When you hear homecoming, what do you think of? I asked a couple of students and their responses were, “I think of Kanye”, Ryan Peffers (’12). I think the same thing, Peffers.
“A king and queen.” Thao Pham (’12),
“Girls in dresses and boys in dress shirts. Mild freaking out about dates.” Julie Nguyen (’13).
“A really fun night spent with friends and really good music. It’s an excuse for people to ask or get asked in super cute ways too!” Noelle Nguyen (’12).
However, before that “really fun night” comes the drama of homecoming. Big groups of homecoming-bound students have to find the cheapest limo that fits everyone and organize the after party.
Girls worry about who is going to ask them and hope it isn’t done in public, which makes rejecting the guy almost impossible. Guys plan weeks in advance to ask a girl to the dance and there’s no drama involved until that girl already has a date; a guy who you thought was your best friend!
Which leads to me to question, when did guys start asking in the most grandiose and creative ways? Each guy has to ask a girl in a unique and cute way so he doesn’t look weak compared to the other men. It’s high school stick measuring and it sucks, because it makes every guy work their butt off just to ask a girl to a dance. What happened to the tradition in ye olden days where men could just ask straight up and take a girl to a dance?
Homecoming King and Queen is just an interesting subplot, in short it’s a popularity contest. Homecoming is an event that gives us high schoolers an excuse to go out with our friends, spend vast amounts of money on things to make us feel sexy. Homecoming promotes high school stereotypes of popularity and drama.
The whole event may drive many people away from attending the event, but as Kanye said in “Homecoming”, “Now everybody got the game figured out all wrong, I guess you never know what you got ‘til it’s gone.” Homecoming may seem like a night full of wasted money and time, but since we’re here (in high school), might as well enjoy it while we can.
