High School Hazing/Does It Happen Anymore?

Yep hazing is still here, but the popular kids are usually the ones that get it. If you are in sports, they get you.

I went to HS in the Bronx. We had so called freshman friday when I was in highschool in the early nineties. Handrails and stairs would be greased. You could get "bombed" with nair filled eggs. You might get roughed up at the subway station. You might get sold a "pool pass" (There was no pool).

Times have changed. In this age of zero tolerance, and criminal and civil consequences, this kind of hazing probably no longer happens.

Best to ask older students and parents in your community to find out what to expect.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

It depends. NO one can say with 100% accuracy if it happens. Your one responder so far says she's never heard of any incidents. Well, I hadn't either but we just got a client who was arrested following a high school hazing event, so yes, it does happen!

It does happen but if so, there are huge consequences. It's usually a specific team or squad who initiate the newbies.

My daughter is a cheerleader and they do a boot camp. They make it fun and like an initiation but it is all games and perfectly legal per UIL rules... Example.. to find out who your big sis is you solve a puzzle, run down the slip n slide, water toys, etc.

I've not heard of anyone around here geing hazed. That said, our high schools are so large they are separated in to several high schools which are only grades 9-10 and the 3 Senior high schools are grades 11-12. By Senior high, most of the kids have matured quite a bit.

In high school, they are just finding their place.

It was a different story when I was pledging a club in college. They called it Hell night for a reason....

Yes, Maine West High School in DesPlaines had an incident not too long ago and a coach was fired.

The best thing you can do is keep the lines of communication open with your teen and make sure she knows that she can come to you with anything.

It wasn't happening in the 90's when I was in high school. And I've not heard anything lately.

As for the military, hazing is 100% against the law (Uniformed Code of Military Justice).

ETA: I agree that my not hearing of any incidents doesn't mean that there aren't any.

But I wouldn't let rare incidences make me fear for my child.

In the same way that I'm not going to let rare incidences of kidnappings that are painted all over the media influnce my allowing my kids to play outside.

Use your best judgement.

Girls:

It all depends upon the place...really.

And it depends upon how YOU behave. You are already "intimidated" by it. If your daughters picked up on that as well - they will show their intimidation in their actions and behavior...which will make them prime targets for bullying, etc.

At our high school? It all depends. Really. The school district tries REALLY hard to make sure there is an adult presence so it doesn't happen. But heck...where there is a will...there is a way...there are wwwwaaaayyyy too many kids without proper role models, supervision, etc. and parents who would rather be friends than parents....so I'm sure it happens. As to the degree? I don't know.

Good luck!

They are not supposed to, but I noticed at one High school here in town, they seemed to be pushing their "Tradition".. This is one of the upscale schools here in Austin.

The Parents threw a fit when their children got in trouble for hazing others.. Because "we did it when we were students.. and no harm done.".. But it really can be dangerous and puts the schools in a bad position.. the liability is harsh..

But some kids and their parents.. just do not get it.. so, what we did was really inform our children/students Zero Tolerance was enforced..

Meaning if you participated in hazing, you would be kicked off of the team, club or organization.. We are not idiots, we are sure there is some of it going on, but until a student or parent speaks up or informs the school or police, they cannot do anything,

Our daughter attended a college that had lots of fun Traditions, but no hazing..

My daughter is on the tail end of her freshman year and she hasn't experienced any type of hazing that I am aware of (and she would definitely tell me because she's that type of kid). We recently moved back to Texas last August and I do know that the high school that she would have attended in FL had what someone else called "Freshman Friday". It was on the first Friday of the school year and apparently it was a day to pretty much harass the freshmen in a mostly verbal way (or so that's what we heard). I know how intimidating it is to have your kiddo walk into that big high school. I held my breath in late August and prayed that my daughter would be safe and treated well. So far, so good. Hasn't been perfect but nothing that she can't overcome because frankly, that's just how life is. My daughter is one of those under the radar kind of girls. She's kind and friendly, not into witchy drama behavior, not boy crazy (or doing things that attract that kind of attention), is involved in the theater and choir and keeps her grades up. I think she's one of those kids that everybody likes and respects because she's just down to earth and nice. I've always told her that's the best way to survive the crazy high school years, to be the kind of person that if someone did decide to make up something crazy about her, people's first thought's would be, "no way, not Julianna". Hopefully that same strategy carries her through the next three years! :-)

I am happy to say, it does not exist in my kids' h.s.'s, but I'm sure it exists somewhere. Hazing I think has become a thing of the past in schools, unless it's associated with gangs, and in the armed forces I think it's just tradition. Either way....it's sick and sad.

I have two freshmen now, a boy and girl. To my knowledge, high school has been a positive experience for them and their friends since day one. The only thing they were nervous about was finding their classes in a ginormous building but within a few days of starting, they were fully in the swing of things.

ummmm, they're still kids in high school, right? I'm guessing they're still pulling the same stunts.

Check on You Tube and you'll see that the tradition is sickly alive and well.

Remember the Glenbrook South (maybe it was North) incident a few years back? ISH!

Don't think it happened when I was in high school in the early '90's. If anything with all the anti-bullying rules out there, I highly doubt it's happening nowadays.