Hazing, like so many things that aren't necessarily good for kids, is now common among high school students. What used to be a college activity has come to light in the media as a ritual performed by increasingly younger teens.
It's a problem that college campuses, and even the military, have dealt with for years. Often, it has been fatal. As a result, universities have been paying especially close attention to hazing rituals, with many campuses enacting stiff penalties for any hazing behavior. According to Dartmouth.edu, "Hazing activities are defined as: Any action taken or situation created as part of initiation or continued membership in a student organization that produces or could be expected to produce mental or physical discomfort, harm, or stress; embarrassment;harassment or ridicule."
Now, high schools are finding themselves in need of adopting similar guidelines as several high-profile hazing incidents have been brought to national attention.
On May 4, 2003, senior girls videotaped the hazing of the junior powder puff football team. The older students of Glenbrook North High School in Illinois forced the younger students to eat raw fish, pet food, feces and dirt. The younger girls, huddled together in the mud, were also kicked and beaten during the incident. One student suffered a broken ankle and another required stitches. As in other cases, the offending teens were charged with varying sentences, including community service, probation and supervision.
More recently, Pennsylvania authorities toyed with the idea of whether or not to charge three teens as adults in the brutal hazing of one 13-year old and two 14-year olds. In this case, three varsity football players from Mepham High School in Bellmore, New York, allegedly sodomized the three junior varsity players with broomsticks, golf balls and pine cones while at an August training camp in Preston Township, Pennsylvania.
One problem with hazing is that many don't understand which activities are included under the definition. Parents in the Illinois hazing were witnessed encouraging the ritual and were even accused of purchasing the alcohol.
This is because the definitions for hazing are still being developed, and will continue to change, as new hazing practices are employed. At present, the definition is broad and often situational. Some of them may include, but are not limited to groups or teams that force pledges or underclassmen into:
- Binge drinking
- Dangerous or inappropriate scavenger hunts
- Shoplifting
- Forced drug taking or smoking
- Pressured sexual behavior
- Wearing embarrassing clothing (men dressed as women, for instance)
- Any activity or game that will humiliate or degrade
- Beating
- Paddling
- Spitting
- Force feeding
- Physical or psychological intimidation
- Withholding reasonable sleep, food or drink
- Placing another in physical or psychological danger
- Abandonment
Such nebulous definitions make it even more important for parents to discuss the issue of hazing with their kids at younger ages. Because not even the school administrations can specifically state what hazing is, a teen needs to understand some of the warning types of behavior, such as group mentality and a desire to humiliate or hurt those being "initiated." The need to learn to listen to their own consciences --- not to be intimidated into following along with an out-of-control group or team. They also need to know that if they do not stand up for what's right that they'll be charged and prosecuted, like so many other teens have.