Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools
Warning about Hyde School from an educational consultant
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2005-10-25 08:20:00, Lars wrote:
"Proper therapy and medication, not their "seminars," turned my life around. And I came out of my shell in college, where I realized how crappy Hyde's academics were. Hyde actually ruined my chances to get into some colleges because of their grading system. You would get two grades, achievement and effort, and the two were averaged together. I'd get high achievement grades, but low effort grades because they said I wasn't a "leader" in class. I think they set the system up this way to help some kids who didn't have the intellect, but it really hurt a student like me who didn't fit their mold. Fortunately, I obtained a very high score on the SAT (and the dumb schmucks on the Hyde faculty couldn't figure out how). Even so, my high test score combined with my mediocre grades convinced some colleges that I was an underachiever.
In college, I could learn my own way, just sitting back, enjoying the lectures & getting A after A. Ironically, after a few years I began to participate quite a bit in classroom discussions.
In the real world, colleges, grad schools & employers don't give a f&^% about your effort unless it leads to high achievement. I wasn't suprised to see that many of my classmates who played the academic game well at Hyde struggled in college and the alumni class notes section of the Hyde newsletter was filled with entries describing how so and so was trying to find him or herself (and glossing over the fact that they had dropped out of college).
I noticed too, that they tried to steer kids to small liberal arts colleges in the northeast. Screw that, I went west to a big school (Arizona State) and gave them the proverbial middle finger by partying my ass off AND doing well enough to get into law school.
I like this site. It's cathartic to be able to get some of this of my chest.
[ This Message was edited by: Lars on 2005-10-25 08:22 ]"
--- End quote ---
Thank you for explaining about the academics. Your case is not unique. I too ended up ruining my chances to get into a good college thanks to Hyde. Hydefan will say we each made our own bed, but the truth is as you tell it! Hyde's academics suck and there is little likelihood anyone who graduates Hyde will get into a competitive school.
This is not a matter of acting up in school or not doing your work. This is a matter of Hyde's acadmics and grading scale not being acceptable in the world we live, not the Hyde World. I don't know who they think they are kidding about their "honors program." Hyde does NOT know how to operate as a school! They are a Struggling Teen Program and have no business implying they are a Prep School with Character Education!! Character, my a-s!! The people who run the school need psychological care desperately to bring them back to earth and make them realize they are a CULT and are destructive to real kids!!
Anonymous:
I have just joined this board and see that it is mostly former students from Hyde. I am a former Mother at Hyde and find it quite intriguing that the students who are posting have had the same experiences at Hyde School.
We joined Hyde with the best intentions. A "character first" school that would help our son have more confidence in himself as well as helping to motivate him. I was impressed when the Admissions Counselor told us how many faculty kids went there. In my mind if a faculty member put their child at the school then it must be a very good school! WRONG!!
I cannot begin to tell you how horrified I was after going to my first family weekend. The "seminars" were incredibly intrusive and more than that they seemed totally inappropriate for young siblings to attend.
I could not believe my ears when I heard some of the almost pornographic stories coming out of people's mouths. I would look around the room at some of these younger kids and cringe that they were exposed to this. You could see how uncomfortable so many parents and students were and yet people seemed too intimidated to speak out! I found it strange that Hyde was all about speaking your mind yet no one spoke their mind about what they saw as being wrong at the school.
This to me seemed very much like a Cult! There was the "leader", Joe Gauld, the disciples who were the faculty, and then there were the Cultists, (parents and students) who followed the lead.
We did not get out as fast as we should have. Our son stuck it out for a year and to say it was difficult to get him into another private school is putting it mildly. The scoring system at Hyde made it very difficult to place him elsewhere. I got the feeling this is what Hyde wanted.
I saw many kids held back for one year at Hyde simply because someone (usually a young inexperienced faculty member)did not feel the students effort was up to par. I felt like this was part of the ploy!
I wish all of you good luck on this board and hope that your lives were not terribly affected by Hyde.
Lars:
They made repeat my junior year, not because I had failed academically, but because I wasn't "ready" to be a senior there. In other words, I got held back because I hadn't bought into the cult. What a waste.
And when I attended their summer program, I ran away (I literally could not stand it) & hitchhiked back to my parents house. The school told my parents not to let me back in the house, and sure enough, they bought that crap. It was either live on the streets as a 16 year old, or go back to Hyde. I went back. My parents promised me during my second junior year that if I did better I could return to my old public high school. On the "advice" of the Hyde administration, they reneged on their promise. To this day I occasionally have nightmares about being told that I have to spend yet another year at Hyde.
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2005-10-28 16:09:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I have just joined this board and see that it is mostly former students from Hyde. I am a former Mother at Hyde and find it quite intriguing that the students who are posting have had the same experiences at Hyde School.
We joined Hyde with the best intentions. A "character first" school that would help our son have more confidence in himself as well as helping to motivate him. I was impressed when the Admissions Counselor told us how many faculty kids went there. In my mind if a faculty member put their child at the school then it must be a very good school! WRONG!!
I cannot begin to tell you how horrified I was after going to my first family weekend. The "seminars" were incredibly intrusive and more than that they seemed totally inappropriate for young siblings to attend.
I could not believe my ears when I heard some of the almost pornographic stories coming out of people's mouths. I would look around the room at some of these younger kids and cringe that they were exposed to this. You could see how uncomfortable so many parents and students were and yet people seemed too intimidated to speak out! I found it strange that Hyde was all about speaking your mind yet no one spoke their mind about what they saw as being wrong at the school.
This to me seemed very much like a Cult! There was the "leader", Joe Gauld, the disciples who were the faculty, and then there were the Cultists, (parents and students) who followed the lead.
We did not get out as fast as we should have. Our son stuck it out for a year and to say it was difficult to get him into another private school is putting it mildly. The scoring system at Hyde made it very difficult to place him elsewhere. I got the feeling this is what Hyde wanted.
I saw many kids held back for one year at Hyde simply because someone (usually a young inexperienced faculty member)did not feel the students effort was up to par. I felt like this was part of the ploy!
I wish all of you good luck on this board and hope that your lives were not terribly affected by Hyde."
--- End quote ---
I too am relatively new to this website. Like you, I am amazed at the consistency of so many people's Hyde experiences. It's obvious to me that there is a very "dark" side to Hyde that needs to be exposed. Fortunately, this website is informing lots of people about Hyde's very serious shortcomings. I have heard so many disturbing Hyde stories, generally along the same lines as those reported here: incredibly unskilled seminar leaders who expect everyone to disclose intimate details; emotionally abusive intrusions into people's lives; very uneven teaching ability; and the Gauld influence that has created this cultish environment. I'm very relieved to know that people are finally speaking out about Hyde.
Antigen:
I want to thank all of you folks for providing your perspectives on this in such reasonable, calm and mature tones. This is what it's all about, in my opinion.
And here's a frequently asked question that maybe you'd like to take a swing at. This is purely subjective and you'll have to guess, obviously. But I'd love to find out what you think.
You guys (parents) talk about noticing pretty quickly that the people at Hyde are... well, a little nuts. I can tell you that most kids who wind up in similar schools and programs notice it right away. In fact, I think that initial disorientation and fear is an integral part of the initiation. It's an area of special interest to me because it didn't effect me so much at the time and, as a kid, I had no proper apreciation for what it did to most of the other kids around me. I knew the script, I knew the culture and none of it, even the strip search or the threat of being physically tackled for trying to leave (or stand up w/o permission), shocked me at all.
So here's the question. What do you make of the parents who sign their kids up, attend all the parent weekends, seminars and activities and just simply fail to notice that the people around them are bug all nuts? How does that work? What's the difference between you and them going in?
Theology: The effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
--H. L. Mencken, American publisher
--- End quote ---
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