<p>This story by Stacy Teicher Khadaroo in * The Christian Science Monitor* focuses on last month's tragic death of a Florida A&M University band member:</p>
<p>Death</a> by hazing? Why even tragic FAMU case won't end such rituals. - CSMonitor.com</p>
<p>But the article also suggests that, despite widespread laws against it, hazing still continues on many campuses and commonly goes unreported. According to a professor quoted in the story, "Victims often accept that it’s just the price they have to pay for being part of something special, and they often say it was worth it ... "</p>
<p>But I also believe that many students don't fully understand what "hazing" is. Granted, when you're punching someone until he's vomiting or lifeless, you've got to realize you're doing something wrong. But often hazing--at least in its initial stages--falls into a gray area. Some of the taunting and other rituals that go on aren't labeled as hazing by either the perpetrators or their victims. I think that parents need to help their middle- and high-school-aged children distinguish between joking and hazing. Sometimes the line that separates the two can be fine, but it's important for students ... especially younger ones ... to recognize when someone has crossed it.</p>