Orientation in the present day has come to see freshman being introduced to very sexual games and forfeits. Examples of such activities include:
- Passing food from mouth to mouth
- Pole dancing around someone of the opposite gender
- Transporting eggs together with someone else using only faces or chests
- Females licking off cream from a guy's chest
- Males doing push-ups over a female made to lie on the floor
These are just some of the named activities university freshman had to face with. Most of these orientation camps are organized by the student body themselves, and adults were unaware of such issues. Such an issue gets one to think, "Are university freshmen getting the wrong ideas about finding partners and friends?"
Pertaining to such an issue, a freshman at NUS, Rachel Lee, had refused to accept her forfeit having a male freshman do push-ups over her, leaving promptly after along with a group of disgusted friends. However, unlike her, most other freshman see this as a ritual into university life, and just accept the games as good fun. In my opinion, this is just a means of giving a false sense of belonging, and does not establish what orientations are supposed to do.
I find such a problem very disturbing, and it gives parents, teachers and society cause for worry. Parents would not be able to know what the students are doing in orientation and what they might already have done. Also, such activities might lead impressionable youth to engage in excessively promiscuous behavior as it is seemingly "endorsed". While the government is encouraging more babies, I doubt they wish to do so at the expense of the family unit.
Furthermore, it also surfaces other problems. 70% of the student population is conservative and such games could cause students to feel more inhibited. This can lead to students being uneasy about their school life, especially after experiencing such close contact with their as of yet not so familiar peers.
The schools have already begun to take action, reprimanding and counseling students who have been involved in such acts. But to what extent can they have control over these issues? I feel that the damage has already been done, and some things are difficult to change.
On the other hand, it is good to see that those who feel uncomfortable about these activities, have had the courage to decline having to comply to such audacious acts. In this way, those who do not wish to be a part of this would be able to stay away from such activities.
I believe that such activities, should not be tolerated, especially in an orientation camp. While orientation camps were meant to bond students together and allow them to foster friendships, I do not think that this was what was meant by fostering friendships. Hopefully, such sexual slants in orientation games and forfeits in all schools would be eradicated, as it would not only be promoting the wrong ideas, it also prevents those who feel disgusted by it to foster real friendships during this point in time.
