Student orientation better than hazing

I write with reference to the article in The Jakarta Post on July 21, 2003, about schools that still maintain the old practice of hazing. This causes unnecessary stress for many students and parents at the beginning of the new school year. Choosing a new school is already a headache, and, for many students, hazing at their chosen school simply adds to their stress.

After reflecting on our history of hazing in the "traditional" way, Ciputra junior and senior high schools in Surabaya decided to adopt a more positive approach to hazing in order to engender a feeling of enjoyment and belonging, without detracting from the school's educational aims.

At the beginning of this school year, the high school's teachers introduced a three-day study skills program, to improve students' self discipline and teamwork during school activities, and enhance students' understanding of the school's vision and mission. During the three days the schools ran training sessions for both old and new students about study skills and introduced a "house" system, with a selection of games in which teams from each "house" competed between each other.

The regime, both in and out of the classrooms, did not include punishment, and the only shouting that occurred was to encourage team members to do well. Our perception is that students and teachers achieved a cooperative and settled beginning to the school year. None of the students was physically or mentally hurt, as we usually witnessed in the past as a result of traditional hazing, which had the potential to encourage bullying or revenge by victims on their "tyrannical" seniors.

ENDRO S. EKLAS, Surabaya