Joanna Nesamony and Francesca Pallitta
eSomethin Staff
Halloween is one of the most celebrated holidays in the U.S. The day is filled with fun costumes, frightening decorations, and, of course, free candy. The scary holiday carries an even scarier ongoing debate on when people should stop trick or treating.
Joanna Nesamony and Francesca Pallitta, the authors of this piece, asked our PHS students to take a survey, “Trick or Treating Plans,” to find out their plans for Halloween night. The results were interesting.
Out of the 148 students surveyed 34.5% were freshmen, 34.5% were sophomores, 18.2% were juniors, and 12.8% were seniors.
The amount of high school students who reported planning to go trick-or-treating this year tied at a 50/50. This means 50% of PHS students are going trick-or-treating and 50% say they aren’t. This data shows the contrast on who is trick or treating this year.
We were also curious about the 50% of students who aren’t trick-or-treating, so we asked them when was the last time they participated in the Halloween tradition.
We discovered a mix of answers on the question of when was the oldest age students stopped trick-or-treating, ranging from first grade to senior year. The highest percentage was 29.7% for 8th grade. The second was for 9th grade at 27.7%. The third highest was for 10th grade at 10.8%. This data shows that high schoolers are still active trick-or-treaters but participation decreases as age increases.
The final question we asked our PHS students was, what age is too old to go trick-or-treating? The third highest was for 16-year-olds at 8.1%. The second highest was 18.9% for 18 years old. The majority of respondents, 33.8%, said that there is no age too old to go trick-or-treating.”
The results are compelling because this proves that our students at PHS high school believe that anyone can go trick-or-treating regardless of age. PHS students exemplify more Halloween spirit than we ever thought they would.
We can’t say we agree with the data. We believe that people should continue to trick-or-treat throughout their high school years, but stop after graduation. Of course you can still enjoy Halloween in college, but after a certain age trick-or-treating seems less appropriate.
High schoolers should go trick-or-treating.
Trick-or-treating should be filled with excitement, but going trick-or-treating as an adult feels inappropriate for a youthful environment. Kids usually tend to enjoy the free candy and having fun with friends, but when adults can buy their own candy there is no need to go trick-or-treating.
We are not saying adults shouldn’t enjoy the amusement of Halloween, but trick-or-treating is meant for kids and teenagers, not adults.
High schoolers should enjoy Halloween while they still can. Students should still dress up, have fun with friends, and have a basket full of candy. Of course it’s your choice how you want to spend Halloween but remember you only get a few more until you graduate!
So grab a couple friends, dress up in your best costume, and hunt for those king-sized candy bars.
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