by students with little or no input whatsoever from schools. In the vast majority of cases, schools that wash their hands of the formal are saying that there are two main reasons that they think justify their stance. 1/ That they expect parents to take charge of such things, and 2/ That stepping back from
formals will
distance them from any blame if things go wrong.
In the case of Year 12 formals at least, the statistics are showing that while 32% of schools won’t do anything to help the formal at all, only 2% of the formals are being picked up by responsible parents.
In that context, a whopping 30% of Year 12 formals are completely in the hands of teens to do as they please.
The famous Roman writer, Pliny the Elder, writes that an Ostrich will bury its head in the sand to avoid perceived danger, thinking that “If I can’t see it, then it can’t bite me”. We have to ask ourselves some serious questions here. Are parents being naive thinking that schools will protect their teens? Are teachers and school administrators assuming too much will go well when backs are turned?
Industry experts warn that leaving teens to their own devices when so much money is at stake is a huge mistake. Inexperienced teenagers planning huge events like formals is like leaving the front door open when you go away for the weekend.
With some formals racking up $50,000 in ticket sales, the unsupervised events are easy pickings for scammers.
Referring back to 2011 when news and current affairs TV programmes were busy chasing school formal scam artists through car parks and reporting on the hundreds of thousands of stolen dollars from distraught students, the issues that were overlooked included how almost all of the scammed formals were ones without any school involvement.
In the case of most teenagers, the formal is further up their priority list than their exams, and the $200 Million per year Sydney formal industry is the proof of that. It’s even now apparent that the school formal is the new “big thing” in reality TV.
In recent times, stories of scam artists, corruption and fraudsters have thrown a wet blanket over what’s supposed to be a joyful, magical and glamorous rite of passage for our excited teens into society. Understandably though, anything that generates so much money, however fun it might be, is likely to attract the darker side of enterprise along with the honest operators.
Parents naturally want to be involved and tend to concentrate advice and guidance on obvious things like dresses and hairdos or suits and colognes, all the time assuming that the arrangements for the formal itself (venue, catering, security etc) are being handled by the school. Not so! At least in a great number of cases, according to statistics out earlier this year.
Annual survey figures of all Greater Sydney high schools have been released showing that around one third of Year 12 formals, two thirds of Year 10 formals and almost all Year 11 events are being conducted by students with little or no input whatsoever from schools. In the vast majority of cases, schools that wash their hands of the formal are saying that there are two main reasons that they think justify their stance. 1/ That they expect parents to take charge of such things, and 2/ That stepping back from formals will distance them from any blame if things go wrong.
In the case of Year 12 formals at least, the statistics are showing that while 32% of schools won’t do anything to help the formal at all, only 2% of the formals are being picked up by responsible parents.
In that context, a whopping 30% of Year 12 formals are completely in the hands of teens to do as they please.
The famous Roman writer, Pliny the Elder, writes that an Ostrich will bury its head in the sand to avoid perceived danger, thinking that “If I can’t see it, then it can’t bite me”. We have to ask ourselves some serious questions here. Are parents being naive thinking that schools will protect their teens? Are teachers and school administrators assuming too much will go well when backs are turned?
Industry experts warn that leaving teens to their own devices when so much money is at stake is a huge mistake. Inexperienced teenagers planning huge events like formals is like leaving the front door open when you go away for the weekend.
With some formals racking up $50,000 in ticket sales, the unsupervised events are easy pickings for scammers.
Referring back to 2011 when news and current affairs TV programmes were busy chasing school formal scam artists through car parks and reporting on the hundreds of thousands of stolen dollars from distraught students, the issues that were overlooked included how almost all of the scammed formals were ones without any school involvement.
bury its head in the sand, thinking that “If I can’t see it, then it can’t bite me”. We have to ask ourselves some serious questions here. Are parents being naive thinking that schools will protect their teens? Are teachers and school administrators assuming too much will go well when backs are turned?
Industry experts warn that leaving teens to their own devices when so much money is at stake is a huge mistake. Inexperienced teenagers planning huge events like formals is like leaving the front door open when you go away for the weekend.
With some formals racking up $50,000 in ticket sales, the unsupervised events are easy pickings for scammers.
Referring back to 2011 when news and current affairs TV programmes were busy chasing school formal scam artists through car parks and reporting on the hundreds of thousands of stolen dollars from distraught students, the issues that were overlooked included how almost all of the scammed formals were ones without any school involvement.
Continued on Page 3...
Why Schools should get involved
Why Schools should get involved
By Elliot Kleiner
“If I can’t see it, then it can’t bite me” Dangerous Mindset.
Page 2 PROM Magazine August 2013
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