mandpete

My brother had a prom party from school in Stockport in 1996 when he was 16. The boys all had to wear tuxedos and the girls wore really nice dresses and all had their hair, nails and make up done. They went on an executive bus to a well known hotel in Cheshire. That was the first time I had heard of a prom party in England.

Just before we left England 3 years ago our local secondary school were having their prom party and I drove past the school. Every girl arrived in a limo and every child looked fantastic. Once again they went to a lovely hotel in Cheshire.

My nephew has just had a prom party in Bury and has sent us some photos and once again all of them look fantastic and lots of limos can be seen in the background. His best friend arrived on the back of his Dad's customised Harley and to be truthful I would have thought the photos were taken somewhere in US not Bury.

So some secondary schools in the UK do have prom parties and they seem to be on par with the US.

The day I finished secondary school was no different than any other school day apart from some kids changing out of their uniforms and ripping them to bits. Only about a quarter of the leavers went on to 6th form to take A levels including myself but when most of my friends were working and earning money I dropped out of 6th form and got myself a job.

Looking back I wish I had carried on with my A levels but lack of further education certainly hasn't really been a drawback for me. When I married it was my salary that was the main factor in getting a mortgage as my husband was still doing his degree on day release and his salary was next to nothing. However once he got his degree his salary kept on increasing whereas mine seemed to only increase with the rate of inflation.

Bob

What when they've finished there gcse's?
Havent' seen that...have seen a few schools hold a piss up for when people have finished school after A-levels though...but as far as I know, the money for it was raised by the kids and it was organised by the kids after school hours...can't speak for all the schools in the US, but where MIL teaches and a few other districts in the area, they have the graduation party as part of the school budget, and they rotate it around every year to have different teachers organise parts of the party...and the schools a skint school...

anotherlimey

We had a boat party after GCSEs and A-Levels, no Limos though but we were all expected to dress up.

jumping doris

Lots of prom parties here. (north West uk) and have been for a few years. Just ordered the limo for my 16 year old and her friends. Dress being made by friends, nail appointment yet to be made. We saw a Hummer limo the other day but we haven't gone that OTT Here the students organise the prom themselves, booking the venue etc.

Bob

speaking of OTT limo's, saw a hummer waiting outside the local dairy queen lastnight, made me laugh

GeoKorBarton

Hello,
I know it is hard for the English to understand our custom of graduation from high school. My husband is new to the U.S. and he could not understand why we celebrate it. I had to explain that the reason Americans make such a big deal out of graduation from high school is that parents think that their children worked hard for the diploma. Most children just scrape by with education in this country some are barely able to read and understand.

I am American and I feel really feel sad for some of the children of this country. If you live in a prosperous town or city in America and you pay a lot taxes your children might get a good education. I have a cousin in England who is 16 years old. I was blown away by her knowledge and I looked at her books from school and i felt a bit ashamed because we don't have anything that close in America in teaching our children. I lived in England for two years and the children that I met in England are very mature for their ages. I am truly impressed with English education. I think America needs to lessons from it cousins from across the pond.

Sarah

One thing I'm sure the US does come first in is, is the number of obese and severely overweight people per capita. Suprised that wasn't in there. NOT.

Ray

Ok Ok... I start the diet next week.......

Just Jenney

But that's my whole point!! It IS celebrated in the US, and because it's an American cultural tradition, Americans do NOT see it as extravagant and OTT. High school graduation is just something that we do and is a normal part of most Americans' life experience, and has been for many decades.

On the flip side, I think it's weird to think of kids just "leaving school", literally walking out of school one day and never going back, not having a ceremony or diplomas or caps and gowns, not sending out invitations to have your family and friends share in your celebration, etc.

Does that mean I think it's wrong that the British don't celebrate high school graduations? No, of course not -- it's just different from my cultural experience.

BTW, regarding limos at graduation... I could see that happening in Beverly Hills, but not your average American town or city. It sounds like you're confusing prom with graduation? Many teenagers pool together their money to share a limo for prom, but I've never heard of or seen families getting limos to go to graduation ceremonies in. My family certainly didn't, nor did any of my friends' families. As it happens, I never took a limo to prom, either -- and I went to three of them!

~ Jenney

ImHere

Actually the high school in our old town in England used to hold a graduation prom. I think graduating from High school is worthy of a party and I quite like it. But graduation from kindergarten as well?

Just Jenney

Yeah, I've never really thought much of the elementary and middle school graduations that have popped up in recent years. Especially kindergarten -- I mean, come on! Kindergarten is just glorified playtime with a chaperone. What is there to "celebrate"?

For those of you who are inevitably going to say that the the same thing could be said about high school, for the record I worked extremely hard in high school and had a very difficult workload, so not ALL American students are slackers, ok?!

~ Jenney

Ridski

I think a lot of Brits find it quite strange that Americans should celebrate doing something they're supposed to do. "My kid graduated high school!!!" Well, DUH!!! That what they're SUPPOSED to do!

That sort of thing. I can understand that, back in the day, when a kid could get a good job if they walked out of high school (US) at 17, you'd want to encourage your kids to stay in school by giving them some kind of reward, but rewarding them for something, which in Britain at any rate they're legally obliged to do, seems a little over the top. Like throwing a party everytime a kid wakes up in the morning.

So, anyway, you have this tradition, and we don't. Not surprisingly, as 90% of all US traditions do, it somehow involves forking out hundreds of dollars in cash. Not surprisingly, we take umbrage with it.

Just Jenney

People turn a year older every year, too, yet we celebrate birthday parties. Every 365 days the year ends and we start a new one, year after year, yet we celebrate New Year's Eve all the same. So what's your point?

Firstly, if you think graduating from high school has comparable significance to waking up in the morning, then there's nothing I can say to make you understand my point of view.

Secondly, while it may be illegal for British children not to graduate from high school (I don't know if it is or not), it is NOT illegal for a child not to graduate from high school in the US. In fact, many (most?) states allow students to voluntarily drop out of school at 16 years old. Not the smartest move to make, but it's permitted all the same.

Hundreds of dollars of cash?!?! You must share the same social circle as the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers if you see people spending hundreds of dollars on graduation ceremonies!!

Cap & Gown -- $15-20
Diploma -- provided and paid for by the school
Ceremony -- provided and paid for by the school

After my high school graduation, our family and friends went back to our house for hors d'oeuvres, then sat around chatting for a couple of hours. Later my friend picked me up to go to the All-Night Graduation party arranged (and paid for) by the PTA for all the graduates to attend if they wanted to. They had a "casino" (with fake money) and door prizes, a luau and swimming (it was held at the local rec center). Mostly it was an opportunity for me to spend time with my friends one last time before our lives took us in different directions.

I just find it a bit bizarre that people are finding something negative about celebrating one of life's milestones -- graduating from high school. I guess because it's an American tradition that automatically means it's frivolous, right? If this was a typical British custom then it would be seen entirely differently, I suspect...

~ Jenney

Dant3

You really shouldn't take offense. It's all just part of a long and noble British tradition of despising anything to do with school. British students have a healthy disrespect for authority systems and hate school with admirable vehemence. It is, therefore, extremely unfashionable for a student to show ANY interest in ANYTHING remotely linked to the world of education. For this reason, you will rarely see British students getting all excited about joining sports teams, debating societies or prom planning committees. That is not to say that many don't go on to succeed at university, where they will show a similar disdain for institution related social events, just that they'd rather be at the pub drinking with friends than wearing school colors and mindlessly following their leaders. The British see the teenage years as a time of rebellion, not drinking fruit punch with the geography teacher.

Ridski

Apologies. Keep getting actual graduation mixed up with prom. That's British educumacation for yer.

Yes.