Abstract
Despite the ban on initiation at South African educational institutions, research and media reports show that initiation still prevails at South African schools. However, initiation is not a phenomenon that occurs only within the South African education system. The first recorded case of initiation was recorded in ancient Greece during the Olympic Games in the eighth century. Initiation has spread rapidly in modern times and occurs in many domains, ranging from the military to educational institutions. According to studies in countries such as India, America and England, initiation is common practice at these countries’ educational institutions. Various names are associated with initiation around the world. Some of the best-known terms used are insouting or doop in Afrikaans, hazing in America, fagging in England, baptême in France, doop in the Netherlands and mopokaste in Finland. The common denominator that runs through all of these customs is that newcomers must undergo some sort of ceremony, ritual, or action to be considered one of the school, association or group’s members.
In defence of initiation practices, it is often argued that initiation will make newcomers feel secure. As a counterpart to this positive assessment, researchers have found that initiation may have a negative effect on those who have been initiated, as well as those who have carried out the initiation. We argue that these illegal, often dangerous, practices will continue as long as stakeholders calmly allow and even encourage them. Insight into popular discourses on initiation and research findings that expose fallacious arguments in favour of initiation are essential to tackle this evil. The aim of this study is to point out popular discourses on initiation at South African schools.
This study is underpinned by the cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) and balance of power theory (BPT). We followed an interpretive qualitative research approach. The sample for this study consisted of two groups: (1) Sixteen (16) grade 8 to 10 learners of both sexes at different Free State Afrikaans-medium schools. Some of the learners were purposefully recruited, while others were recruited by means of the snowball technique. (2) Seventy-three (73) adults, mainly women, commented on a question posed on the Facebook (FB) page of Monitor and Spektrum RSG on 22 January 2018. The Facebook conversations about initiation were identified during our social media searches about initiation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the sixteen grade 8 to 11 learners. In addition to the interviews, we used the social media comments from people who responded to the question, “How do you feel about initiation at schools and universities?” to expose popular discourses. We regard these comments as documents that were not influenced by the researchers. Qualitative content analysis was used as a data analysis method to point out popular discourses on initiation. We used qualitative content analysis guidelines, as recorded by Kuckartz (2013:19), to analyse the transcripts and FB entries. This analysis process comprised four phases: transcription, individual case analysis, general analysis, and control. This study complies with established guidelines for ethical research. The participants’ human dignity, privacy, anonymity and confidentiality were respected. Although the FB page of Monitor and Spektrum RSG is in the public domain, we used codes in our reference to specific participants. We dealt with entries that testified, among other things, to some participants’ pain and humiliation during their initiation with the necessary respect. To increase the credibility of the investigation, attempts were made to adhere to the following reliability strategies: triangulation, participant visits, the use of more than one encoder, confirmation of our findings by some of the participants, and withholding of generalisations.
Five themes or discourses have been identified through qualitative content analysis: (1) Newcomers are exposed to a wide variety of degrading, meaningless, time-consuming and physically exhausting activities. For example, learners had to wear “funny” clothes and take part in a stupid concert. Some of the learners had to take part in ill-considered activities, which amounted to abuse and could lead to serious injuries, heat exhaustion and even death. Newcomers suffered financial damage by being forced to give up some of their money and food to seniors. Learners were exposed to disgusting acts with sexual undertones. (2) However, many of the participants were of the opinion that initiation had a positive value. Proponents of initiation went out of their way to justify the continuation of this tradition. For instance, they argued that initiation was not only fun, but also had character-forming value. They were also of the opinion that initiation establishes values such as reverence, respect for oneself and others, humility and neatness. According to these proponents of initiation, a person who is initiated will know how to deal with the setbacks of life. A popular argument among proponents of initiation is that it is an integral part of a school’s tradition, leading to camaraderie. (3) The continued existence of initiation, as long as action is taken “within limits”, is advocated. (4) Opponents of initiation emphasised their own negative experience of initiation, equating it with illegal, bullying behaviour and regarding it as a waste of time and money, which can have serious short- and long-term consequences. Initiation can also lead to the establishment of a cycle of power at schools. (5) Parents and other adults, especially educators’ handling of and statements about initiation conveyed conflicting messages. Some adult participants in the FB conversation believed that as long as initiation took place under supervision, it could be justified. However, as long as educators and parents allow these illegal practices and emphasise the so-called benefits of initiation, the cycle of power will continue in the guise of tradition and team building.
Seniors’ craving for power and own gain during initiation can be explained by the BPT. Disgusting actions with sexual undertones, night marches, and severe initiation after hours or in the evening, especially in residences, offer seniors the opportunity to knowingly break laws, regulations, and school and residence rules. Seniors often see it as a challenge to test the boundaries as far as possible without being held accountable. The yearning after power has the effect of impairing the moral judgement and the application of moral principles of seniors and educators who perceptibly allow initiation in concrete circumstances. This search for power could lead to them completely losing perspective in a situation, at the expense of others, and this simply for their own gain. From the data it further appears that many of the participants, despite all the discomfort, humiliation, abuse and bullying, continued to convince themselves that initiation was part of their school tradition and that they would come out stronger on the other side. The CDT, which underpins the study, explains that individuals reduce their cognitive discomfort by adjusting their thinking in order to reduce conflicting thinking. As a result, a culture of silence regarding the severe abuse of power at the time of initiation prevails. Such silence results in power-hungry seniors being able to continue their malpractices undisturbed. This can result in learners uncritically reaching the misconception that people have the right to humiliate and abuse others.
It transpires from this and other South African studies that illegal initiation practices are still the order of the day at some schools in this country. It is therefore essential that national and provincial education authorities, as well as education leaders of individual schools, pay attention to this illegal practice, which often takes place in the guise of orientation. An important step in ending initiation at schools (and other educational institutions) is the development and application of a research-based anti-initiation framework. Langford’s (2008) anti-initiation framework emphasizes the importance of identifying and exposing popular discourses in favour of initiation in general, as well as discourses and school-specific factors that contribute to the continuation of initiation. Findings from this study can therefore be seen as a first important step in the development of an anti-initiation framework for South African schools.
Keywords: balance of power theory; cognitive dissonance theory; Free State; initiation; orientation; secondary schools
Lees die volledige artikel in Afrikaans
The post Initiation at schools: an investigation into popular discourses appeared first on LitNet.