Accounts of student hazing gone amok have filled local and national news broadcasts in recent months. There have been stories of both male and female high school students, worked up into violent frenzies, inflicting serious physical and psychological damage on students. Shocked parents are wondering about the safety of their children when they send them off to school.

Equally deplorable is the failure of witnesses to stop the violence as it occurred, or, at the very least, to report it to the authorities. Whether motivated by fear or indifference, the silence and failure of witnesses to act touches on fundamental issues of morality and responsibility.

In one notorious incident almost 40 years ago, 38 Kew Gardens residents remained silent as their neighbor, Kitty Genovese, was stalked and murdered. Some said they were afraid to call the police; others said they didn't want to get involved. Have we learned nothing from that bitter lesson?

Certainly young people need help overcoming the strong peer pressure not to "rat" on other students. Perhaps most important, they have to understand the concept of personal responsibility. It's not enough for students to say, "I didn't do anything wrong." They need to realize that doing nothing in the face of violence against others and lawless behavior is, indeed, "Doing something wrong." Waiting for somebody else to act is not acceptable. They need to act. That's what a society of laws is all about.

Imparting core values to students requires a joint effort of home and school. Just as very young children need to be taught by word and deed the difference between right and wrong, older ones need to learn personal responsibility and that they are "their brother's keeper." The "Golden Rule" is as relevant today as it ever was, and we need to make no apologies for it.

Our words and our deeds also should reinforce our principles, beliefs and values. For instance, what good is it to say that we oppose bullies and their violent and intimidating behavior, if we remain silent when we witness such behavior? A good example is still one of the most effective teachers.

Teachers in the classroom and parents at the dinner table can be a powerful force in changing the behavior of young people, promoting personal responsibility, and stopping vicious hazing before our children become wounded for life by it. As the ads on television implore us all, "Talk to your children. They'll listen."