high school hazing?
 

I was searching under sororities at community.webshots.com when i came upon some pictures from what looks to be like a high school sorority. From what i saw in one pic, a very young high school girl is dressed in humiliating clothes before what she says is hell night (as she puts it the worst night of her life) along with her parents. does this seem wrong to anyone besides me? i would never let my daughter participate in blatent hazing activities. Isnt hazing illegal in all states? wouldnt this be detrimental to college sororities if high school girls are taught that hazing is a normal part of greek life?

It's only illegal if you get caught. My HS didn't have fraternity's and sororities, (well we sort of did) there were these two organizations called "Men's club" and "Pep Club". I've talked about it on other threads. This was (and still is) FACULTY sponsored and I'm pretty sure the tradition goes pretty far back. Essentially the groups haze incoming freshman. Freshman at my old HS were treated basically like dirt. They actually have a hell week. On the final day they have to come to school dressed a certain way... This was a long time ago for me but I remember that the pep club wannabees had to wear a white t-shirt, green skirt, six pigtails and paint their faces with spots like a dog. As I recall they had to get 20 signatures from seniors for doing whatever they were told to do.

Men's club was suspended my second year after the freshman kids were taken out to this field where everyone would drink and made to strip naked and jog in a circle. They came back the next year though.. The school was VERY tradition oriented.

To the best of my knowledge all of this still goes on. I can only imagine what would happen if the faculty of my CURRENT school got wind that we did anything even close to resembling those things...

Hazing was pretty obvious in my highschool...there were three organizations that did it the worst. FFA hazed their freshman--I don't know everything they did, but they painted one of their hands green and they weren't allowed to wash it. It was really gross when a week went by, and some of their hands were still green (these people handled livestock for crying out loud!!!).

The Thespians hazed bad! When I pledged, we were brought to the commons area and humiliated in a number of ways--we had to act like bacon or popcorn...we were made to carry the books of people we didn't know, say monologues at the most inappropriate times, do "worm races" in front of the school...dress in ridiculous costumes & wear them to class...call our "Big Siblings" "Master", it goes on and on.

Then there was a mens group called "Duffers" and they had to go through some hell. One day during their initiation week, they had to come to school completely nerded out--highwaters, horn-rimmed glasses w/tape, messed up hair, lunch-boxes, etc.

Of course--this was back in 85-88 (I'M OLD!!!) By the time I graduated, the Thespians were hazing in private, and no one wanted to be in the Duffers anymore b/c they couldn't haze. Sad, huh? (I'm saying sad about wanting to be part of a group that hazed). While some of the thespian thing I had no problem with (we were all drama-geeks, after all...we lived to be weirdos), I did not enjoy calling people "Master" or being made to do worm races (it hurt & I ruined my clothes!).

My college was virtually hazing free (if anyone did it, I did not know about it). Interesting how I went on to join a sorority, and the closest thing to hazing that I ever experienced was a kidnap breakfast where the pledges were brought to a private conference room & served breakfast! We got our bigs back, though...we kidnapped them, and took them to a public restaurant, and lo & behold, the Lambda Chi Associates had brought their big brother's too!!! All of us pledges had our make-up on, etc. b/c we knew they would be there...amazing how some of our big's lost their sense-of-humor that a.m.

Hazing is despicable, be it high school or college or military or athletic. When I was on the high school dance team in the sixties, the new members were hazed. So were the new members of the pep club, the athletic teams, the FFA...I'm horrified that none of our parents tried to stop it.

However, I was never hazed as a sorority member in the seventies. Sorority hazing was considered illbred and we wouldn't have thought of it. I still don't personally know anyone who was hazed by a sorority.

I don't think you can be so hard on them for that.

Back in those days it *really* was part of the culture. Ethics and hazing had entirely different meanings back then. In those days (and in some places even today) hazing is still a welcomed aspect of the culture (although not by me).

I just think it's a little unfair to judge the past by the standards of today.

LHT
Kevin

sports, band, drill team, cheerleading - all of these haze, and much more visibly and more common than fraternities and sororities. So why does the media discriminate? Because chances are, they were in at least one of those activities in HS, but perhaps were not in a fraternity or sorority...not fair.

Around here, the blatant HS hazing happens in plain view, in the MALL food court. Silly outfits, screaming of commands, you name it...

I never heard of hazing in h.s., but one of my sorority sisters reported being hazed by her high school band! I thought that was just ludicrous, and what was even more ludicrous was that no one complained to the administration or dropped out of band, they just took it.

I have been hazed in high school and college band before...so it does happen!

I will be a band director soon, and if I find out any hazing is going on, those kids will be kicked out of band and referred for suspension. Zero tolerance, woo hoo!

You'd really be surprised how many people in the media are greek... Or at least here they are.

LHT
Kevin

I was also hazed in high school. This one time at band camp (sorry I couldn't resist). But seriously, all freshman were assigned to a senior member and you were their slave for the week. On the first day the freshman had to carry their seniors' suitcases and stuff to their rooms. Then on one day all freshman were woken up by the seniors around 4 or 5 in the morning to find their doors covered with whipped/shaving cream, pads, condoms, etc. The seniors would be in the hall with whistles and would be yelling and all the freshman were forced into the basement where they were forced to do exercises and embarrassing gestures and sing and dance and basically make fools of themselves until they were exhausted. After that, the freshman had a little time to go to their rooms to get ready. Then while marching to breakfast, all freshman had to make animal noises instead of calling (left, left) while marching. All the other schools would laugh at the freshman. At all meals that day the freshman had to sit at a table beside their seniors' and were not allowed to talk and had to get all the food and dump the tray for their senior. That night there was a 'talent show' where the freshman were forced to dress up in embarrassing costumes and sing and dance in front of everyone. Also, the entire day there were air raids. All the seniors had whistles. If a freshman was caught out of their room and a senior blew their whistle, the freshman would have to get belly down on the ground, fully lying down wherever you were (in mud, on the road, etc.) and say "I am a lowlife freshman I have no poise and grace and when I see a senior I fall upon my face". Also, all day freshman were not allowed to talk at all. The seniors could basically do whatever they wanted to the freshman. The guys had it worse, they were actually forced to do outrageous numbers of pushups and were actually beaten by the seniors. The worse part of it all was that the band directors and all the chaperones had no problem with any of it, they actually watched it all happen and took pictures and laughed.

"It's only illegal if you get caught."

That's one of the stupidest explanations I have ever heard of. Take the words "high school hazing" and replace with another illegal activity and see how it sounds.

Against the law is against the law.

If there is hazing in different high school activities, that would decrease the reasons some would want to even attempt to join a collegiate Greek organization.

That's just what I observed my HS's views to be on this subject.. not my own. To be honest they probably think it's perfectly legal.

LHT
Kevin

Yeah, I would say hazing is mroe common in HS than you would think. When I was a freshman, the varsity soccer team would haze anyone who was a freshman or sophomore that made varsity. And since there were only two of us, there were a LOT of people that hazed just a very few people. They split up into two groups and came and woke us up at our houses at 4 in the morning, and OUR PARENTS WERE IN ON IT! Then they painted our faces, and wouldnt let us change clothes, or even put a bra on. Then they took us to our coach's house where we proceeded to shoepolish his car, and they took pictures only of the freshmen doing it. Then, they were really nice, and took us to a breakfast place, and even paid for our meals, the catch was, we were still dressed in pj's. Then, by this time, the malls were open and they tied us two together and made us walk around in the mall with dog leashes on with fish painted all over our faces and arms. It didnt do any real harm to me, but i was pretty PO'd that i had to get up so early in hte morning. i didnt think about it at the time, but all i had to do was say no........

When I was in highschool, we hazed and were hazed. When you were a junior, you were given Little Sisters, who were freshman. By the way, I was at an all-girls private hs. There was a specific night where you were kidnapped by your big sisters and they took you out to public places, dressed you up, and made you do emberrassing things. When I was a junior, we took our little sisters out, dressed them up, took them to a mall, and made them go up to random strangers and do stupid things with them-while we took pictures. Then we took them to breakfast the next morning-it was supposed to be all in good fun. When I was a freshman, our big sisters dressed us up, and made us stand on a street corner and hold up signs. Then they took us to the all boys school and emberrased us in front of the guys. Back then I didn't feel like it was hazing, but looking back on it, I guess it was.....oops...

I am a high school senior getting ready to graduate (yea!!)..anyway I guessed I was hazed and hazed others although I have never thought of it like that. I got into the Anchor Club my junior year, and when you get in, you have to do all kinds of little stupid things for the seniors, and then on the last day, they dressed us up in all this ridiculous stuff and we had to wear it all day and sing little songs and stuff at lunch, but all this was fun to me! I never thought of it as hazing.

I was also on the cheerleading and soccer teams for four years, but they never made us do anything. But I do think the guys soccer team hazed, my boyfriend told me they "break in" the new guys, but I don't know what that entails.

Why are these type of things considered hazing? I think its just fun and games and a good way to all come together and bond. I always thought hazing was like beating, yelling or forcing someone to drink large quantities of alcohol and stuff like that but whatever, I dont know much about the subject.

High School Hazing, Yes there Is!:mad:

Lawrence Kansas High School had undergrads heads shaved, and beaten in the Ass with 2x4s. One student had his tail bone broken!

What I love is that the TV Station said they were Paddled! Shades of Greek Orgs. Big Diff in Paddles and 2x4's.

Several of the Seniors said " Well We were so it should be OKAY!"

Middle America what a waste of Our Young People Who Will one day be running the country!

I had my head Half Shaved at NWMoU as a Frosh. I did not give the OKAY as was the Tradition! That is the Last Year that it was allowed to happen!

Hazing can be not only brutal in the physical asspect but the Demeaning one also!

Yes I do remember it happening back in High School. I know that the FFA, ROTC, Football, and Band people did their own things. In the band, we actually used to take incoming freshmen in the low brass section out to a former Air Force Afterburner Test Site facility that had been abandoned since the Cold War. It was way out of the city limits and ran adjacent to a runway from the Airport. To get there you had to drive through a dirt secluded road and had to climb underneath a fence. When the freshmen were taken to the facility, upperclassmen would be hiding in the station that was pitch black and would pop out to scare them as they made it through. The only thing that could be heard was dripping water and the slightest echo. Sight was virtually impossible except for the light coming out of an open door at the end of the station. They were not allowed to take flashlights and were told to stick to the main pathway and always look forward to the backdoor light. After they exited the station they had to climb a ladderwell that extended out to a tower where the scenery was priceless. Next their physical strength from marching season was put to the test where they had to climb ropes and climb through obstacle courses to get to the other side of the station. Balance and coordination was tested by having them walk across narrow strips of metal that were suspended from roof to roof. A senior was always behind the freshman and other seniors were monitoring below to prevent any type of accident. Looking back at this now it seemed pretty pretty darn crazy and dumb. The only time that I think that hazing is acceptable is for the purposes of military training. I am a veteran and understand the importance of military readiness. The Department of Defense opposes hazing as well but does not consider the challenges we were put through at basic training as hazing but rather survival training for war. Everything there from the physical exhaustion, sleep deprivation, gas chamber exposure, etc happens for a reason and it's more a mental game than anything else. If you have a good head on your shoulders it's not as difficult as people make it out to be. Organizations such as the Order of Skull and Bones, a secret society based out of Yale, actually favor former servicemen to enter the Order because of their mental and physical readiness. These essentials, the ideals of War, are crucial to the making of the world leaders that Bonesmen tend to "tap". George Bush was actually drafted right out of the New England Prep. School he attended and joined the Naval Air Corp. Upon returning from the War and attending Yale he was "tapped" his Junior year. Most of you have probably seen the movie "The Skulls". The movie is based off of a real Order that originated at Yale. The movie distorts things and makes it seem as if it is negative. To sum it up I don't think that High School or Colleges should haze. It is wrong.

We had a program similar to this at my all girls private high school. it was definately fun at the time...but it would have be defined as hazing... :(

It happened at my small private school too.

We had Key Club and Keywanettes(sp?) and they dressed up sang songs and did a secret initiation. I never wanted to join b/c of those reasons, not b/c I knew anything about hazing, just b/c I didn't want to look like a fool, but ALL of my friends joined...

I was just going to check if they still did it and talk to the advisors and see if the Alumnae Panhellenic could do a little program about it....it seems they ready these kids for saying OK with this type of behavior.

I think that behavior is sick...in most cases the parents helped plan the events at alot of schools and watched as things were done. I found this terrible because this is the view these kids have of the greek system when they get to college and they feel this is ok. And the parents reinforce this behavior by supporting and planning it! They complain and have fits when the "good fun" gets out of hand and someone gets hurt or killed. Then all of a sudden it is "how dare those damn greeks!" and the blame goes on greek orgs!

And it IS hazing even when you arent caught! Just like it is still murder if the killer doesnt get caught! Just becuase you dont get caught doesnt mean its ok to do!

But it isnt just greek HS orgs like previously said!

Just my $.02!:D

I went to an "exclusive" *GAG* preparatory school in PA for high school.. the kind that's all obsessed with public appearance.. and yet there is a long-standing tradition of Freshmen Orientation.

The seniors choose freshmen for that week, giving them embarrassing outfits to wear and embarrassing tasks to perform. There are rules about what can and can't be done, obviously.. you can't make people eat/wear (including makeup)/etc anything that would be detrimental to their health or beliefs, and there is always the option to decline if an instruction makes you uncomfortable. Granted, at the most, there are only about 40 students in either the senior or freshmen class, so it is very easy to control what is going on, and everything is limited to on the small school property only during normal school hours, and cannot interfere with academics.

When I was a freshman, the theme was barnyard commando. If you weren't given a crazy costumes to wear, you basically just wore camoflague (sp?) clothing and a sign with a particular animal..(I had a cow sign, and my senior also gave me a hat and a cowbell to wear...I'm an Aggie.. what do I mind? LOL). Freshmen weren't allowed to use a bookbag for their books and had to carry a bag full of balloons. At one point, we were stopped outside and instructed to do jumping jacks between classes. Big deal, right? Freshmen who gave lip to a senior or did something wrong were brought to "Kangaroo Court" during prep school lunch where they were given a task to perform.. I had to sing a song on stage as my "punishment". (ok, I'll admit...I had Orientation very easy, b/c I was shy and quiet and no senior had any reason to want to embarrass me...other kids in my class had older siblings/team mates/etc in the senior class...)

The last day of Orientation was always the Pajama Parade, in which the Freshmen had to walk all over town (on a day when other area schools usually had a day off) in pajamas or some other outfit (how fitting.. I wore sheep pajamas :)).

Anyway, the following week, the Senior Slave Auction was held, in which students (in any grade, from 7th through 11th) paid money to "torture" a Senior. This was the main fundraiser for the class, so they could hold their prom, etc, and the event was always fun...our theme was that Dr. Evil kidnapped Brittney Spears and various singers had to be auctioned off to raise the money to pay her ransom..(just to point out that most of us had no issue with dressing up and having some fun, so we weren't really concerned with being told to dress up for orientation).

Overall, I guess the process wasn't so bad, depending on who you are and who has it in for you... Of course, in a school where we also had random dress up days.. in place of a rather strict dress code, most students didn't mind being told to dress oddly, and never were any of the costumes sexually inappropriate (guys might have had to wear dresses, but always of modest length), nor were any of the tasks. Nobody ever finished Orientation feeling hurt or violated. I realize there is a fine line between what should be considered appropriate and what is considered hazing, but it is my opinion that "hazing" is something that is psychologically, emotionally, or physically detrimental, and this was all in fun. The only "punishment" for not going along with your Freshmen Orientation was that you would not be allowed to have a freshmen that week when you were a senior, unless you allowed your senior classmates to put you through a day or two of it prior. You still got all your "Freshmen privilages", like leaving campus for lunch, and the next day after orientation, the seniors would treat the freshman class to a meal.

And now, I'm rambling...

This is crazy... I can't imagine what would have happened at my high school if students were hazed like what all of you have described... the only thing that could have been categorized as hazing would have been the football "Hell week," which was physical preparation for their games in the middle of August (which in Riverside is usually about 105 degrees). The cheerleaders my freshman year would make the frosh team do stupid stuff, but it wasn't a public humiliation, and they don't even do it anymore.

As for the band... I was in colorguard (ya know, the girls that spin flags and rifles and sabres on the field with the band?) all through high school. Needless to say, I was never hazed, and I never hazed anyone! My sophomore year, we took the new girls in as "Rookies," but we were there to spoil them rotten, make sure they had rides to practice, and watch over them in the horrendous heat... sounds more like a Big/Lil sis program to me...

It bothers me so much to think that hazing goes on in high schools, possibly more often than in colleges! When I'm a teacher in two years, you'd better believe I won't put up with that kind of ****!

:mad: