The lights are dimmed. The music is cranked. There’s dancing, groups of friends on the floor, and a night chock full of memories.

Every high school movie claims it’s the most important night of your high school career. But are they really worth the trouble?

School dances are a tradition as old as high school itself. But what perhaps started as a wholesome way to spend time with friends and listen to good music has turned into an awkward, financially consuming experience.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that the average female spends $200 for Homecoming, and $400 for Prom. That equates to approximately six hours spent total at the combined dances. That’s $100 an hour. Is that investment really worth the memories?

An optimist could argue that making memories with your friends is priceless, but you could surely make just as meaningful memories with your friends for a small portion of the price. For example, you and your friends could go bowling for approximately 1/100th of the price.

Aside from the financial strain, there’s also the music. Of course there are students who are fans of pulsing, wordless beats, but what good does that serve to the students who like other genres?

The music may not just be unpleasant to half of the attendees, but also encourage certain behavior. It may sound ridiculous, but all you would have to do to prove this point is attend a homecoming dance and observe the center of the dance floor.

Within any school dance, there is always a demographic. Along the outskirts are the wallflowers who were either convinced by their friends to come, or convinced themselves that maybe this time would be different.

Then, in the center of the floor are the people who like the music. Of course, the DJ caters to those with a similar music taste, which to these excitable students, I say congratulations.

These dancers consist of a cluster of students who enjoy dancing reminiscent of MTV in the early 2000s, and actively enjoy themselves.

All in all, school dances will likely remain the same for years to come. There’ll likely always be kids standing miserably along the wall, just as there’ll always be kids who dance and enjoy themselves. It just depends on who you are.

While I may not be the biggest fan of school dances, it’s simply possible they’re not meant to exist for everybody. But for the people who attend, I hope for them that the night is worth the hype.