Harmless Manhattan High tradition being unnecessarily eradicated

Elizabeth Alexander, Trending Editor

I remember when I was a freshman at my first pep rally; I, along with the rest of the 2018 class, were booed when we did not know the “Do It” chant. At the time, I was flustered. This same incident occurred my sophomore year as well when freshmen were escorted out quickly by the end of the pep rally, leaving the class of 2018 to be booed once again. Even after two years of being shamed, I look upon the those memories with amusement as the senior I am now.

Being booed as the youngest class is a tradition at Manhattan High School, and I have never met anyone who was personally affected by it. If anything, everyone I bring the memory up around responds with laughs and eye rolls, never groans or uncomfortable looks. It gives those freshman something to look back on when they are seniors and admire their growth into young adults. I think upon that I think upon often, even more recently as the end of the first quarter of my senior year comes near.

The fact that we as a school are taking these harmless traditions and labeling them as bullying is ridiculous, especially since actual bullying occurs in this school and often goes unreported. According to the National Bullying Prevention Center, a whopping 64 percent of bullied children do not report it. Rather than focus on the students who have that one class period in the day they dread because they are always getting picked on in there, people focus on a harmless booing session that occurs, at most, two times a year.

Secondly, the stereotypical teenager mentality is if you tell someone to not do something, they are going to do it. It is stereotypical for a reason; teens will do what you tell them not to. Asking students to not do something that truly does no harm, nor has any evidence of doing anything wrong, will only make them want to do it more and break the rules themselves.

I would personally like the see evidence of booing the freshman being harmful. This year at the fall pep rally, not only did I see an example of seniors doing what they are told not to by booing the freshman anyways, but I also witnessed the class of 2021 react with laughing, flustered faces and booing their upperclassmen in retaliation. It made me laugh myself, happy to see them stand up for themselves. It was incredibly enlightening to see this kind of reaction from the freshman class; it gave me a good idea as to who they are as a unit. They are confident and headstrong, admirable attributes to have as a student.

Overall, the act of booing the freshman class, in my eyes, is harmless. I say this as an individual who was booed not one year, but two years. I, and many of my peers, are left unharmed from this act. Deeming it as “bullying” is far too drastic, compared to the other forms of real bullying that occur during school that are disregarded and swept under the rug.