Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools
Warning about Hyde School from an educational consultant
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2005-10-30 09:46:00, Antigen wrote:
"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
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"
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I think there are several dynamics going on here. First, many people are attracted to Hyde in the middle of a hot crisis. They're desperate to find a place for their child and are seduced by Hyde's appealing rhetoric ("We'll help turn your kid -- and your family -- around; we'll hold your kid's fit to the fire; we embrace virtue and values."). Second, many of Hyde students' parents are struggling with their own major issues (marital infidelity, addiction, mental illness). They are happy to find a school that has charismatic leadership (Gauld, etc.) much like a cult does, preaches a doctrine (Hyde is full of cliches and evangelical-like scripts that all the "groupies" speak), and offers an environment that seems very much like a recovery or 12-step environment (group support). For parents in distress this kind of structure is hard to resist. Third, Hyde provides desperate, struggling parents with a one-stop-shopping approach that is very appealing: sign up here and we'll care for your kid and your family.
Of course, some families are so needy and desperate that they continue to buy this rhetoric and can't see through it. Others eventually see through it and decide to leave Hyde. We've now met many unhappy Hyde parents who are looking elsewhere. Sadly, most are afraid to speak openly about their distress -- they worry that Hyde will give them and their kid a very hard time (like cults handle people who want to leave). So many parents at Hyde don't know who to trust, so they keep their mouths closed. Fortunately, websites like this are helping many to know the real Hyde.
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2005-10-28 20:56:00, Lars wrote:
"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."
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tommyfromhyde1:
"
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On 2005-10-28 20:56:00, Lars wrote:
"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."
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"
Lars, when I was there in '76 Seniors who hadn't drunk the kool-aid were called "senior preps". You couldn't graduate if you didn't gain Senior status. Also, you couldn't graduate if you didn't make Varsity in some sport.
And thanks for verifying that Hyde tells parents to throw their kids out on the street if they run.
The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.
George Washington
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Lars:
Tommy,
They most certainly did tell my parents to throw me out on the streets. If I knew then what I know now, I would have reported them (my parents AND the school) to the state department of social services. I would have wound up in foster care, but I wouldn't have had to go back to Hyde.
At Hyde, they probably consider me to be one of their "success stories," but I think I did well after Hyde in spite of the place. I did graduate with a "diploma" (only given to about 5 or 6 out of the 35 kids I graduated with, the rest got a "certificate" or a "document" - another screwed-up aspect of the program). But by the second half of my senior year, I knew how to play their game and did so while trying to be as humane as possible to the underclassmen (I never took pleasure in making them do calisthenics at 5:30 in the morning).
tommyfromhyde1:
Lars,
When were you at Hyde? I ask because Hyde's practices and cult lingo seem to have changed somewhat over the years. Also can you shed some light on what something called "outpost" is all about? They had no such thing in '76.
Thanks,
Tommy
We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication.
--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
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[ This Message was edited by: tommyfromhyde1 on 2005-10-31 08:12 ]
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