As parents across the nation wake up each morning, the first thing that crosses their minds should not be whether or not their children are in danger of being emotionally and physically abused by their peers. However, over the past decade this concern has become a major problem in schools across the nation. The threat I speak of is hazing! For those people who do not know, hazing is defined as "an initiation process involving harassment" (Merriam-Webster). Parents are now realizing how much of a problem hazing really has become.
Hazing has become a much bigger problem on school campuses across the United States than school officials and parents realize. When hazing was first brought to the attention of the nation, it was only heard of in fraternities; however, hazing has become popular in sororities, athletics, military, and high schools. Is today's child capable of hurting another child just for the fun of it?
Over the past decade, hazing incidents have become numerous.
Alfred University's Steinheim Building—often cal...
Kanakadea Hall was originally built in 1884; it se...
Korbin SimsIn 2003, "headline-grabbing" hazing incidents seem to be in the news every day! Mepham High School in New York State cancelled its football season this fall after three players were charged with sexually brutalizing their younger teammates with sticks, pine cones and golf balls during their summer training camp (Sims). In May, fifteen female seniors from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, were criminally charged with misdemeanor battery after a powder-puff football game. The junior victims "were subjected to a beer-fueled assault while seniors dumped paint, animal parts, vomit, and human feces on them; also, they were kicked, punched and choked with pig intestines" (Beiles 185). In October, seven students from Port Washington, Wisconsin, "allegedly bound five freshman cheerleaders and a male student to trees with duck tape, dumped syrup and eggs on them and left...