high school hazing?

[Tom Earp]

High School Hazing, Yes there Is!

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!

[Mystic Cat32]

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.

[phisigQT]

Originally posted by XO_Princess
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...

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...

[LexiKD]

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.

[theta sig agd]

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!

[Adri]

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...

[gphiangel624]

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 ****!