While planning a school dance can be fun it also takes a lot of the students and teachers time. It takes weeks to plan and decorate for a school dance. Some students get asked to dances where others choose to go by their self. At the school dances, people dance and are offered refreshments. They are also able to take pictures. After the long night of dancing the same students and teachers that put up the dance are now taking it down. Weeks and weeks of work for only one night just for other students to have fun, but some students are choosing not to go.

“Only about ¼ of about the 1840 kids at the school go to school dances,” said Jana Varney, book keeper at the school. That’s not very many students at all. Most students are choosing to not go to school dances because they are not being asked. The school doesn’t require students to have a date though; students can go with their friends or by themselves.

All students have different opinions on why they didn’t want to go to the school dance or why they did want to go to the school dance. Katie Wirthlin, a senior, said, “They’re not as great  as they are cracked up to be in the movies.” The fact that dances are not as great as students think they are is a reason they are not going

However, other students think differently about school dances. Sophia Person, senior varsity cheerleader, said, “If I did not get asked to a school dance, I’d probably just find a bunch of friends to go with instead. At least you’re comfortable with who you go with, and you know everyone in your group.”

In the article, Prom Night Can Cost Teenagers (and parents) a Pretty Penny by Jana Kasperkevic she says, “Families with lower incomes spend the most, according to the Visa survey. Families with income below $25,000 planned to spend $1,393 while families with income below $50,000 planned to spend $1,109 and families with income over $50,000 planned to spend an average of $799.”

School dances cost a lot of money. If students were to go stag it would save them money. Students would only have to buy one ticket instead of two, wouldn’t have to worry about coordinating colors, and could eat where ever they wanted. This would save students and their parent’s money.

So is going to the dance alone socially acceptable? Yes! All students said that seeing people at the school dance just with friends was completely normal and they did not think anything of it. People are at the dance to have fun and hang out with other people from the school. It doesn’t matter if they have a date or not everyone is there to enjoy their night.