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Jungians analyze hazing at forum
BY SARA LOEB
STAFF WRITER

Growing up without established initiation rituals, the Northbrook teens who hurled feces and fists in the May 4 "powder puff" hazing incident may have tried to fill the void themselves.

The harmful results of the hazing, which attracted worldwide attention, are a sign that society needs to offer meaningful rites of initiation, a panel of analysts at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago agreed.

The Evanston-based institute sponsored a public forum Saturday on "Initiation, Hazing, and Rites of Passage."

The powder puff hazing pitted Glenbrook North High School seniors against juniors, and ended with five juniors seeking medical treatment for injuries sustained in the incident. About 100 teens were on hand to watch the alcohol-fueled spectacle, and some recorded the violence on videotape.

High school officials eventually expelled 33 seniors, 15 of whom also faced battery charges, and suspended 20 of the juniors who participated in the hazing. Two adult women were charged with buying kegs of beer for the event.

Rhinda West, a retired English teacher who serves on the institute's public education committee, said the hazing made headlines just as her committee was meeting to plan the annual fall forum.

"As we talked about it, the conversation moved from 'Isn't this horrible?' to 'Isn't it too bad that we live in a culture that doesn't provide them with an outlet for the need to have these rituals?' " West explained. "What was going on with that process (the hazing) was people trying to make sense of out 'What does it mean to be an adult?' "

One of two panels featured at the forum explored hazing as a rite of passage. That panel brought together several Jungian analysts and a high school teacher who serves on the institute's public education committee to discuss the issue.

West said Jung, a disciple of Sigmund Freud, saw the need for initiation as an "archetype," or a universal psychological quality.

Panelists emphasized during their discussion that the psychological urges expressed by the girls aren't abnormal, but that our society seems to lack the tools to deal with those urges.

Native American and indigenous African tribes developed initiation rites that helped adolescents learn to channel potentially negative emotions, explained panelist Robert Moore, a Jungian analyst and the author of "The Archetype of Initiation."

He said adolescents experience aggression, dominance or submission and need to learn how to regulate those instincts.

"How do you learn to access and then use those mature capabilities? It takes an aware conscious group of elders to do a sophisticated enough job to slowly -- and I mean slowly -- realize these potentials," Moore said. "You're not trying to suppress aggression and other instincts, but bring them on line in a way that supports civilization."

In tribal societies, those constructive rituals often featured physical or emotional hardship but promised greater understanding and prepared youngsters to assume new responsibilities as adults in the tribe.

Youngsters need to face hardship, and even danger, to get ready for adulthood, said Waukegan high school teacher Richard Quinn, who also serves on the public education committee.

That said, adults need to make sure youngsters are taught humility, responsibility and other similar qualities when facing those challenges, he said. Extreme physical or emotional duress during initiation serves a purpose only if the initiates emerge better able to serve the larger community, he added.

Such was not the case at the Glenbrook hazing, several panelists noted.

"There were people who pretended to know," he said, referring to the high school seniors who hazed the juniors at the powder puff incident. "But there were no responsible elders doing the initiating. We need something to jolt ourselves out of childhood and into adulthood, but we often get the wrong people doing the initiating."

The Northbrook teens who led the hazing were more concerned with avenging the treatment they had received as juniors, and the girls they hazed were seeking acceptance from their peers, said panelist Sonia Sukenick, a candidate in the analyst training program of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts.

"It wasn't geared towards initiation into a larger group, and there was no guidance to a higher purpose," she said.

The teens who submitted to the hazing were motivated by the desire for popularity, she said.

"At this stage of life, the crowd is like a mirror, and popularity is such an important factor. It's what pulls peer harassment," Sukenick said. "School is often such a miserable place, and there's a climate of cruelty."

Moore said children today are raised in a culture that elevates narcissism and grandiosity over self-control and responsibility.

While it isn't possible for individual parents to overrule society's influence, they need to teach their own children social skills and responsible behavior, Sukenick said. Children also benefit from strong friendships and by exploring talents and interests.

"That helps them understand our own individuality and how we're both similar and different," she said. "It helps us appreciate our diversity."

Although teenagers may express disdain for their parents, they still look to them as models and for guidance, she reminded the audience.

"There's a tension between vulnerability and resistance," she explained. "Too often, parents fail to grasp that our children need us. We still have responsibility as adults in our kids' lives."