Dethroning Homecoming traditions
Members of royal families throughout history have a purpose and play a significant role in their society. The same, however, cannot be said about the students deemed as royalty at Homecoming.
The tradition of naming a Homecoming king and queen focuses on popularity, rather than the quality of character and actions that the titles imply. These crowns have no purpose and they are just there as a useless high school staple.
Homecoming has been around since 1910, and homecoming royalty has been around since the 20s.
The way the voting ballots are designed encourages students to vote based on popularity. This promotes a hierarchy within the school, where the only trait taken into consideration is popularity.
This does not bode well for the more introverted students who will never get the chance of being homecoming king or queen, and doubt their value and self-worth.
Many students aren’t nominated because they aren’t popular enough and people wouldn’t recognize their name outside of their friend group.
Sometimes students will nominate others as a mean prank knowing they can’t win because the person isn’t popular enough. Basing this entire event on popularity can lead to bullying and unfriendly competition between peers.
When students vote online, they are only given a list of names with no context. Inevitably, people will vote for the names they recognize, not necessarily the people who have great personalities or respectable qualities.
If someone wants to be crowned king or queen they have to be popular among their peers, or at least their name has to be.
Instead of students voting for the most popular people, voting should be based on student achievement. Students who have a good character, and go above and beyond in either academics or other areas, such as sports or performing arts, should be voted for.
Winning this title could be something worth earning, something that one can take pride in, and even mentioned on college applications.
The school should encourage students to enter this competition and get them involved.
The Homecoming kings and queens are currently pointless, all they do is go up on stage when their name is called and accept a crown.
There could be events that include the winners or runner ups of the crown. These activities could be held in the quad where USB events take place. They could create and participate in friendly competitions that match the theme of Homecoming.
The administration and USB need to start making an effort to change this out-of-date tradition. Some high schools are starting to change this process or get rid of Homecoming royalty completely, Diamond Bar should be following in their footsteps.
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