choice. She said in her opinion it was a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience worthy of a grand celebration.
“Graduating high school is a momentous occasion for any student. If a parent wants to spend $5000 then they have that right, just as it is the right of another parent to spend only $300. I chose to order a formal dress and shoes and have them shipped here for my daughter’s prom; the smaller stuff we bought locally. If you can afford it, then do it. It is a night the child will never forget,” she said, declining to reveal the price tag on her daughter’s prom ensemble.
Margaret, a single mother of three, weighed in on the subject and said although none of her kids were close to graduating high school, she knew she would “go all out” when the time came.
“Nobody goin’ look better than my child at the prom. So you mean I must not buy a fancy dress and have her watching everybody in theirs and feeling shame? Not at all.”
Regarding the cost to parents for students graduating primary schools, The Observer spoke with Dr. William Connor Primary teacher Jessica Jeffers, who said most parents did not mind spending the money.
“It’s a celebration and a milestone similar to graduating high school. Some persons talk about the fact that the schools held the graduation dinners at the Marriott Hotel, but all the children had to pay was EC$40 for their meal and each parent paid $81. When it came to the actual ceremony, the students paid $40 for gown rental and $35 for a photo package. Of course the parents had to pay for their children’s dresses and suits,” she said.
She added that aside from the school’s graduation fees, parents would determine how much they could spend on the outfits.
The prevailing opinion appeared to be that graduation and prom expenditure was a matter of personal choice, however a comment posted on a popular online social networking site read, “Proms have lost their meaning. You usually find the best-dressed are the ones who got the worst grades.”
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
