Mailbag: ‘Prom draft’ doesn’t seem so bad
The “prom draft” at Corona del Mar High School has put our city back in the news (“How the CdM ‘prom draft’ works,” May 8). That this story followed so closely behind the cheating scandal, I think, made it sound worse than it really was. This time, I’m not sure anyone at CdM did anything wrong.
Some boy will always like one girl better than another. Some girl will always hope a boy she’s never spoken to will invite her to the prom. Some boy will raise the bar for the others by asking his girlfriend to the prom in a super-unusual way.
Such are the things that go on in high schools everywhere. The principal of CdM was quoted as saying, “It’s not OK for any student to be objectified or judged in any way.”
Students are judged. They compete for grades to get into the best schools. They compete athletically. They compete socially. They compete for jobs, now and always.
It is an awesome statistic that 71% of the students at CdM participate in Advance Placement courses. The school ranks high academically. The boys and girls from CdM with whom I speak all have high goals. I’m proud of them.
I hate it when anyone is made to feel diminished or objectified. I’ll support any effort to teach kids to celebrate individual differences and skills.
The prom draft, however, as it has been explained, sounds like a creative extension of the process that happens anyway, everywhere. I’m not exactly sure how this makes it any more hurtful for someone to be left out.
Linda P. Algazi
Corona del Mar
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No praying at government meetings
Religion and sex have this in common: What consenting adults do in private to bring joy, comfort and fulfillment is entirely their business (“Costa Mesa to revisit public prayer policy,” May 9).
Public displays, however, are inappropriate and generally offensive to non-participants.
Roberta Fox
Costa Mesa
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Time to underground power lines
Will we ever have our power and telephone lines moved underground, as has been done in Newport Beach?
Tom Hunter
Costa Mesa