Sunday, August 17, 2014

Hazing Does Not Build Great Teams -- Published in Sunday Eunice News on August 17, 2014

You may have seen the Ohio State University Band animate half- time with their amazing Michael Jackson moonwalk. It is hard to imagine that this extraordinary band is under investigation for serious hazing activities, but, they are.

This time of year, bands, spirit clubs and sports teams are practicing hard and doing all kinds of activities to build team spirit. In college, freshmen are shopping around for clubs and fraternities for social support. All organizations have initiation rites to welcome new members and help them feel like they fully belong. These rites should be public, safe, and designed to build positive social relationships.

Too many organizations still confuse welcoming initiation rites with hazing, which is why we are still reading about il- legal hazing practices in high schools and colleges across the U.S.A.

What’s the difference? If an initiation rite is safe, no one will be harmed physically, emotionally, or socially. The persons inducted to a group will feel that they belong, that they have a positive role in the group, and that their time spent with the group can blossom into lifetime friendships.

Hazing causes physical or psychological harm. In Louisiana, hazing is illegal, thank goodness. Those who haze or permit hazing can be fined and/or imprisoned for 10-30 days if convicted. Students who haze can be expelled from school.

Sadly, our most popular leaders and students can be caught up in hazing incidents. Students who want desperately to belong will go along with hazing if they think they will be accepted by their peers.

Teachers, coaches, band directors have tolerated the practice, or actively encouraged hazing in the misguided belief that hazing is a form of discipline or character-building. But, hazing does not build strong character. Hazing creates an abusive atmosphere of meanness and intimidation.

Some of us are old enough to remember relatives who served in the military during its worse days – the Vietnam era, when soldiers were physically abused and psychologically demeaned. After that war, there was a severe leadership crisis. But, the Army worked hard to change its culture for the better.

I was lucky to attend Officer Candidate School at “Fort Benning’s School for Boys” in the early 1980's – when the military worked hard to create a positive training culture – welcoming of diversity, welcoming of men and women who brought all kinds of skills and talent to their lives as soldiers.

Of course, soldiers were rated for their character traits, then, as now. We studied all kinds of reflections from leaders who kept their soldiers together in battle. I learned my best leadership lessons there. The first was how to correct behavior in my subordinates. We were required not only to memorize, but to live up to Schofield’s Definition of Discipline:
The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instructions and to give commands in such a manner and in such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but and intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward other, especially his inferiors, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

There’s no question in my mind that those teachers and coaches who have tolerated hazing in the past had very good, but very misguided intentions. They wanted to build discipline in their organization. But in fact, if discipline happened, it was in spite of the hazing.

As a parent, let your child know that under no circumstances should they participate in or be victim to any kind of hazing. Hazing is not welcoming. It is not good discipline. Hazing is a crime, not worthy of any sport or extracurricular activity in your child’s life. No matter how much prestige that group has in the moment, at some point, their hazing culture will be exposed.


Hopefully, before serious damage is done.

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