BY KAREN SUROS
High school students can have a lot of fun at their school dances– the food and friends, the music and dancing, the dressing up and getting down. However, it’s necessary to keep it PG, which means parental guidance– literally. When it comes to chaperones, options are limited. Not just anyone can be trusted to be in charge and not everyone wants to be. Either students must live with their teachers breathing over their shoulders or their parents watching their every move. Teachers are the better option here.
What exactly is a chaperone, and what are they supposed to do, anyway? Chaperones are responsible adults entrusted to supervise young people. At school dances, they are responsible for keeping things safe, appropriate and generally organized.
Teachers are more familiar with the school’s environment and its code of conduct. Parents may not know where the bathrooms are, where the exits are, what the more specific rules are and how students might break them.
Being exposed to a larger group of teenagers on a daily basis also means that teachers understand teenagers as a whole better than parents would.
Honestly, teachers have a better grasp on the student body while parents have a better grasp of their own children. It’s better to leave a teacher in charge of a large group of students. Since none of these students belong to them, there’s no risk of bias, or focusing on one individual, as a parent would focus on their child.
In other words, teachers know more students better than parents, who would likely just know their own children and perhaps some of their children’s friends. This works both ways; more students will know a teacher better, which may make them feel more comfortable as a group.
“With teachers, everyone is familiar with them,” sophomore Rashel Lopez said. “They’re not worried about acting a way that they would be more afraid to or more uncomfortable [to] around other parents.”
Being exposed to a larger group of teenagers on a daily basis also means that teachers understand teenagers as a whole better than parents would. According to the Florida Department of Education, class sizes average around 25 students. It’s a big difference to deal with one teenager as opposed to dealing with dozens. It can overwhelm some adults, who have a hard enough time dealing with their own teenager. Even if their own teenager does not give them a lot of trouble, every individual is different– meaning someone else might.
The more they think about being kept under surveillance, the harder it is to have fun.
It’s also true that, in most cases, students are living with their parents and have been their whole lives. Some may argue that parent involvement through chaperoning and other such activities are beneficial for students. While this means their parents know them better as individuals, the way a child behaves with their parent and the way they behave in a group of friends is drastically different.
Really, there’s no comparison– many teenagers blanch at the thought of their parents finding out what they actually do in the company of friends. Having to worry about mom or dad seeing some embarrassing stunt– or worse, mom or dad dishing out punishment for it– prevents a good time, big time.
Of course, being supervised in general, no matter teacher nor parent, is pretty uncomfortable– for teenagers in particular. Students are practically adults, about to set off into the real world, and yet they’re reduced to being monitored by the “real” adults at monumental events like homecoming and prom. The more they think about being kept under surveillance, the harder it is to have fun.
That’s why dances, at the end of the day, are more about not thinking about it and attendees enjoying themselves more than anything else. This applies to everyone present. Just because the student experience is a priority doesn’t mean the chaperones should be beyond boredom.
Chaperoning isn’t exactly a walk in the park for teachers, either. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the people who dedicate so much of their time to educating others have their own lives as well, and their own plans on a Saturday night. Whoever it is that ends up chaperoning is doing schools and students a service, and for that, they should be commended.
Photo by The Lariat Photography
