Of course you SHOULD ignore that comment, Lila, since it's depreciative. But I do, however, partially agree with it.
What do you mean by "elan wonder"? A passive person, someone who has no difficulty turning poeple in for their mistakes, someone who can fuction within this fucked up structure and deal well with authority?
I'm not saying wether you should or not follow the rules while in Elan, I mean, it does make you finish the program a lot faster without much confrontation. But I don't think you should be proud of it. Once you're out, it doesn't mean shit. The diploma I have it up on my wall means shit. I keep it to remind me that I used to be a drug addicted and I don't need to go down that path again. It's like a "remember hell?" type of thing. But it's just a fucking piece of metal with some reactionnary words with my name carved on it.
If we did learn good things in Elan it's because it is inherent to human beings the natural disposition of constatly learning new things from their environment. You must learn something in 2 years; in Elan, in college, at your parents'place, wherever!
Brainwashing is rather different than teaching. They've taught you to function, deal with authority, blablabla. But did they teach you anything deeper than that? Anything that made you develop you own perspective in life? Or was it their perspetive they've made you absorb?