# I'm boycotting the Prom **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 23, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355 "2003-01-23T03:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/1 "2003-01-23T03:21:33Z")
My school decided to implement a “zero tolerance” policy. You will need to take a breathalyzer to get into the dance, and if you have alcohol on your breath they will CALL THE COPS on you. I’m not going. Furthermore, my friends and I are considering organizing a protest. This is bullshit. Calling the cops is way too excessive. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/2 "2003-01-23T03:30:03Z")
Have there been a lot of problems at your school with drunk prom driving in years past? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/3 "2003-01-23T03:31:06Z")
Works for me. Boycott all you want. Good on ya. But I wholly support the school in this. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/4 "2003-01-23T03:35:56Z")
Just hang out with your buddies at the far edge of the parking lot. Say hi to the losers going inside while you get drunk off your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/5 "2003-01-23T03:38:13Z")
Yay for your school. As long as it’s illegal, I fully support schools cracking down on alcohol consumption and iniebriatedness _on school grounds_, or _at a school function_. And tell me, why is calling the cops excessive when _you are breaking the law_, and they let you know ahead of time what’s going to happen. In my mind, you can either go to the prom without having had anything to drink before hand and have a good time, or you can stay home and be bitter and angry at “the man” and get drunk. I’m sure that years down the line you’ll pat yourself on the back for your stand against oppression. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/6 "2003-01-23T03:38:49Z")
Couldn’t get a date., eh? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/7 "2003-01-23T03:40:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Have there been a lot of problems at your school with drunk prom driving in years past? No, absolutely not. Which is why this is so retarded. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/8 "2003-01-23T03:41:07Z")
Do what I did prom night: 1. Go eat with friends. 2. Hang out with other people who didn’t go to the prom, preferably at the local Wal-Mart Supercenter. 3. Have a video scavenger hunt right after the prom with your friends who went to the prom. 4. Go back to someone’s house, watch the tapes, then pass out from exhaustion at 3:00 AM. Worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/9 "2003-01-23T03:45:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silentgoldfish \* > \*\*Couldn’t get a date., eh? \*\* My thoughts exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/10 "2003-01-23T03:46:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Yay for your school. As long as it’s illegal, I fully support schools cracking down on alcohol consumption and iniebriatedness on school grounds, or at a school function. We are not guilty until proven innocent. This is but one of a series of crack down on students rights. Until a year ago, we could smoke on school grounds (not in the building, but adult students could go outside and smoke). Good old new principal shows up and starts this bullshit with no provocation for the sole purpose of asserting his authority. Throw a frog in scalding hot water, and it will jump out right away. But put that same frog in cold water, and slowly heat it up, and it will stay in there and be boiled to death. It’s the same principle here, we are being boiled to death in regulations and student requirements. The student body had balls a couple of years ago when they resisted random drug testing for athletes, but I fear that they don’t have the cajones to stand up like they did when I was a freshman. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/11 "2003-01-23T03:50:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\*Throw a frog in scalding hot water, and it will jump out right away. But put that same frog in cold water, and slowly heat it up, and it will stay in there and be boiled to death. It’s the same principle here, we are being boiled to death in regulations and student requirements. > \*\* Dude, that is like, so deep. No, really. Won’t someone please think of the frogs? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/12 "2003-01-23T03:52:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silentgoldfish \* > \*\*Couldn’t get a date., eh? \*\* Nice. Take a shot at the OP, assuming the indignation is over being rejected. Schmuck. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/13 "2003-01-23T03:52:53Z")
Whatever, kid, you’ll be long gone from that place in a couple of months. Most likely they are doing this to avoid being sued in case a drunk kid shows up and hurts himself. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/14 "2003-01-23T03:52:58Z")
See, the thing here is: Underage drinking is illegal The school is legally liable if folks are/get drunk at a school function and something bad happens This, I think, is enough to justify any hard-lined policy on drug and alcohol use at school events, and/or on school property. Now I don’t know, perhaps there have been incidents that have put the school in hot water over this kind of thing, and perhaps not, but really, it is in the school’s, the administration’s, and the taxpayers’ best interests (not to mention the students’) to have a zero-tolerance policy at school. If something were to happen, teachers and or administrators could lose their jobs like that, not to mention financial burdens to the school district if someone were to sue. If you think that you some how have a right to be drinking/drunk on school property, think again. Oh, and I don’t understand “not guilty until proven innocent.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/15 "2003-01-23T03:52:59Z")
[Beavis and Butthead] FROG BASEBALL!!! [/Beavis and Butthead] ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/16 "2003-01-23T03:53:41Z")
I’m old enough to be drafted, to fight and die for my country. Yet my school insists on treating 18 year olds like babies who need to be monitored for their Senior prom. I’m not going to just stand here and take it, I will not be one of the frogs that unwittingly gets boiled to death. We already have some ideas for the signs we’ll hold outside the school gates: “Take a hike, Dr. Huge!” [Dr. Huge is the nickname for our principal, since he’s so tall] “We are not guilty until proven innocent.” “What’s next, urine tests?” ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/17 "2003-01-23T03:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \* > \*\*Dude, that is like, so deep. No, really. Won’t someone please think of the frogs? \*\* And another entry from the stupid jerk gallery is heard from. Isn’t there a small animal you should be torturing to death? ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/18 "2003-01-23T03:55:19Z")
What’s wrong with random drug testing for student atheletes? I thought that was a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/19 "2003-01-23T03:58:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eonwe \* > Oh, and I don’t understand “not guilty until proven innocent.” \*\* Rephrase his statement as 'We are not “guilty until proven innocent” ’ and it might make more sense. ( **Blalron** , you guys might want to put quotes around “guilty until proven innocent” to make it more clear on any signs.) ---
**Author:** ![Blunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Blunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blunt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355/20 "2003-01-23T04:01:05Z")
Did your school have this policy last year? And, if so, did they enforce it? My school announced a similar policy, including the part of calling the cops. But, when it came down to it, they simply didn’t enforce it. There were students that showed up drunk (although no one was really bad), and not only didn’t the school call the cops, but they even let the kids in. There were also no breathalyzers, even though the school had threatened they’d be there. Now, like I said these kids weren’t really that drunk, and you couldn’t notice it right away. But, they definitaly had had a few drinks, and I’m sure some of the teachers noticed it, but didn’t do anything. Maybe this is what is happening at your school. Maybe its just all talk to try to keep the students’ drinking to a minimum. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-boycotting-the-prom/150355.md?page=2)