Time For A Refresher Course

Barely a week since the school year started and already we hear of hazing incidents in Guelph and Burlington. And there have been more reported at schools across Canada.

Hazing is what a member of our judicial system told me is any situation or action, with or without the consent of participants, whether it’s intentional or not, that endangers the physical or mental or safety of a student.

And it happens on the sports field, the gym, pool, rink and even on the slopes.

There is no humour reading stories about a teenage athlete forced to run naked with a cracker in his buttocks, or one getting hands dipped in paint or heads stuck in toilets or shoplifting while wearing a school football uniform or even running around with a bed sheet as underwear. Yes, all are true.

 

Yet many young people still don’t get it. They see these kind of incidents, and there are many more examples worse than those you just read, as a joke. Hazing is no joke. It's brutal, abusive and repugnant. Police can proceed with criminal charges and the Safe School Act spells out punishment from suspension to expulsion.

I  remember writing several stories of hazing incidents involving high school sports teams in Toronto many years ago and I was told by a coach that there are two cases of hazing: harmless and harmful. Sorry, I don’t buy that at all. Taping an unclothed player to a goalpost and smashing eggs at him is not harmless. 

It's difficult to pinpoint an exact number of injuries related to hazing rituals associated with sports  in Canadian schools The kind of nonsense that happens is usually secretive. Reports in the U.S. have shown that many students each year are injured, and some even killed, as a result of hazing.

There are many websites, StopHazing.org is one, that has some interesting information. The National Federation of State High School Associations nfhs.org  has information about hazing as does the Manitoba High School Athletic Association mhsaa.mb.ca. Sadly, I am told, there is no policy outlined by the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations.

Hazing is a form of bullying and we have read a great deal about that over the years. While some students need to think about the consequences of getting involved in a hazing incident, adults are also a problem by turning their heads instead of doing the right thing and putting an end to this nonsense.

 

When  sports schedules are posted or handed out to student  athletes, it might be a wise idea to also provide information about how young people get attention for the right reasons.

Comments

[Mr. L. Smith]

Hip, hip hooray for you. Great piece. Now the challenge is to educate the educators. Good luck, Best example of a comparison that I have is Three Blind Mice.

[Diablo]

I thought these hazing things were either completely halted or jujst hushed up. Shows you what I know and I am a coach. Here's an idea for you. If schools and people are named in stories in police reports and papers elsewhere, then why not name the culprits again. People really like seeing other schools dirty laundry. It might also help.

[L. Webster]

I find it interesting that after so much has been said about hazing that OFSAA has nothing. Very disappointing. Someone needs to shake some heads at that place.

[Higgins]

Suspend students involved in hazing from competing in high school sports for one year and put them on probation for the rest of their high school education.

[Mr. K]

Just read this and have to wonder if we're not going a bit overboard with this. Let kids be kids. Most of us adults were involved in stuff like this before and big deal if someone gets paint on their clothes or walks around in girls underwear. Its still better than knives and guns these kids carry to classes.

[Lorenzo]

These things happen in the United States and rarely here.

[CuriousGeorge]

It's the old initiation stuff and is there anyway of finding out if there are more of these incidents with girls or is it primarily with boys.

[mike]

I think whether or not there is harmless hazing depends on your definition. As per the judicial definition, well anything that could endanger someone's safety beyond any reasonable means is of course harmful.

However, if you cast a broader definition of hazing to include initiation rites, such as having rookies carry all of the team's practice equipment, be last in line for pre-game meals, singing school songs in public places, and other similar things. Then there definitely are harmless forms of hazing.

I assume the coach isn't a lawyer / judge or other legal official, so it's possible he had a different definition in mind for hazing than the legal one.

I'm not being ignorant and during my youth I definitely experienced (and regrettably committed) my share of both the harmful and harmless types of hazing. It's one of those, but for the grace of god things.

However, having been through all that, I do see benefits for having some harmless initiation rites (similar to the forementioned) that people need to progress through as part of joining a team. The bonds it creates, the implicitly promised benefits of commitment to the team, the demonstration that proving yourself has benefits, etc. - each of these are good lessons for youth.

[No Name]

A grade 9 football player at my school ran around the hall with no clothes on after practice this week because he was scared the guys wouldn't consider him to be part of our team. I told one of our captains that it wasn't right but he told me to mind my own business. If I go to the coach then they'll come after me. I wanted to explain this and I hope you can use this.

[Thompson]

Thank you for writing about this and lets hope people read it before someone gets hurt.

[M. Berger]

Only way to see this lunacy end is to have them all get caught, suspended and jailed.

[Jeff Grant]

Hey Mike, time for you to see a medical specialist. You're OK with harmless initiation rites? What's next - cults? And what's this garbage about bonding and committment to a team. You nuts. Doesn't surprise me that you admit to doing some form of hazing in your school days. Good gosh, you've missed it buddy and big time. Wipe out hazing. Period.

[B. Boyd]

Got to laugh when I read the posting from Mike. He writes about benefits in harmless hazing and good lessons for youth. You are my type of guy Mike, what's next on your plate thinking about joining some political party. Your thinking fits right in with them - ridiculous.

[James Logan]

Is there a particular reason why your samples of hazing incidents were not the kind of horrific things that really go on at schools?

[mike]

Jeff Grant - you are aware that initiation rites are common throughout society, are you not? And they've proven to be quite effective - from Disney manager spending a day as a mascot at Disney World to many companies requiring marketing personnel to act as sales reps for 6 months to a year. If you don't see the benefits of these, and similar initiation rites, then I'm afraid you need to become educated on the topic.

[B. Bishop]

Hazing is a sexy word for a high school tradition and it should be allowed within reason.

[Lindsay]

I searched the web and found a story about a hazing incident in Alberta earlier this month where new high school students (and maybe future athletes) were flogged and beaten by older students using hockey sticks, baseball bats and even a cheese grater taped to a piece of wood. And some people call this normal. Heaven help us all.

[mike]

Furthermore James, the types of hazing that I named most certainly do go on at school. I'm not naive and know that they're not the only types of hazing that take place, but go watch your kids high school football team practice and take a look at who is carrying the pads out to the field. Chances are it'll be the rookies.

[Nick]

I guess I have been living on another planet because I thought this hazing crap was now under control by all that money taxpayers spent on what now turns out to be a useless Safe Schools Task Force and an incompetent group of people.

[Theodore Davis]

Seems like we have some very unhappy people questioning the leadership and integrity of organizations and people. So I will join in and ask why no one is asking where the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (they're called OPHEA) stands on this subject and have they produced any guidelines for schools. If they have, is it working. If they haven't, McGuinty has another leader to terminate and an organization to clean up.

[Pirelli]

Can someone tell me if initiations or what some people call hazings is any different from some of those strange things kids do during United Way fundraisers.