Requesting Parents' Assessment of Hyde School

[Anonymous]

Are you talking about that sorry excuse for a man, Larry D.?  If he is a pillar of success then I'll take my chances with the bottom-dredging rejects.

  Yes.  In the world of manufacturing we call them "escapes"  Parts that test good but don't function in the field.  There were a couple of notable escapes from my era.

If it stinks like SHIT, then F A H - L U S H H it!!!

 Can't flush it.  The toilet is backed up at hyde.  They need a plunger to unclog the line.

[Anonymous]

Old Hyde Student 1973,

I too am a Hyde graduate, broadly defined. For all the guilt you must feel, you did the honorable thing in refusing the diploma. In a topsy-turvy morality like Hyde, where children are turned into Kapos, a Hyde diploma should be deplored. I pity those students who later in life feel compelled to go back for one.    

Publicly punishing offenders (for venial faults of one's past, no less) reminds me of the pillory of Puritan times. Shaving a woman's head and having her scrub streets and sidewalks, a punishment I was forced to witness a few years after you, has always reminded me of the famous photos of shaved Viennese Jewish women doing the same during the Holocaust. I am at a loss to conjure up a historical parallel for the dog collar and leash. Freezing showers and forcing one to sleep naked on a hard cold floor are torture, pure and simple. I would very much like to know what diseased imagination introduced these punishments into the Hyde disciplinary regimen. It's criminal. I wouldn't put it past Joe Gauld, but frankly, as I recall these things now from the perspectives of hindsight, my sense of disgust extends to the entire Hyde School leadership, even to those faculty members whom I once held in respect.

Hyde students, speak up! What is that school doing to you today? Have they parleyed physical abuse into less tangible, more discreet forms of emotional abuse? That appears to be the case from what I've read in these posts.                

I hope that Gary, in writing up his Hyde report, consults with a professional sociologist who alone could do justice to the theme of Hyde School.

Sad, sad, sad.  My heart breaks for the poster OHS 1973.  I can definitely relate to the feelings of shame you have by being a willing participant.  I also feel shame, not as a student, but as a parent. My son went to Hyde in the last 1990's.

 I feel shame for many reasons. I too bullied some other parents when they weren't "digging deep enough."  Looking back some of these other students/parents clearly needed professional help and instead they got inexperienced fools like myself pushng them to talk about previous pain in their life.  Who was I to do this?  I have no experience whatsoever but somehow I got caught up in the whole Hyde thing.  I cannot be mad at Hyde for this, but instead am upset with myself for being so weak that I allowed Hyde to turn me into one of their "kapo's."

Yes Hyde has changed in that they don't use dog collars or leashes anymore and the kids don't dig ditches as before, but the basics of Hyde are still the same and worse than that, the school faculty remains the same.  The same Gaulds, Grants, Hurds, McMillans are all still there and these are the same people who were there in the 70's, so what does this tell you?  

Thanks for sharing your story OHS 1973.  This is better than seminars at Hyde because there isn't the same abuse involved while trying to get things off your chest. It feels a little better that other feel the same shame that I have been feeling for years.  To those who I verbally bullied, I apologize.

I have the same question for a couple of you that someone else asked.  I am curious if you found this website on your own by "googling" it or if someone guided you to it.

   I know some of the people that have gone back to get a Hyde diploma.  I can understand why they want to do so.   It is very difficult to walk out of a place that that dominates your sense of self worth and not be acknowledged.  There is a need for resolution or closure.
  I was invited to go thru the process.  I have elected to decline the offer.  My sense is that it would be a diminution of self, in my case, to use Hyde as an external validation source. That is just because of the way I view Hyde at this point.  I have come to this point after several impulses to do so.
 I have a great deal of repsect for some of the people elect to get the diploma.  I was very happy to see Joan G. do so.

Ah, you've hit the nail on the head when you refer to Hyde's bullying tactics.  That's the word I've been struggling to find.  During my whole Hyde experience I felt bullied, but until I read your comment I hadn't come up with the right label.  I saw many students who were bullied by staff who thought they had license to get in their faces, point fingers at them, call them names, and degrade them.  I saw parents in seminars who were bullied by other parents (usually alumni parents) and teachers.  I always wondered what kind of training these people had; apparently none or not much.  Sometimes the bullying was in the form of yelling and intimidation; sometimes it was much more subtle manipulation and brainwashing.

I have been deeply embarrassed to admit that I was affiliated with Hyde in any form.  It feels like a bad stain that I can't eradicate.  Bullying is the word.

When you talk about bullying a flashback occurs in my mind.  I remember a couple of those "regional retreats" where the parents are put in a controlled environment for the weekend in their hometown area.  Each time we did this Hyde sent one of their representatives to "monitor" the weekend.  They of course said that the "regional mentor" was there to help but in actuality they would be there in order to report back to the school on each persons "progress."  Gosh, when I think of this these posters are right on.  Hyde School does operate like a cult.  I can remember during these weekends the times when certain parents would badger other parents into submission.  There were cruel and humiliating situations that to this day I feel embarassed I was a part of.

[Anonymous]

It was many years before I dared to apply to college.  I found out that I had amassed so many Carnegie credits -- in part due to coming back the extra year (I had been informed that I would not be able to receive a diploma otherwise, and didn't anyway as it turned out) -- that I had almost twice that required to be considered a high school graduate.  With the support of friends, I mustered up the courage to call the school to request my transcript.  Knowing Hyde, I requested (from Bob Bertschy) that only the transcript be sent, NO additional information.  I was assured that this would be done.  A few months passed.  After a few more phone calls, I finally received my copy of the transcript, which had been sent to the schools I requested.  An additional page had been included, written by Bertschy, detailing how I did not receive a diploma but only a "certificate" as I had failed to live up to the standards of a diploma.  Moreover, Bertschy saw fit to detail many of my "character flaws" as well as his assessment of my potential success (or lack thereof).  His diatribe was several paragraphs long and essentially covered the entire page. [/quote]

No possible good could have come of Bob Bertschy's action, only harm. To sabotage your college chances for no good reason. No normal person would have done such a thing. I hope the damage was reversible.

[Anonymous]

It was many years before I dared to apply to college.  I found out that I had amassed so many Carnegie credits -- in part due to coming back the extra year (I had been informed that I would not be able to receive a diploma otherwise, and didn't anyway as it turned out) -- that I had almost twice that required to be considered a high school graduate.  With the support of friends, I mustered up the courage to call the school to request my transcript.  Knowing Hyde, I requested (from Bob Bertschy) that only the transcript be sent, NO additional information.  I was assured that this would be done.  A few months passed.  After a few more phone calls, I finally received my copy of the transcript, which had been sent to the schools I requested.  An additional page had been included, written by Bertschy, detailing how I did not receive a diploma but only a "certificate" as I had failed to live up to the standards of a diploma.  Moreover, Bertschy saw fit to detail many of my "character flaws" as well as his assessment of my potential success (or lack thereof).  His diatribe was several paragraphs long and essentially covered the entire page.

No possible good could have come of Bob Bertschy's action, only harm. To sabotage your college chances for no good reason. No normal person would have done such a thing. I hope the damage was reversible.[/quote]

One would think that if the school really had the best interests of its students at heart, that they would try to increase their students' chances at university-level matriculation rather than decrease them.  In Bertschy's case, I am not sure whether he harbored some unfounded animosity or whether the animosity stemmed from higher up, although I suspect it is the former.  And I think it is highly possible that the rather long period of time it took to send them may have been time spent mulling over the course of his actions (i.e., I had requested only the transcript, and nothing more, and he had assured me that that would be the case, but then decided to go ahead and share his/the school's opinion of me anyway).

Incidentally, I have read elsewhere in this forum, on other threads, of difficulties students and parents have encountered in getting Hyde to send their transcript to other schools when the family has decided to pull their child out of Hyde and go elsewhere for the remainder of the child's high school years.  Perhaps there is so much involved in getting a copy of a kid's transcript sent that Hyde is hard pressed to do so in a timely fashion.  However, I have not read accounts of students viewed favorably by the school who encountered these difficulties, but perhaps they are not visiting fornits.  Any comments on your personal experiences, anyone?

[Anonymous]

It was many years before I dared to apply to college.  I found out that I had amassed so many Carnegie credits -- in part due to coming back the extra year (I had been informed that I would not be able to receive a diploma otherwise, and didn't anyway as it turned out) -- that I had almost twice that required to be considered a high school graduate.  With the support of friends, I mustered up the courage to call the school to request my transcript.  Knowing Hyde, I requested (from Bob Bertschy) that only the transcript be sent, NO additional information.  I was assured that this would be done.  A few months passed.  After a few more phone calls, I finally received my copy of the transcript, which had been sent to the schools I requested.  An additional page had been included, written by Bertschy, detailing how I did not receive a diploma but only a "certificate" as I had failed to live up to the standards of a diploma.  Moreover, Bertschy saw fit to detail many of my "character flaws" as well as his assessment of my potential success (or lack thereof).  His diatribe was several paragraphs long and essentially covered the entire page.

No possible good could have come of Bob Bertschy's action, only harm. To sabotage your college chances for no good reason. No normal person would have done such a thing. I hope the damage was reversible.

One would think that if the school really had the best interests of its students at heart, that they would try to increase their students' chances at university-level matriculation rather than decrease them.  In Bertschy's case, I am not sure whether he harbored some unfounded animosity or whether the animosity stemmed from higher up, although I suspect it is the former.  And I think it is highly possible that the rather long period of time it took to send them may have been time spent mulling over the course of his actions (i.e., I had requested only the transcript, and nothing more, and he had assured me that that would be the case, but then decided to go ahead and share his/the school's opinion of me anyway).

Incidentally, I have read elsewhere in this forum, on other threads, of difficulties students and parents have encountered in getting Hyde to send their transcript to other schools when the family has decided to pull their child out of Hyde and go elsewhere for the remainder of the child's high school years.  Perhaps there is so much involved in getting a copy of a kid's transcript sent that Hyde is hard pressed to do so in a timely fashion.  However, I have not read accounts of students viewed favorably by the school who encountered these difficulties, but perhaps they are not visiting fornits.  Any comments on your personal experiences, anyone?[/quote]

  Are you by any chance gay?  there are a number of Hyde folk that had a real problem with that.  I know Joe still does.  It is a character flaw you know.

[Anonymous]

It was many years before I dared to apply to college.  I found out that I had amassed so many Carnegie credits -- in part due to coming back the extra year (I had been informed that I would not be able to receive a diploma otherwise, and didn't anyway as it turned out) -- that I had almost twice that required to be considered a high school graduate.  With the support of friends, I mustered up the courage to call the school to request my transcript.  Knowing Hyde, I requested (from Bob Bertschy) that only the transcript be sent, NO additional information.  I was assured that this would be done.  A few months passed.  After a few more phone calls, I finally received my copy of the transcript, which had been sent to the schools I requested.  An additional page had been included, written by Bertschy, detailing how I did not receive a diploma but only a "certificate" as I had failed to live up to the standards of a diploma.  Moreover, Bertschy saw fit to detail many of my "character flaws" as well as his assessment of my potential success (or lack thereof).  His diatribe was several paragraphs long and essentially covered the entire page.

No possible good could have come of Bob Bertschy's action, only harm. To sabotage your college chances for no good reason. No normal person would have done such a thing. I hope the damage was reversible.

One would think that if the school really had the best interests of its students at heart, that they would try to increase their students' chances at university-level matriculation rather than decrease them.  In Bertschy's case, I am not sure whether he harbored some unfounded animosity or whether the animosity stemmed from higher up, although I suspect it is the former.  And I think it is highly possible that the rather long period of time it took to send them may have been time spent mulling over the course of his actions (i.e., I had requested only the transcript, and nothing more, and he had assured me that that would be the case, but then decided to go ahead and share his/the school's opinion of me anyway).

Incidentally, I have read elsewhere in this forum, on other threads, of difficulties students and parents have encountered in getting Hyde to send their transcript to other schools when the family has decided to pull their child out of Hyde and go elsewhere for the remainder of the child's high school years.  Perhaps there is so much involved in getting a copy of a kid's transcript sent that Hyde is hard pressed to do so in a timely fashion.  However, I have not read accounts of students viewed favorably by the school who encountered these difficulties, but perhaps they are not visiting fornits.  Any comments on your personal experiences, anyone?

  Are you by any chance gay?  there are a number of Hyde folk that had a real problem with that.  I know Joe still does.  It is a character flaw you know.

No, I am not.  But I do recall excessive school meeting time devoted to disparaging just such proclivities.  Much mention of "abnormal" and "indicative of not living up to one's potential" and something along the lines of "means of avoiding being honest with oneself."  As drunk as I was on the KoolAid back then, even I thought to myself that the degree of this focus was a bit beyond the pale.

Hyde has always seemed a wee bit too obsessed with sexual matters.  Or perhaps these just strike us to the core as they are so entangled with our identities, and that is what is so frequently under attack at Hyde...

[Anonymous]

"indicative of not living up to one's potential"

  Yeah that is why MichaelAngelo was so bad at painting and sculpting and architecture.  He could have been so much better. He could have turned out to be a midlevel functionary at middle of the road school like  a former headmaster

[Anonymous]

It was many years before I dared to apply to college.  I found out that I had amassed so many Carnegie credits -- in part due to coming back the extra year (I had been informed that I would not be able to receive a diploma otherwise, and didn't anyway as it turned out) -- that I had almost twice that required to be considered a high school graduate.  With the support of friends, I mustered up the courage to call the school to request my transcript.  Knowing Hyde, I requested (from Bob Bertschy) that only the transcript be sent, NO additional information.  I was assured that this would be done.  A few months passed.  After a few more phone calls, I finally received my copy of the transcript, which had been sent to the schools I requested.  An additional page had been included, written by Bertschy, detailing how I did not receive a diploma but only a "certificate" as I had failed to live up to the standards of a diploma.  Moreover, Bertschy saw fit to detail many of my "character flaws" as well as his assessment of my potential success (or lack thereof).  His diatribe was several paragraphs long and essentially covered the entire page.

No possible good could have come of Bob Bertschy's action, only harm. To sabotage your college chances for no good reason. No normal person would have done such a thing. I hope the damage was reversible.

One would think that if the school really had the best interests of its students at heart, that they would try to increase their students' chances at university-level matriculation rather than decrease them.  In Bertschy's case, I am not sure whether he harbored some unfounded animosity or whether the animosity stemmed from higher up, although I suspect it is the former.  And I think it is highly possible that the rather long period of time it took to send them may have been time spent mulling over the course of his actions (i.e., I had requested only the transcript, and nothing more, and he had assured me that that would be the case, but then decided to go ahead and share his/the school's opinion of me anyway).

Incidentally, I have read elsewhere in this forum, on other threads, of difficulties students and parents have encountered in getting Hyde to send their transcript to other schools when the family has decided to pull their child out of Hyde and go elsewhere for the remainder of the child's high school years.  Perhaps there is so much involved in getting a copy of a kid's transcript sent that Hyde is hard pressed to do so in a timely fashion.  However, I have not read accounts of students viewed favorably by the school who encountered these difficulties, but perhaps they are not visiting fornits.  Any comments on your personal experiences, anyone?

  Are you by any chance gay?  there are a number of Hyde folk that had a real problem with that.  I know Joe still does.  It is a character flaw you know.

No, I am not.  But I do recall excessive school meeting time devoted to disparaging just such proclivities.  Much mention of "abnormal" and "indicative of not living up to one's potential" and something along the lines of "means of avoiding being honest with oneself."  As drunk as I was on the KoolAid back then, even I thought to myself that the degree of this focus was a bit beyond the pale.

Hyde has always seemed a wee bit too obsessed with sexual matters.  Or perhaps these just strike us to the core as they are so entangled with our identities, and that is what is so frequently under attack at Hyde...

Yes I do have experience trying to get a transcript in the last few years.  Hyde made it very difficult to do so.  It was a terrible experience for my parents who were stuck at the last minute to try to get me back in school right away. Because of those frickin as- holes I lost a year in school simply because they wouldn't cooperate.  I get really mad thinking about this now.  I begged them to hurry and send it to the public schools and in the end even the public schools would not accept Hyde's curriculum.  They said that Hyde does not fulfill the standards of the public schools in our state.  

As far as Hyde being obsessed with sex, maybe this is why they got off trying to get all the info about sexual transgressions.  They even asked what kind of sex act we did and how we did it.  They wanted details.  Kind of sick!!

[Anonymous]

Old Hyde Student 1973,

I too am a Hyde graduate, broadly defined. For all the guilt you must feel, you did the honorable thing in refusing the diploma. In a topsy-turvy morality like Hyde, where children are turned into Kapos, a Hyde diploma should be deplored. I pity those students who later in life feel compelled to go back for one.    

Publicly punishing offenders (for venial faults of one's past, no less) reminds me of the pillory of Puritan times. Shaving a woman's head and having her scrub streets and sidewalks, a punishment I was forced to witness a few years after you, has always reminded me of the famous photos of shaved Viennese Jewish women doing the same during the Holocaust. I am at a loss to conjure up a historical parallel for the dog collar and leash. Freezing showers and forcing one to sleep naked on a hard cold floor are torture, pure and simple. I would very much like to know what diseased imagination introduced these punishments into the Hyde disciplinary regimen. It's criminal. I wouldn't put it past Joe Gauld, but frankly, as I recall these things now from the perspectives of hindsight, my sense of disgust extends to the entire Hyde School leadership, even to those faculty members whom I once held in respect.

Hyde students, speak up! What is that school doing to you today? Have they parleyed physical abuse into less tangible, more discreet forms of emotional abuse? That appears to be the case from what I've read in these posts.                

I hope that Gary, in writing up his Hyde report, consults with a professional sociologist who alone could do justice to the theme of Hyde School.

Sad, sad, sad.  My heart breaks for the poster OHS 1973.  I can definitely relate to the feelings of shame you have by being a willing participant.  I also feel shame, not as a student, but as a parent. My son went to Hyde in the last 1990's.

 I feel shame for many reasons. I too bullied some other parents when they weren't "digging deep enough."  Looking back some of these other students/parents clearly needed professional help and instead they got inexperienced fools like myself pushng them to talk about previous pain in their life.  Who was I to do this?  I have no experience whatsoever but somehow I got caught up in the whole Hyde thing.  I cannot be mad at Hyde for this, but instead am upset with myself for being so weak that I allowed Hyde to turn me into one of their "kapo's."

Yes Hyde has changed in that they don't use dog collars or leashes anymore and the kids don't dig ditches as before, but the basics of Hyde are still the same and worse than that, the school faculty remains the same.  The same Gaulds, Grants, Hurds, McMillans are all still there and these are the same people who were there in the 70's, so what does this tell you?  

Thanks for sharing your story OHS 1973.  This is better than seminars at Hyde because there isn't the same abuse involved while trying to get things off your chest. It feels a little better that other feel the same shame that I have been feeling for years.  To those who I verbally bullied, I apologize.

I have the same question for a couple of you that someone else asked.  I am curious if you found this website on your own by "googling" it or if someone guided you to it.

   I know some of the people that have gone back to get a Hyde diploma.  I can understand why they want to do so.   It is very difficult to walk out of a place that that dominates your sense of self worth and not be acknowledged.  There is a need for resolution or closure.
  I was invited to go thru the process.  I have elected to decline the offer.  My sense is that it would be a diminution of self, in my case, to use Hyde as an external validation source. That is just because of the way I view Hyde at this point.  I have come to this point after several impulses to do so.
 I have a great deal of repsect for some of the people elect to get the diploma.  I was very happy to see Joan G. do so.

Ah, you've hit the nail on the head when you refer to Hyde's bullying tactics.  That's the word I've been struggling to find.  During my whole Hyde experience I felt bullied, but until I read your comment I hadn't come up with the right label.  I saw many students who were bullied by staff who thought they had license to get in their faces, point fingers at them, call them names, and degrade them.  I saw parents in seminars who were bullied by other parents (usually alumni parents) and teachers.  I always wondered what kind of training these people had; apparently none or not much.  Sometimes the bullying was in the form of yelling and intimidation; sometimes it was much more subtle manipulation and brainwashing.

I have been deeply embarrassed to admit that I was affiliated with Hyde in any form.  It feels like a bad stain that I can't eradicate.  Bullying is the word.

When you talk about bullying a flashback occurs in my mind.  I remember a couple of those "regional retreats" where the parents are put in a controlled environment for the weekend in their hometown area.  Each time we did this Hyde sent one of their representatives to "monitor" the weekend.  They of course said that the "regional mentor" was there to help but in actuality they would be there in order to report back to the school on each persons "progress."  Gosh, when I think of this these posters are right on.  Hyde School does operate like a cult.  I can remember during these weekends the times when certain parents would badger other parents into submission.  There were cruel and humiliating situations that to this day I feel embarassed I was a part of.

I thought the Hyde regional retreats weren't so bad.  For the most part, people behaved and didn't act aggressively.  However, I thought the FLCs were beyond horrible.  I have no problem at all being asked to examine my own issues.  That's fine.  What astounded me was the incredibly inappropriate behavior by some staff who were very unprofessional and behaved like bullies.  Some of the alumni parents were worse--they reminded me of Nazi soldiers.  When I reflect back on the cruel, insensitive, humiliating and arrogant conduct of some of the people I met at Hyde, I feel sick to my stomach.  Fortunately, I had the good sense to join in on the emotional gang rapes I witnessed.  In fact, I did my best to stand up to the bullies.  Sadly, I don't think I had much impact.  

My gut feeling is that Hyde needs to be put out of business.  The gap between Hyde's lofty rhetoric and the sad, sorry state of affairs at that pathetic excuse for a school is insurmountable.  Shame on any educational consultant who refers families to Hyde.

[Anonymous]

Old Hyde Student 1973,

I too am a Hyde graduate, broadly defined. For all the guilt you must feel, you did the honorable thing in refusing the diploma. In a topsy-turvy morality like Hyde, where children are turned into Kapos, a Hyde diploma should be deplored. I pity those students who later in life feel compelled to go back for one.    

Publicly punishing offenders (for venial faults of one's past, no less) reminds me of the pillory of Puritan times. Shaving a woman's head and having her scrub streets and sidewalks, a punishment I was forced to witness a few years after you, has always reminded me of the famous photos of shaved Viennese Jewish women doing the same during the Holocaust. I am at a loss to conjure up a historical parallel for the dog collar and leash. Freezing showers and forcing one to sleep naked on a hard cold floor are torture, pure and simple. I would very much like to know what diseased imagination introduced these punishments into the Hyde disciplinary regimen. It's criminal. I wouldn't put it past Joe Gauld, but frankly, as I recall these things now from the perspectives of hindsight, my sense of disgust extends to the entire Hyde School leadership, even to those faculty members whom I once held in respect.

Hyde students, speak up! What is that school doing to you today? Have they parleyed physical abuse into less tangible, more discreet forms of emotional abuse? That appears to be the case from what I've read in these posts.                

I hope that Gary, in writing up his Hyde report, consults with a professional sociologist who alone could do justice to the theme of Hyde School.

Sad, sad, sad.  My heart breaks for the poster OHS 1973.  I can definitely relate to the feelings of shame you have by being a willing participant.  I also feel shame, not as a student, but as a parent. My son went to Hyde in the last 1990's.

 I feel shame for many reasons. I too bullied some other parents when they weren't "digging deep enough."  Looking back some of these other students/parents clearly needed professional help and instead they got inexperienced fools like myself pushng them to talk about previous pain in their life.  Who was I to do this?  I have no experience whatsoever but somehow I got caught up in the whole Hyde thing.  I cannot be mad at Hyde for this, but instead am upset with myself for being so weak that I allowed Hyde to turn me into one of their "kapo's."

Yes Hyde has changed in that they don't use dog collars or leashes anymore and the kids don't dig ditches as before, but the basics of Hyde are still the same and worse than that, the school faculty remains the same.  The same Gaulds, Grants, Hurds, McMillans are all still there and these are the same people who were there in the 70's, so what does this tell you?  

Thanks for sharing your story OHS 1973.  This is better than seminars at Hyde because there isn't the same abuse involved while trying to get things off your chest. It feels a little better that other feel the same shame that I have been feeling for years.  To those who I verbally bullied, I apologize.

I have the same question for a couple of you that someone else asked.  I am curious if you found this website on your own by "googling" it or if someone guided you to it.

   I know some of the people that have gone back to get a Hyde diploma.  I can understand why they want to do so.   It is very difficult to walk out of a place that that dominates your sense of self worth and not be acknowledged.  There is a need for resolution or closure.
  I was invited to go thru the process.  I have elected to decline the offer.  My sense is that it would be a diminution of self, in my case, to use Hyde as an external validation source. That is just because of the way I view Hyde at this point.  I have come to this point after several impulses to do so.
 I have a great deal of repsect for some of the people elect to get the diploma.  I was very happy to see Joan G. do so.

Ah, you've hit the nail on the head when you refer to Hyde's bullying tactics.  That's the word I've been struggling to find.  During my whole Hyde experience I felt bullied, but until I read your comment I hadn't come up with the right label.  I saw many students who were bullied by staff who thought they had license to get in their faces, point fingers at them, call them names, and degrade them.  I saw parents in seminars who were bullied by other parents (usually alumni parents) and teachers.  I always wondered what kind of training these people had; apparently none or not much.  Sometimes the bullying was in the form of yelling and intimidation; sometimes it was much more subtle manipulation and brainwashing.

I have been deeply embarrassed to admit that I was affiliated with Hyde in any form.  It feels like a bad stain that I can't eradicate.  Bullying is the word.

When you talk about bullying a flashback occurs in my mind.  I remember a couple of those "regional retreats" where the parents are put in a controlled environment for the weekend in their hometown area.  Each time we did this Hyde sent one of their representatives to "monitor" the weekend.  They of course said that the "regional mentor" was there to help but in actuality they would be there in order to report back to the school on each persons "progress."  Gosh, when I think of this these posters are right on.  Hyde School does operate like a cult.  I can remember during these weekends the times when certain parents would badger other parents into submission.  There were cruel and humiliating situations that to this day I feel embarassed I was a part of.

I thought the Hyde regional retreats weren't so bad.  For the most part, people behaved and didn't act aggressively.  However, I thought the FLCs were beyond horrible.  I have no problem at all being asked to examine my own issues.  That's fine.  What astounded me was the incredibly inappropriate behavior by some staff who were very unprofessional and behaved like bullies.  Some of the alumni parents were worse--they reminded me of Nazi soldiers.  When I reflect back on the cruel, insensitive, humiliating and arrogant conduct of some of the people I met at Hyde, I feel sick to my stomach.  Fortunately, I had the good sense to join in on the emotional gang rapes I witnessed.  In fact, I did my best to stand up to the bullies.  Sadly, I don't think I had much impact.  

My gut feeling is that Hyde needs to be put out of business.  The gap between Hyde's lofty rhetoric and the sad, sorry state of affairs at that pathetic excuse for a school is insurmountable.  Shame on any educational consultant who refers families to Hyde.

Sorry . . . I meant to say I had the good sense to NOT join in on the emotional gang rapes I witnessed at Hyde.

[Anonymous]

How did you find out about this web site?[/quote]

I stumbled across this site last month when I Googled an acquaintance whose name appears in association with it. It wasn't something that I sought out, but something that I sort of met by accident on the path. I left Hyde thirty years ago with a forward look and not with a backward look. College, graduate schools, marriage, immigration, career, family: all these haven't left me much time to mull over the Hyde effect, whether good or ill. From what little I've gathered, it seems there's an inverse ratio between success at Hyde and success in the real world. That's good news for a guy like me who took Hyde with a grain of salt and was branded a failure. I might have carried my burden of failure on into adulthood, and even gone back for a late-life diploma, like tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion. Well, it's wonderful to discover Hyde's dissident community! I had no idea I was in such good company!

[Anonymous]

How did you find out about this web site?

I stumbled across this site last month when I Googled an acquaintance whose name appears in association with it. It wasn't something that I sought out, but something that I sort of met by accident on the path. I left Hyde thirty years ago with a forward look and not with a backward look. College, graduate schools, marriage, immigration, career, family: all these haven't left me much time to mull over the Hyde effect, whether good or ill. From what little I've gathered, it seems there's an inverse ratio between success at Hyde and success in the real world. That's good news for a guy like me who took Hyde with a grain of salt and was branded a failure. I might have carried my burden of failure on into adulthood, and even gone back for a late-life diploma, like tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion. Well, it's wonderful to discover Hyde's dissident community! I had no idea I was in such good company![/quote]

That's a very good way to put it: Hyde's dissident community.  What many of us are discovering is that this group is significant in size.  This web site is very healing and therapeutic (MUCH more effective than Hyde's lame, often ineffectual seminars).

[Anonymous]

How did you find out about this web site?

I stumbled across this site last month when I Googled an acquaintance whose name appears in association with it. It wasn't something that I sought out, but something that I sort of met by accident on the path. I left Hyde thirty years ago with a forward look and not with a backward look. College, graduate schools, marriage, immigration, career, family: all these haven't left me much time to mull over the Hyde effect, whether good or ill. From what little I've gathered, it seems there's an inverse ratio between success at Hyde and success in the real world. That's good news for a guy like me who took Hyde with a grain of salt and was branded a failure. I might have carried my burden of failure on into adulthood, and even gone back for a late-life diploma, like tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion. Well, it's wonderful to discover Hyde's dissident community! I had no idea I was in such good company![/quote]

Am curious, did you contact this acquaintence?  If so, was he/she aware of this board?

I think it is important that when parents investigage Hyde in order to make a decision about sending their kid there, they should have all the facts, not just the materials that Hyde puts out.  Hyde spends a lot of money on marketing the school and it definitely does pay off.  I believe it is equally as important for parents to hear the voice of the many disatisfied students and parents, which are plentiful.

[Anonymous]

How did you find out about this web site?

I stumbled across this site last month when I Googled an acquaintance whose name appears in association with it. It wasn't something that I sought out, but something that I sort of met by accident on the path. I left Hyde thirty years ago with a forward look and not with a backward look. College, graduate schools, marriage, immigration, career, family: all these haven't left me much time to mull over the Hyde effect, whether good or ill. From what little I've gathered, it seems there's an inverse ratio between success at Hyde and success in the real world. That's good news for a guy like me who took Hyde with a grain of salt and was branded a failure. I might have carried my burden of failure on into adulthood, and even gone back for a late-life diploma, like tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion. Well, it's wonderful to discover Hyde's dissident community! I had no idea I was in such good company![/quote]

   What was that pop song from about 30 years ago?  "Oz never gave nothing to the tinman that he didn't all ready have."  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  It is just Joe.  I have been thru the desert on a horse with no name since then, so I can't remember my name.
BTW  I just watched Doug Pray's "Hype" on DVD.  It is really good.  

Emil Nightrate

[Anonymous]

How did you find out about this web site?

I stumbled across this site last month when I Googled an acquaintance whose name appears in association with it. It wasn't something that I sought out, but something that I sort of met by accident on the path. I left Hyde thirty years ago with a forward look and not with a backward look. College, graduate schools, marriage, immigration, career, family: all these haven't left me much time to mull over the Hyde effect, whether good or ill. From what little I've gathered, it seems there's an inverse ratio between success at Hyde and success in the real world. That's good news for a guy like me who took Hyde with a grain of salt and was branded a failure. I might have carried my burden of failure on into adulthood, and even gone back for a late-life diploma, like tin man, scarecrow, and cowardly lion. Well, it's wonderful to discover Hyde's dissident community! I had no idea I was in such good company!

Am curious, did you contact this acquaintence?  If so, was he/she aware of this board? [/quote]

No.