I do understand your point and I do believe that abuse will damage a child. We have diverged to many different subjects, notably Christianity and Drug and criminal reform.
It still stands that the subject of this forum is if Dennis McElwrath abuses the teenagers at Anchor Academy.
It is my conclusion from reading this entire forum, talking to my son, and researching the little information available on Anchor and Dennis, that he does not abuse those boys.
The word abuse carries with it certain connotations. An abuser has certain motivations that make the abusers actions abusive. That is why extreme liberals claim having a kid do dishes or shovel the snow is abuse, if it's not without pay. Well, my household is indicative of a social system and you must put in and take out. Doing chores is putting in and doing your part and it's not abuse. It also teaches other important life skills.
When I was a child, I played football and I was made to run, do push-ups, leg lifts, etc. This according to you is abuse and I certainly hated it! I wanted to quit, I thought it was unfair and at 13 years old I thought it was abusive. However, my coach?s motivation was to strengthen my body so that I would not get injured during a game. It was also a method to build character and leadership abilities. That was not abuse.
At 15, I wrestled and was encouraged to limit our food intake to make weight. We ran with layers of clothes on to drain our body of fluid to lose that one last pound. This taught tenacity and perseverance. Was the coach abusing us? No, at the time I hated it and wanted to quit, it taught me a lot and I did not die.
You all can call my a psycho I don't care but I guess I'm with the other few million psychos, football coaches, wrestling coaches, drill sergeants, high school teachers, prison wardens, and drug counselors.
It will be interesting to see the next wave of intelligent debating skills laden with name-calling and abusive language. :smile: Then some of you have the gall to wonder why you found yourself in a place you would rather not be and to this day continue to blame everyone else in society for your problems.
On 2006-01-17 19:55:00, WWFSMD wrote:
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On 2006-01-17 19:46:00, corecrash wrote:
I would think it very rare that a straight A student without a trace of defiant behavior would find themselves in a behavior modification facility. Maybe it is not rare.
Trust me, its not. I was in the same place as Antigen and I'd say that the majority (98%) were pretty typical teens that were unlucky enough to have parents that bought into the whole fear mongering bullshit that was thrown at them. Facts are, yes FACTS, that most kids will grow out of whatever behavior is freaking out the grown-ups. I was told that all my pre-program friends were the unlucky ones who's parents didn't care enough about them to put them somewhere where they could get the "help" they needed. All those kids were gonna DIE without the programs divine intervention. They're all fine and I'm stuck with nightmares and a family that has been in shambles for over 20 years (my parents and myself.....my husband and kids are fine now that I got them away from the lunatic fringe). You can't even yet fathom the damage you're doing to the relationship between you and your son.I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
-- Hunter S. Thompson
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