Face-to-Face is a feature that allows two members of the Redwood community to grill each other, argue, or simply converse about a relevant issue or event. We provide the topic, and they do the rest. This month’s participants are seniors Danielle MacCauley and Elliot Dean. The two will debate who should pay for Prom Tickets.
Should the person who asks the other to Prom pay for both Prom tickets?
Elliot Dean: I think it’s just general principle that the guy typically pays for both his and his date’s ticket, however it can be situational and if the girl asks the guy, and the guy isn’t prepared to pay for his own ticket, then the girl should pay for both tickets. But I think in general, it’s better if the guy pays for both tickets.
Danielle McCauley: I think that whoever gets asked to Prom should be able to choose if they want to pay for their Prom ticket or not, where each person pays for their own. I have a job. I don’t need anyone to pay for things for me, and if some girls don’t [have a job], then they should figure out a way to make money.
ED: It’s not an issue if the girl can pay for her own Prom ticket or not. Girls have just as many jobs as guys do. It’s a matter of chivalry. High school is the time when young boys are turned into men. Not just men, gentleman.
DM: So you’re saying that we should just stay as girls forever and not learn to pay for ourselves?
ED: It’s just tradition that the guy pays for the girl’s Prom ticket, and although you may not think it’s a good tradition, I would say that, regardless, it’s been that way since the beginning of time really.
Should chivalry play a factor in who pays for the Prom tickets?
DM: I don’t think that should be important. You can be chivalrous by opening a car door for someone. There are so many other ways you can be chivalrous instead of spending money on someone. It’s the action, not the item.
ED: Chivalry is not dead. In fact, it is very alive and that’s why I feel like it is the man’s role to buy his partner, whether it be a man or a woman, the Prom ticket. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do the other things. Yes, it’s still good to open a car door for someone and compliment your partner. But I think buying a Prom ticket for your partner is such a staple in our culture. You buy the date’s Prom ticket, that’s just what you do.
DM: Then why not just buy my dress too, and my shoes, and everything else too?
ED: Because that’s not how it works. I don’t care how you look, I just love you for what’s inside.
Do you think the tradition should be broken?
DM: If the guy wants to pay for the ticket, okay, but it shouldn’t be an expected thing. We’ve come so far in our society to the point where women and girls don’t have to expect men to buy their Prom ticket. It’s not a required thing for guys, and it shouldn’t have to be.
ED: I don’t think it’s required at this point in time anymore, but I think it is still required that the guy at least offers to pay for the other person’s Prom ticket. If he or she says no, so be it. That is their call and then there’s nothing he can do about it.
If someone offered to buy your Prom ticket, would you say yes?
DM: I’ve been asked the past two years I’ve gone to Prom if they could pay for my Prom ticket, and both times I’ve said no and paid for myself because I didn’t want to make them have to spend money on that.
ED: I would have to talk it out with her and see if that was something she really wanted to do. I would first offer to buy her ticket, and if she reversed it and wanted to buy mine, then we might just have to buy our own.
