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Essay on The Evils of Hazing

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The Evils of Hazing

You have just moved to a new school, and it is the first day. You thought it was a dream to be on the wrestling team, but in reality it was a nightmare. After practice, you are hog-tied and beaten by your fellow teammates in a ritual known as hazing.

For many years, hazing has existed in high schools throughout America without many people knowing; more recently, however, laws are being passed against this potentially deadly ritual as people are becoming educated on the topic. This paper will address what hazing is, how it can be stopped, and my opinion on why it should be stopped.

According to the dictionary, hazing is to harass by exacting unnecessary or disagreeable work; …show more content…

People who have been hazed before believe that if they had to go through with it, the next person should. The people being hazed on the other hand have such a strong desire to be in that group that they will put up with whatever is dealt their way. It is a never ending cycle. So, how can we finally try to break this cycle? Education is the best thing. The more you are aware that there is legislation out there and rules against this, the more prepared you will be to prevent yourself from being in that situation. Find out about your school's policies relating to hazing and who you can report it to. Find the information to tell you if there are anti-hazing laws in your state, in which case you can inform a law enforcement official (Olson 141). As stated by Elizabeth Allan, co-founder of StopHazing.org, "Hazing is a part of our culture. That is why it is so important to become educated and redefine these behaviors."

Someone who has helped to redefine these behaviors is Eileen Stevens. When her son Chuck died in a college hazing, she wrote to lawmakers, appeared on television, and told her story to magazines. She then formed the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings, CHUCK for short. When her son first died, and CHUCK was first formed, less than eighteen states outlawed hazing. Today, however, with the help of anti-hazing groups such as this one, forty-two states

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