Prom

It's not that teens won't do drugs it's just that fewer will be exposed to them and fewer will be pressured into doing them. Most likely will drink in college but at least where I'm from the drinking age is 19 and for many people in college will not be drinking under aged. The Cold War was a standoff of ideas, although no direct war happened between the two there were still conflicts in Korea,Vietnam, Afghanistan,Cuba and Cambodia that all had a direct relation to the Cold War which helped contribute to the 20th century becoming more bloody than the previous 20. The Cold War also bankrupted both countries and is one of the reasons the US is trillions in debt. You also said "During the cold war, the US and the Soviet Union built up stockpiles nuclear weapons to "discourage" the other from not attacking", they built weapons to discourage each other from attacking, if they built up weapons to discourage one another from not attacking the world would be a different place. As for your assumption the after party is a direct result of prom and therefore it is part of prom. You also said "Does the choice of the few decide the faith of the majority?", you seem to portray those who go to after parties as a small minority but in general it's almost 50-50. I know at my school's prom about 80% of people went to after parties. You also have failed to respond to my argument that many people engage in sex after prom and many of those people's decision about sex are impacted by the drugs. Proms have been held since the 1920's but the earlier ones were modest affairs in the school gym, often decorated with paper streamers. Promgoers were well dressed but not lavishly decked out: boys wore jacket and tie and girls their Sunday dress. After the 1960s, and especially after the 1980s, the high-school prom in many areas became a serious exercise in consumption, with boys renting expensive tuxedos and girls attired in designer gowns. Stretch limousines were hired to drive the prom-goers to expensive restaurants or discos for an all-night extravaganza. You can see that during the earlier proms the teens dressed nicely but didn't spend hundreds of dollars for a one night affair. If you were to study North American economics you'd find the least money is being spent from May to July, and when do proms happen? Usually between May and July. The companies attempted to romanticise prom to make people feel like they needed to spend more money as it was supposedly to best night of their life. It's true people with money will spend more but, even people who spend $120 are still spending money that they otherwise wouldn't because our consumerist society has convinced them they need to spend money on prom or they won' have a good time. In general the clothes that people wear to prom are are made in third world countries and I can guarantee you a large percentage of them are made in sweatshop and slave like conditions. Just another example of the poor getting screwed by the rich. The halls also likely on the outskirts of town and land was destroyed to put them there, just another example of consumerism destroying our world. What's wrong with workers getting paid more? They do all the hard work while shareholders make the money and then decide they want more money so they cut costs by cutting jobs. What happened to people before the profit? If an individual brings more money in should they get increased pay and benefits? It only seems fair. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is caused by capitalism, and prom is an agent of capitalism and that's why it's harmful to the planet. You also said "I disagree on teens having a better memory knowing that their money is going to the homeless youth finding shelter". Let me ask you this what will most people remember more, donating to a worthy cause and changing a life or being on a hot crowded dance floor with a bunch of people you rarely spoke to for four years followed by a person blacking out from too much drinking? Though the optimist might think people will donate money instead of spending it on one night, I have to believe that number of people would donate more it they didn't spend so much on prom. True but you also have to remember those who don't go to prom are often told they'll regret it later and sometimes even ridiculed which just isn't right. Like Morrie Swartz said "The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it". I don't buy the culture beacue it doesn't work and I hope that other people can do the same.