Hazing
Moms View Message Board: The Kitchen Table (Debating Board): Hazing
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/05/20/highschool.hazing.ap/index.html
What do you all think about the deal they are making the girls that were involved in the whole hazing thing. I think they should be expelled and unable to graduate w/their class. I also think criminal charges should be pressed.
I agree with you, Colette. What went on in that videotape was disgusting and should not be tolerated. The LEAST should be their not graduating with their class, but further, I definitely think criminal charges. Has the media spoken to any of the parents of the victims?
I agree. Hazing is a stupid ritual, such things should not be acceptable under any circumstances. I have not seen the video, just still shots, but have heard enough of the story to be disgusted. What do these girls think they are?? A gang?? Absolutely out of control IMO!!!!
I was going to post this earlier, but didn't have the time! I don't have the time now either, but will post after the kids are in bed.
What bothers me is that this event didn't come from nowhere. I agree with the attorney for one of the girls, who says the school has been casting a blind eye to this annual event for, according to him, 23 years. If it hadn't been for the videotape, it would probably happen again next year, and every year until someone got seriously hurt or someone else videotaped it. I cannot believe that the school officials did not know of this annual hazing event, even if they didn't know how nasty it had gotten.
Hazing is an accepted "fact of life" in many schools, particularly military academies, including West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy. It takes place in most fraternities, and many sororities. And those who object are considered to not be good sports. I've never figured out why one is not a "good sport" for refusing to drink too much alcohol (a lot of college level hazing includes heavy drinking, chugalugging, and annual deaths from alcohol poisoning); do stupid things, or submit to physical abuse. But those are the unwritten rules of the cliques that control who is in and who is out in many educational settings (and other settings).
As for the "deal", well, unless the school has clear rules governing students activities off campus and outside of school hours, they will have a rough time in court with those girls protesting their suspensions. Especially as the victims were, at least in the beginning, willing participants. I don't like it, but that is my read on what the likely outcome will be.
The girls are, from what I read, charged with misdemeanors, which means, at best, community service, and a record which will go into limbo when they turn 18.
I think the event was appalling, and that it was an annual event even more appalling. I would be feeling a lot more supportive of the school system and the police and prosecutors if this were the first time this had happened in that community. The school and the system have been giving a signal for years that this event was OK, sort of - just don't get caught. In your junior year you will get picked on, but next year you're a senior and you can be the bully. What fun!!! NOT!
I'd bet real money that many of the junior girls who are presently perceived as victims are begging their parents to stop the prosecution, because if they are forced to testify they will be ostracized in their senior year, and they know it - because they got caught and the girls who were victimizing them got punished, so it must be their (the victims') fault - not being good sports.
Can you tell I have strong feelings about the whole issue of hazing?
I think it's ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. And, I hope that the kids involved don't get to graduate w/their class. Serves them right. And to think that some of the parents actually were involved in helping gather supplies is utterly disgusting. Ugggh
I don't buy the argument that the school "accepted and tolerated" this activity "for 23 years" so the seniors shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. That's their tough luck that they got caught. These are teenagers who should have known better. If you watched the video, you know how vicious and cruel some of these girls were acting. They should accept the responsibility for their actions, accept the offer and be thankful they get to graduate with their class.
I agree, Sunny, the girls should be held accountable. But, I don't think they will. It was vicious and cruel, and the participants knew that at the time. I'm just saying that this is the legal excuse the lawyers will offer, and it will be hard to get around.
I think the girls should be allowed to graduate with their diplomia. They could be barred from the graduation service. My girlfriend got side tracked in getting her degree and it ended up taking her 10 years to get her degree.
I think it was mob mentality and they never would have done this individually.
I would suggest 100-500 hours of community service such as working in a hospital with dying patients. I think it would be a better lesson. Even lock the girls up for a few hours too. I would rather build the girls up to be better for the community then tear them down. Forced therapy for all of them too.
I agree with Feona, they should be allowed to graduate with restrictions, like not being allowed to graduate on stage. They should also have to do lots of community service, such that would teach them a lesson about the sacredness of each individual.
There should definitely be strong repurcussions, and I agree this should go on their record. However, I am certain it was mob mentality that took over. And the girls should be taught a lesson, but also be allowed to "straighten up"
From her column in the Chicago Tribune by Dawn Turner Rice:
Monica Ong of Chicago is a former Glenbrook North student. "I remember when hazing happened in my class at Glenbrook North High School less than 10 years ago. It was not much different than this year's incident, which included roughing up junior girls and spreading all kinds of excrement on their eyes and bodies. While many students and faculty alike were disgusted, the perpetrators got the usual slap on the wrist and life went on as usual. That was 1994, and what's sad is that in 2003 it's not only escalated in terms of the violence, but enters a new low by bringing video cameras into the game, profiting from a culture obsessed with reality TV."
She said the hazing is considered a tradition that isn't a big deal. But to the contrary: "The students come together in this situation looking for even the tiniest scrap of approval and validation from peers, even at the cost of their safety and dignity. Until we teach youth, particularly young women, to stop looking for validation outside of themselves, we will continue to see this behavior. It's not just a `high school' problem that requires slapping on more Band-Aid policies. Rather, it's a cultural problem that, if unchecked, will give birth to yet another generation of women who will continue to find themselves at the mercy of their environment."
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