FINDLAY, Ohio - An Ohio teenager has been suspended by his Christian school that bans dancing because he attended another high school's prom.
Officials at Heritage Christian School in Findlay had warned 17-year-old Tyler Frost that he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the public school dance over the weekend with his girlfriend, according to The Courier.
Frost danced and held hands with his girlfriend, Rebecca Smooty, at the Findlay High School prom, attended by about 800 students, officials told the newspaper.
Frost says he didn't think going to the dance was wrong even though his fundamentalist Baptist school Ohio forbids dancing, rock music and hand-holding, a situation reminiscent of that depicted in the 1984 movie, "Footloose."
Frost didn't go to school Monday. Instead, he and his girlfriend are heading to New York for a Tuesday morning TV interview.
The teen says he's now getting Facebook and e-mail messages from around the world.
School officials said earlier he could complete his final exams separately to receive a diploma.
Wow, that's a bunch of bullshit. That's the problem I have with religious schools. It's like they want to mold you into a ****ing clone of perfection. And we all know that perfection is a facade. Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. A guy went to his girlfriend's prom. They enjoyed themselves. So what? A prom is supposed to be a time to dance and have fun, not to sit in a corner and talk about school and tests. Why in the hell are people so damn uptight?
Here's my view on banning things like dancing and rock music: Why ban it? When you turn 18, you're out of the living hell known as high school, and you're just going to do the things that you were banned from anyways.