Scenario: A seventh-grade boy, desiring to prove himself worthy of membership in a gang, waylays several other boys, one at a time, in the school restroom. He inflicts no physical injuries but humiliates them by cutting off body hair so he can show it as proof of his ability to intimidate others.
When one young man finally gathers enough courage to go to the school about the incident, what should be the official school response? Standards of behavior have been set and thoroughly explained to all students. Likewise, the consequences have been clearly spelled out. Parents, teachers, school and district administrators express outrage. Clearly, standards of decency and respect for others have been violated. In this true case, the school administration proceeds through the prescribed due process: The perpetrator is expelled. Is this an appropriate consequence for the offense?Scenario: Five high school students, including students holding positions of leadership that mark them as role models for their peers, tape three other less prominent football players to the benches in the locker room. Some of the perpetrators then place their naked buttocks on the faces of the three bound students.
When someone finally gathers enough courage to go to the school about the incident, what should be the official school response? Is outrage appropriate here, as it was in the previous case? Have standards of decency and respect for others been violated? Previous to the offense, standards of behavior at school have been set and thoroughly explained to all students. Likewise, the consequences have been clearly spelled out.
"Wait a minute," voices say, "these are athletes." So what? This myopic attitude toward athletes has created such sports celebrities as Mike Tyson and O.J. Simpson, who believe that their status as athletes gives them immunity from the laws and rules of decency in our society. Do we want to produce more of these morally handicapped individuals?
"This might affect their future."
I certainly hope so. I hope they learn that in a democracy, the standards that apply to one, apply to all. I hope they learn that actions have consequences and that consequences are real. I hope they learn that cruelty inflicted under the guise of friendship and camaraderie is still cruelty and is wrong.
Kathryn Minson, Rodney Clawson
and 11 others
Midvale