The Importance Of Status Hazing In High School

The book “Our Guys” is more of a cultural and sociological study than just a mere crime book. Bernard provides detailed information about the story of a young girl known as Leslie who was raped by the Jocks in a town known as Glen ridge in New Jersey. The story reports that the Jocks had been in trouble since their middle years in school. However they were considered the star athletes, golden boys in a town that valued competition and athleticism. The behavior of one of the young men was so inexplicable and revolting; however, he was never charged or punished for his actions. As Bernard puts it, you would walk in a high school with a cabinet full of trophies, game balls and other accoutrements, but surprisingly, you would not be able to find the honor roll list (Lefkowitz, 1997).

While high school in reality is full of surprises and twisty roads, teen television shows and movies are based off a strict set of conventions that allude to other teen films. In David Denby 's "High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies," he describes the typical movie storyline and characters: the blonde, superficial cheerleaders that make up the popular crowd, along with the buff, handsome jocks versus the social outcasts comprised of geeks and freaks. Denby continues to explain the nature of these two social standings, including how the “cool group” bullies anyone below them. Denby goes on further to discuss how a particular outsider usually becomes the hero or heroine of the story, despite their social discomfort or awkward

The parents played a major role in the deliquency of these young men, however they were not alone. The other students acceptance and adoration of the “jocks” behavior is as much to blame as anything else that led up to this behavior exhibited by the “jocks”. The “little mothers”( as they were referred as) were treated with disrespect and as sexual objects. They would repeatedly engage in acts of voyeurism. They would also willingly fellate any member of this group, and some would even go so far as “making a train” or other acts of group sex with “our guys”. Many of these girls were referred to as “trained seals” and were proud of their titles.(p. 147) There was never any complaints made and as the boys got older the more deviant they became.

I’m sure many have shared stories of their high school experiences and can relate when I say those four years have taught me many lessons. During this time, I’d come face to face with the fraudulent friendships, temporary romances, and other high school dramas that my parents once warned me about—those of which I simply brushed off as myths. It wasn’t the 90’s anymore— times have changed and people are different—or at least, that’s what I thought.

The groups that are formed as adolescents often determine group associations as adults and define an individual within their social group that will either set them with or against other groups. This is described in an article on social groupings by Colin Allen, which mentions that our social associations as adolescents are strong indicators to future patterns of social norms as adults. Therefore, the group of students in the movie, The Breakfast Club, can also be extrapolated to adult group dynamics. However, the varying social norms between groups can present conflicts when adults are required to function within a very diverse group of individuals. In The Breakfast Club, the Jock, Geek, Prom Queen, Delinquent, and the Freak groups are brought together initially through an autocratic or directive leadership role, used to bring the group together in order to proceed to the next phase of group development. This stage is particularly important within a group of

It has not been too long ago that I still remember my adolescent years. I always remember the unintelligent things I did that I wish could change, but this Psychology class made me realize that all adolescents go through the same things I experienced. Adolescents are known to try to find their identity, go through peer pressure, make mistakes, and try new things. The move I picked that closely represented what adolescents go through was “Mean Girls”. Some of the scenes in the movie seem a little exaggerated, but it has happened in certain high schools even though I had not experienced it personally.

High school, the best times of our lives. But in every situation others don’t experience it as the time of their lives. In specific, the so called, “Loser, Nerds, Outcasts." Sometimes the perception that most high school movies convey for this certain group are the reality. In this article "High school confidential: Notes on teen movies" by David Denby, He describes the functions of an everyday American high school. David Denby uses very effective language and rhetoric to provide the minds of the opposing side. A sample of the rhetoric skills he uses is stereotypes, ethos, and pathos.

“In our media-intensive culture it is not difficult to find differing opinions… The difficulty lies in deciding which opinion to agree with and which ‘experts’ seem the most credible” (Espejo 11). The perceptions of one age group in society of another age group are built upon assumptions that are made through what is visible. However, rarely is anyone willing to understand the reason behind someone’s actions. Sibling rivalry, the death of a loved one, moving to a new school, competition among peers, and the reputation adolescents have today often end up giving a misperception of society to teens and of teens to society, thus damaging the relationships between society, as illustrated by J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye.

A person who has a weak sense of self-identity that can be easily manipulated, is easier to change then it is to change someone who have a strong sense of self-identity. To completely remold an individual, the individual has to completely broken down and not have any remains or fragments of the old self. The foundation and the remolding of the identity were for a good intentions, if the Citadel did not go about it the wrong way. The Citadel’s way of making these new men was cruel, malevolent and unusual. The freshmen were hazed and abused from upperclassmen who they had to listen to. The hazing was not reported for fear of repercussion by the upperclassmen, because the hazing was not reported it continued to happen. This a good example of the broken windows theory. The hazing gets worse year after year as and people eventually will start to join in and because nothing is done to stop it, it is assumed that it is okay to haze. The hazing becomes a tradition and the vicious cycles goes on. Furthermore, Tim O’Brien further proves this case when Curt Lemon and Bob Kiley invented a game to play during their spare times. “The game involved smoke grenades, which were harmless unless you did stupid things, and what they did was pull out the pin and stand a few feet apart and play catch under the shade of those huge trees.

Humiliated, scared, and pressured. Being hazed in front of a group of people, in public, or in private can be a mixture of these emotions. Hazing is a form humiliation and sometimes these activities can endanger students. It should not be allowed in schools or other workplaces, especially if it involves excessive drinking and violence. These things happen to people in sports, bands, military, and in a workplace.

“Mean girls, jocks, band nerds, geeks, and freaks” are all terms used to stereotype and group teens in the 2004 movie hit, Mean Girls. This film created controversies in the content that it delivered. The credibility of adolescents is questioned greatly in this film. Mean Girls taught us that popularity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, in fact, they taught us that it’s actually meaningless. Through extreme character development, this movie shows the viewer that at the end of the day, all of the teens are the same. They all struggle to fit in, and that’s really the moral of this hilarious, but raunchy story. Mean Girls captures the struggle that every teen seems to have at some point of where they belong and how they relate to everyone around them. The film takes those stereotypes and melds them into what all high schools should aspire to be: a community.

In his research Jay Macleod, compares two groups of teenage boys, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. Both groups of teenagers live in a low income neighborhood in Clarendon Heights, but they are complete opposites of each other. The Hallway Hangers, composed of eight teenagers spend most of their time in the late afternoon or early evening hanging out in doorway number 13 until very late at night. The Brothers are a group of seven teenagers that have no aspirations to just hang out and cause problems, the Brothers enjoy active pastimes such as playing basketball. The Hallway Hangers all smoke, drink, and use drugs. Stereotyped as “hoodlums,” “punks,” or “burnouts” by outsiders, the Hallway Hangers are actually a varied group, and much

Do you ever look back on your good old high school yearbook pictures and say to yourself “what in the world was I thinking?” You often catch yourself wanting to hide it or rip the picture frame off the wall that your mom once proudly put up. You find it hanging on relative’s refrigerators, or being the topic of laughter on holidays. Trends throughout the years often change. Many of these changes happen quickly. One week something is “in” then the next week it is totally “out”. Imagine having to go back to school 10-15 years after graduating and trying your best to fit and blend in with the teenagers of that time period. In the movie, 21 Jump Street, that is what they attempted to do. The movie is starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. It’s about two police officers who are forced to relive their high school days. They are assigned to go undercover as high school students to prevent the outbreak of a new synthetic drug and capture its supplier. An “honor roll geek” and “athletic underachiever” work together to fight crime and form an inseparable friendship while doing so. The police officers are forced to gain the mindset of a teenager. They have to learn how to fit in and interact with others during that time period. They realize that some of the things that were once “cool” are no longer as cool as they once thought they were. This movie features various different stereotypes in high school. Styles have changed, along with attitudes, and new clicks have formed. The

That August day I set out into Collegetown to assert my independence from my parents by experiencing for the first time the so-called magic and wonder of fraternity parties without my parents’ consent. The ostentatiousness, elation, and novelty that define college parties in movies as a place where college students blow off steam allured me; college parties are depicted in pop culture as the quintessential Friday night.

Often times hazing is a big problem we see occurring in our society. Whether it is occurring within a sports team, sorority, school, friends, or even a group of co-workers, we hear about it on a relatively frequent basis. Often times hazing stories are justified by the person committing the act of hazing and over dramatized by the media. Conducting a full study on whether hazing actually exists and the multiple ways it exists can help members of our society to further understand the implications of the action. Throughout this study the definition of hazing has been explored as well as superfluous examples to prove hazing is prominent in our society and laws and actions taken against