An End to Insanity

Pine cones thrown at your face, stripped naked and left in a cornfield, and water forced down your throat until you vomit. Do any of these acts sound familiar? They are some of the most familiar forms of hazing. Although hazing is illegal in most states, the actions of cruelty are still being preformed today, it is an enormous problem so why isn’t more action being taken on it. I think it is because a lot of today’s hazing goes unreported either the school which it took place at is to embarrassed of the incident, or the student him/herself are to embarrassed to share the knowledge with others. In an article from CQ researcher by Brian Hansen he asks the question Should More Be Done to Stop It? I believe Hansen focuses on the article from a medical standpoint although he does not state that hazing is on the rise he does say that deaths caused from hazing are now higher then ever. He gives examples as to why the trend may be on the rise so much, the contemporary media endorses such acts that de grate people on shows like “Fear Factor” or movies like “Jackass.” Students see these acts and they may think that they are “ok” to perform because they were viewed by a national audience. Hansen also says that many deaths occur because students arrive with the “disneyland ride notion” where it may seem scary but the operators know what they are doing and everything will be ok, when in reality many of the hazers choose heinous acts at random that have never been performed before. Hansen’s medical argument is a strong case and he seems to argue against other researchers that believe approaching the issue from a psychological standpoint is the way to go. Assistant Executive director Ted Feinberg, of the National Association of School Psychologists responds to the Should More Be Done to Stop It? by arguing that the root of these problems needs to be found first in order to establish a way to stop the violence. Feinberg believes that the root of hazing starts because of children’s needs to fit into social groups, whether it be a sports teem, or a fraternity. Although Feinberg does make a valid point at this point in my research Hansen makes the more valid argument stemming from the medical aspect. Later in Feinbergs argument he discusses that children or highschoolers want to belong to these social groups because it gives them a sense of belonging and of worth. In some ways one may think of it as their way of stepping into adulthood. He further goes on to agree and disagree with other researchers who say that the need to haze or be bullied can be traced back thousands of years and some agree that it does build character. I have always wondered how such brutal acts can build character, wouldn’t one be afraid to be around these people after such acts? Apparently these acts have such a profound psychological affect on the victims they develop something similar to what is known as Stockholm's syndrome. Both researchers’ arguments seem to play a large role in one specific example that is brought up; a 1978 incident where a 20-year-old was locked in a car trunk and would only be let out if he consumed large amounts of alcohol that were placed in the trunk. The boy died from alcohol poisining. This example can be looked at from Feinbergs psychological standpoint which is, the boy wanted to fit into a social group and did not think he would be harmed in the process. While Hansen my argue that this was an unnecessary death that could have been prevented. However, to other researchers it is not a matter of solving the problem at all. Some reaserchers at Cornell University have actually found benefits to hazing and have found that it brings students closer together. Hansen and Feinberg may argue that a student who leaves the ring of hazing is being smart and making the right decision, while Cornell University’s counter argument would be “ hazing is weeding the people out of the group who don’t intend to take it seriously.” I find it slightly disturbing that a university as prestigious as Cornell would even make a point such as; hazing humbles its new members. To me this is a faulty excuse of an argument. Hazing is nothing but unnecessary violence. If a group of students wants to find togetherness, humble their new members while working towards a common purpose, why not make the group do mandatory volunteer service. It would certainty humble members and those who don’t believe in the cause could just leave, it also will make the bond of the group stronger. Teamwork is often always involved and some of the work and be very rigorous. This would be a much better way to establish camaraderie amongst a group rather then violent actions and hideous amounts of alcohol being consumed. In Cornell’s article A Revealing Look At Hidden Rights, they fortunately list of reasons to be against hazing unfortunately it is not as big as the list of it’s pros. Allowing hazing to occur is not a suitable solution as to how to solve the problem. One of the most affect ways to stop hazing is to punish the hazers themselves. They need to be brought up on criminal charges and be faced with the consequences of their actions. Miami University and Miami officials say they are “cracking down on hazing, students need to face the consequences and an example needs to be set for those who wish to engage in these actions.” Miami University began to take action when a fellow student was forced to do outrageous acts during a hazing ritual. When the student collapsed fellow hazers waited several minutes before calling for aid. Many students operate hazing rituals under the notion that the school knows it exists but also knows that it is just a bonding exercise and won’t take any action against it. In the past some colleges and universities have been embarrassed to admit these violent acts occur on campus. However, schools are cracking down and hope to make an example out of the hazers who are arrested.

Although both researchers make strong arguments Feinbergs may be more difficult to present to a national audience because, there are so many different contradictions one could make and psychological research can always be looked at with a skeptics eye. On a situation this large regular statistics may not work on potential hazers, and approaching the matter from a strictly psychological perspective may take a lot of time and only reach a small demographic. The last thing any school would want to do is encourage this behavior and tolerate as if nothing were wrong. Punishment and making an example out of students is the only way to discourage others from partaking in such violent acts. Students may not listen to statistics about the death rise due to hazing related events but they will listen to a life in prison.

Bibliography

1.)Hazing Should More be done to Stop it? CQ Researcher. Brian Hansen, 2010. Web. 4 January 2004

2.)Hazing Should More be done to Stop it? CQ Researcher. Ted Feinberg, 2010. Web. 4 January 2004

So far your research has been limited to the pro/con section of CQ Researcher, which is a great place to start, but you need to move beyond that one resource to get a feel for the debate at large. If I follow your summaries, Hansen focuses on the physical consequences of hazing, asserting (I assume) that more should indeed be done, whereas Feinberg thinks we should not act until more psychological research can be conducted. So the first question is whether the acts are psychologically or socially motivated, and depending on the answer we decide whether to act or not to act. This is a fairly narrow focus; what you need to find out is if there are other sources that take this particular psychological/social approach to the problem, ensuring that you will have enough material to work with. If not, what other things are people discussing in terms of hazing and efforts to reduce it?