Published: May 02, 2008 12:47 am            

OUR VIEW: Hazing requires close examination

Sometimes it takes a shocking situation to shed light on a problem that has existed in varying degrees for years. If there is a good to come out of this mess involving the Wilson baseball team, this must be it.

Capturing local and national headlines — the story has been picked up by the Associate Press and other news organizations — three players and two coaches have been arrested for a hazing incident on a bus headed home from a game two weeks ago.

The teens, one 18 and two 16-year-olds, are facing sexual abuse charges. The coaches face child endangerment charges — and questions by every parent and responsible adult in these parts about what (if anything) they were doing while it was going on. School buses, after all, aren’t big enough to plausibly imagine sexual abuse taking place without those in charge knowing something is wrong.

Stories like the one that happened on that bus last month thankfully don’t come along often, but the extreme nature of the charges are forcing schools, athletes, coaches and parents to re-evaluate a nod-and-wink attitude toward coming-of-age rituals common at all levels of sport.

Make no mistake, what happened somewhere between Niagara Falls and Wilson was no joke. If what investigators are hearing is true, it was a crime. But let’s not kid ourselves — while many hazing incidents don’t grab headlines, that doesn’t mean they don’t affect the victims.

If children are meant to demean themselves in order to join the club, it creates a perverted image of friendship, sportsmanship and civility. These are habits that, once formed, can shape a person for a lifetime. And while most of the incidents never see the light of public scrutiny, hazing is a legitimate impediment to a child’s maturation.

No longer can those charged with supervision in these circumstances afford to turn a blind eye to hazing — looking the other way is tacit approval. No longer can it be chalked up to “boys will be boys.”

If the goal of student athletics is to help boys mature to men, this sort of activity does precisely the opposite. It’s time it is confronted in the public square with an honest eye — and with the entire culture of high school athletics taking a lesson in how civilized grown-ups act.

        

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