Student To Skip Prom?

The Issue:

FINDLAY, Ohio – A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.

Despite the warning, 17-year-old Tyler Frost, who has never been to a dance before, said he plans to attend Findlay High School's prom Saturday.

Frost, a senior at Heritage Christian School in northwest Ohio, agreed to the school's rules when he signed a statement of cooperation at the beginning of the year, principal Tim England said.

The teen, who is scheduled to receive his diploma May 24, would be suspended from classes and receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments, England said. Frost also would not be permitted to attend graduation but would get a diploma once he completes final exams. If Frost is involved with alcohol or sex at the prom, he will be expelled, England said.

Frost's stepfather Stephan Johnson said the school's rules should not apply outside the classroom.

"He deserves to wear that cap and gown," Johnson said.

Frost said he thought he had handled the situation properly. Findlay requires students from other schools attending the prom to get a signature from their principal, which Frost did.

"I expected a short lecture about making the right decisions and not doing something stupid," Frost said. "I thought I would get his signature and that would be the end."

England acknowledged signing the form but warned Frost there would be consequences if he attended the dance. England then took the issue to a school committee made up of church members, who decided to threaten Frost with suspension.

"In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the school committee chose the other," England said.

The handbook for the 84-student Christian school says rock music "is part of the counterculture which seeks to implant seeds of rebellion in young people's hearts and minds."

England said Frost's family should not be surprised by the school's position.

"For the parents to claim any injustice regarding this issue is at best forgetful and at worst disingenuous," he said. "It is our hope that the student and his parents will abide by the policies they have already agreed to."

The principal at Findlay High School, whose graduates include Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, said he respects, but does not agree with, Heritage Christian School's view of prom.

"I don't see (dancing and rock music) as immoral acts," Craig Kupferberg said. –Yahoo News

My Issue:

I understand that rules are created to insure the safety and conduct of each student. However, unreasonable rules are nothing more than unreasonable. Suspending or expelling an adult student who is getting ready to enter the real world simply because he wants to attend his girlfriends prom where, god forbid, there will be music and dancing is absolutely asinine.

Instead of punishing the student and banning him from graduating with his classmates why not turn the students decision to attend the “evil prom” into a positive experience by using the event as an object lesson as to why the position of school is such. As for the hand-holding, kissing issue … is so totally B.C.

I myself attended a Christian Academy where the world around us was totally shunned ... everything about was "evil". Nonetheless, the education I received was beneficial which gave me the tools to exist in yesterday’s world. But the years spent at the Academy didn’t prepare me for the real world. When I came face to face with reality, OMG, I was totally unprepared and unable to make rational decisions that would affect the remainder of my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe that a Christian education is a good thing … a positive thing. Certainly better than our public schools. But I believe that true education should be openly honest rather than one sided. Instead of forbidding reality, teach it and use it to show why one needs to avoid certain worldly influences. This way each individual will be prepared to face the world realistically and be able to make personal decisions based on convictions rather than experience from which sometimes one may never recover.

One last thought. Why is the Christian school against rock music? If rock music is so "evil" then why do thousands of Christians listen to “Christian” rock music? I mean, rock music is rock music, and some of what I’ve seen would certainly lead me to believe that Christian rock music is no better or different than what isn’t “Christian”. I think there’s a double standard here, but then again it really doesn’t surprise me!