Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strengths of Character—Outcome 1HAZING INCIDENT HIGHLIGHTS VIRTUES OF RESPECT AND RESPONSIBILITY (www.civicsinaction.org)Hazing is any action or situation created intentionally to such a violent act of hazing to occur?produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, orharassment for people trying to join a group.On Sunday, May 4 (2003), junior girls from a suburban Illinoishigh school got ready for a secret “Powder Puff” footballgame, where the senior girls play the junior girls. As many as100 people are thought to have been at the “game,” whichincluded a lot of alcohol consumption by players and spectatorsbefore and during the event. The junior girls assumed theywould receive the standard abuse of having ketchup, mustard,eggs, and flour poured all over them. A junior girl who wasinjured said, “About 10 minutes into it, everything changed—buckets were flying, people were bleeding, girls were unconscious.”Some senior girls brought baseball bats; others shovedexcrement into people’s mouths. At one point, some of thesenior girls began punching and kicking the junior girls. Fivegirls ended up in the hospital. Most of the student spectatorsdid nothing to help those being abused.What turns a girls’ football game into an act of group violenceagainst others? These are some of the factors:Lack of respect for others. Someone who abuses others lacksthe virtue of respect for others’ worth and dignity. The abuseroften views the victim as a mere object.Alcohol. Excessive drinking affects our ability to make judgmentsand see clearly the consequences of our actions.Courage. Some of the spectators probably fully realized theabuse was wrong but lacked the courage to do anythingabout it.Mob mentality. As a group begins to do something wrong, itcan be very easy to get caught up in the crowd.(The next section of the narrative discusses the responsibility ofstudents enacting the abuse, the responsibility of parents, theresponsibility of spectators, and the responsibility of the school.)VOCABULARY: Hazing, courage, respect for others, responsibility.(Each term is defined.)LESSON GOALS: Help students become more aware of whathazing is, its dangers, and how to prevent it; relate the virtuesof respect for others, courage, and responsibility to the preventionof violence.DISCUSSION QUESTIONS1. What do you think were the various factors that enabled2. Where do you think we should draw the line between afun ritual of initiation and abusive hazing?3. Why do you think people accept being abused in order tobe part of a group? What are other ways to bring a groupof people closer together?4. Recalling the lesson’s discussion of responsibility—beingaccountable for our actions—what level of responsibilityand punishment do you think is appropriate for those studentsenacting violence on other students? Those in thecrowd cheering on the abusers? Those who provided alcoholfor the event?5. Let’s think about the times we’ve done something bad forwhich we wanted to be forgiven. How did we show we weresorry for our actions?6. Place yourself in the position of a junior who was beatenand abused. Could you forgive the ones who abused you?What would you want them to do to help you forgivethem?JOURNAL WRITING. Would you have done anything as a spectatorto stop the violence? Why or why not? Given this lesson,would your actions now be different? If so, why?EXTENSION PROJECT. Divide the class into teams; each teamresearches one aspect of high school hazing from the topicsbelow, using the links at the bottom of the page.1. What is hazing and its history in high schools?2. How often does it occur? Whom does it affect?3. How do schools respond to high school hazing? Whateffect does their response have?4. How do the community and police respond?5. What can be done to prevent high school hazing?LINKSThe history of high school hazinghttp://hazing.hanknuwer.com/hs2.html; www.stophazing.orgInitiation Rites in American High Schools: A National Studyby Alfred Universitywww.alfred.edu/news/html/hazing_study.htmlCenter for the Prevention of School Violencewww.cpsv.org96Smart & Good High Schools