Requesting Parents' Assessment of Hyde School

[Anonymous]

correction...ed's oldest

  LeMarca is that how you spell it?

[Anonymous]

Was it Ed's daughter, or was it Ed's wife, Anne, telling Ed's daughter?  Hmmm...

I could have sworn it was spelled LaMarca.  (Why did this come up?

[Anonymous]

My other fond rememberance of Henry involves Todd Donahue. Todd sang the dylan song "don't ya' tell henry" at a school performance. I knew at the time he was screwing Henry's wife and that was why he was sing the song, to Marsha.

why would Henry care?
he was after the boyz durring my time there
he would invite groups of adolescent males to the hot tubs and sauna place in Brunzwick and would call me to his office to strike up conversations about male anatomy, mine, and other kids...very strange dude...and I was not on acid. I have plenty of other stories. At the time I thought he was interested in my "Growth" ect. A few years later I realized he wanted some 15y/o boy bootie....I escaped un streached...perhaps others did not fare so well

This reminds me of something a former classmate told me.  He had gone back for some reason, perhaps reunion but perhaps not, as it wasn't more than a few years after he had graduated, and he greeted Sumner with a hug and was about to kiss Sumner on the cheek, as was his style, when Sumner tried to tongue-kiss him.  I said, "Are you sure?  Perhaps there was some misinterpretation or other..."  He mumbled, "no," and I could see from the expression on his face that, if anything, he had probably understated what transpired.  Of course this is heresay, but I tend to believe it...

[Anonymous]

What was not addressed is that it happened because kids were being taught to not question the authority of hyde.  I work as an educator now and it boggles my mind things I endured (and my poor parents paid for)  and that the place is still chugging along. If you are looking for a Boarding school for your child consider these quick thoughts.
It is character AND achievement, not character over achievement. They are both paramount. Hyde uses the term as an excuse to keep unqualified teachers, and avoid the ardor of putting together a curriculum and doing the day to day work of running a school.   Math there was a joke, I remember a math class where the teacher (Jon Chesterton) would put on his own hyde seminars instead of teaching algebra, like we didn?t get enough seminar. I remember getting everything right on one of his lame tests and the next class was dedicated to him running a session where the entire class lambasted me for doing well and not ?sharing?.  I was a pariah for doing the school work!
HARMONY MATTERS. The phrase is really truth and harmony. And it is difficult to accomplish. Truth over harmony is an excuse for demeaning and insulting behavior. It is how the founder communicates and can?t change. It helps protect them from the customary standards of professionalism. And provides a framework to disguise an archaic system of authority figure centered education. Those who can communicate (truth) and empower (harmony) are the most successful people I know.  And this is what you should look for in a school.
   Oh and you guyz with the acid trips are wacked?you belonged there.

Fifth

[Anonymous]

Okay, Fifth, I've got to respond to a number of your points.

First.  Emil has been posting on this forum for some time now under a variety of names, as such is his want, and if you go back and read his output over time, certain elements come out loud and clear.  He likes to be funny and has a wonderful sense of humor, which may seem outrageous if you are someone who tends to take things very literally, but he is basically a very solid and decent guy who, on the occassion that merits it, will spout most earnest and heartfelt material that is most assuredly on the saner side of normal.

Second.  I appreciate very much your saying "...it happened because kids were being taught to not question the authority of hyde."  You COULDN'T question authority!  It was not just that it wasn't allowed and to do so would entail punishment, but it went against the grain of what was being taught, it was antithetical to your being any kind of success at all at the place.  To question meant that you were somehow retarding your character development.

Third.  I really love your spin on the glorification of character over achievement as being nothing more than "an excuse to keep unqualified teachers, and avoid the ardor of putting together a curriculum and doing the day to day work of running a school."  I have always felt this, that so much of Hyde's philosophy entailed what was CONVENIENT and FEASIBLE for them to maintain, rather than any true striving for excellence which should, by definition, include academic rigor.  I too, experienced ridicule with intonations of accusations of "selfishness" for achieving high marks in the "sciences" (what a joke).

Fourth.  I must take some issue with your description of Hyde as "an archaic system of authority figure centered education," although I suspect we are more on the same page than not on this one as well.  I guess when I think of an authority figure centered educator, I'm imaging someone more like Socrates  (although, if you recall, his students were required to question him and his style was more didactic than dictatorial).  In contrast, in my own personal, humble, and I'm-not-an-educator perspective, I do think Hyde is pedagogical in name only, it is more of a personality cult than a bonafide education system.  And when the person of that personality is gone, the place will either be reamed out and revamped, or swiftly and effetely fade away.

In my humble opinion...

[Anonymous]

 I am sure he has done well for himself.  He was a smart guy.  Look at how he manuvered himself into the headmasters job,  moved Joe aside, brought in an expert to say Joe had to go then had the old man dumped.  It was all very shrewed.  The question I have is "Why"  It makes no sense to me.  Did he have some messianic view of himself?  OR was he like that character in the movie "In the Company of Men"  He did it as a game to see it he could?
 A lot of people from back then love him still. I am not one of them.  I just find it ironic that some one that would preach such lofty sermons would end up doing something so quodidian as the front man for a commuter school.

emil

Emil,

Ed Legg was a Harvard grad, a football star with a law degree, who ended up in a high school and had to teach the likes of us. In that context his revolutionary fervor, political climbing, and prophecies of failure for many a poor boy and girl were probably just his way of dealing (badly) with his own sense of failure, and it's best that he is out of there and unable to influence young adults. My problem with Ed is his complicity. Although his hands were clean of the abuses that were taking place all around him, as headmaster he was in it up to his ears.

On a personal level, I liked the guy. I admired his mind, he taught the only worthwhile course in the school, and he didn't begrudge me a college recommendation that started me off on a good academic footing.

I agree that we should maintain the focus on Hyde, but allow me to share an anecdote about Ed. Three-eyed toad was very potent acid, sold to me by Owlsley, the sound engineer of the Grateful Dead, and each toad had to be cut into at least sixteen parts. Not knowing this, my weird roommate and his epileptic friend stole and ingested an entire toad each. Well, the epileptic went into unending spastic seizures, and my roommate ran around the Outhouse in the middle of the night trying to find a way to commit suicide, and both of them spent a week in hospital, before their parents withdrew them. Figuring the gig was up, I walked over to Ed's office the next day to turn myself in. As I went to pull the acid out of my pocket, he said, "Stop, Michael, or I'll be an accomplice and have to call the police.'' It was that JD kicking in. He didn't put me on work crew, and trusted me to dispose of the acid. He was pretty cool about it.

Fifth, I agree with you 100 percent --- except that part that I belonged at Hyde. I owe my sanity to that acid.  

Mike

[Anonymous]

 I am sure he has done well for himself.  He was a smart guy.  Look at how he manuvered himself into the headmasters job,  moved Joe aside, brought in an expert to say Joe had to go then had the old man dumped.  It was all very shrewed.  The question I have is "Why"  It makes no sense to me.  Did he have some messianic view of himself?  OR was he like that character in the movie "In the Company of Men"  He did it as a game to see it he could?
 A lot of people from back then love him still. I am not one of them.  I just find it ironic that some one that would preach such lofty sermons would end up doing something so quodidian as the front man for a commuter school.

emil

Emil,

  Mike,

  I am so happy I could just shit.   I had no problems with Owl products.  

Emil



Ed Legg was a Harvard grad, a football star with a law degree, who ended up in a high school and had to teach the likes of us. In that context his revolutionary fervor, political climbing, and prophecies of failure for many a poor boy and girl were probably just his way of dealing (badly) with his own sense of failure, and it's best that he is out of there and unable to influence young adults. My problem with Ed is his complicity. Although his hands were clean of the abuses that were taking place all around him, as headmaster he was in it up to his ears.

On a personal level, I liked the guy. I admired his mind, he taught the only worthwhile course in the school, and he didn't begrudge me a college recommendation that started me off on a good academic footing.

I agree that we should maintain the focus on Hyde, but allow me to share an anecdote about Ed. Three-eyed toad was very potent acid, sold to me by Owlsley, the sound engineer of the Grateful Dead, and each toad had to be cut into at least sixteen parts. Not knowing this, my weird roommate and his epileptic friend stole and ingested an entire toad each. Well, the epileptic went into unending spastic seizures, and my roommate ran around the Outhouse in the middle of the night trying to find a way to commit suicide, and both of them spent a week in hospital, before their parents withdrew them. Figuring the gig was up, I walked over to Ed's office the next day to turn myself in. As I went to pull the acid out of my pocket, he said, "Stop, Michael, or I'll be an accomplice and have to call the police.'' It was that JD kicking in. He didn't put me on work crew, and trusted me to dispose of the acid. He was pretty cool about it.

Fifth, I agree with you 100 percent --- except that part that I belonged at Hyde. I owe my sanity to that acid.  

Mike

[Anonymous]

What was not addressed is that it happened because kids were being taught to not question the authority of hyde.  I work as an educator now and it boggles my mind things I endured (and my poor parents paid for)  and that the place is still chugging along. If you are looking for a Boarding school for your child consider these quick thoughts.
It is character AND achievement, not character over achievement. They are both paramount. Hyde uses the term as an excuse to keep unqualified teachers, and avoid the ardor of putting together a curriculum and doing the day to day work of running a school.   Math there was a joke, I remember a math class where the teacher (Jon Chesterton) would put on his own hyde seminars instead of teaching algebra, like we didn?t get enough seminar. I remember getting everything right on one of his lame tests and the next class was dedicated to him running a session where the entire class lambasted me for doing well and not ?sharing?.  I was a pariah for doing the school work!
HARMONY MATTERS. The phrase is really truth and harmony. And it is difficult to accomplish. Truth over harmony is an excuse for demeaning and insulting behavior. It is how the founder communicates and can?t change. It helps protect them from the customary standards of professionalism. And provides a framework to disguise an archaic system of authority figure centered education. Those who can communicate (truth) and empower (harmony) are the most successful people I know.  And this is what you should look for in a school.
   Oh and you guyz with the acid trips are wacked?you belonged there.

Fifth

  To the contrary  I would submit that it is you that are wacked.  You went down the rabbit hole and forgot where you were.  I never did.   My take is there there is charater education going on at Hyde.  There is chararcter education going on in MCI Walope for that matter.  The thing that I question is what is the standard for assesssing it and how is it applied.  Hyde could not judge who had grown and who had not in any real predictable way.  History has born this out.  /You look at some of the kids that got diplomas, that have turned out to be a net negative on society: self indulgent drug abusers,  pediphiles etc.  Then you look at the folk that were cast aside, like for example Joan G.  Hearing her life story you just got to say, damn if any one should have got a diploma from back then it was her.  
 And wasn't that the reason that Joe founded hyde?  Traditional education did not cultivate people that were ready to participate in society in a whole matter.  It picked people that were good on tests or the sports field.  HELLO!?  How did Hyde pick them?  You fit well with the peer group and were varsity level. You played the game.  you spoke the hyde lexecon.  You shared in seminars.  You picked the pecking order in seminars to put the failures in thier place.  Honest to God the process was like grooming rituals in chimpanzee groups.  What's charater building about that?  I don't think hyde could function with out failures. Two quotes come to mind.  One is from a Rhodes scholar. you can find it on the flip side of Bobby Magee:

'Cos everybody's got to have somebody to look down on.
Who they can feel better than at anytime they please.
Someone doin' somethin' dirty, decent folks can frown on.
If you can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me.

The other is a guy name Addison who said:

It is not sufficient that I succeed, other must fail.


  You always own your reaction.  To say that you had no choice it to say that you are not alive.  Victor Frankel was correct.  The one thing that can never be taken from you is your ablilty to choose how to react.  You obeyed because you wanted to.  Please free free to look down on me if it helps you ( I got that same Rhodes scolar comin' at ya) "make it through the night"

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/kris ... 13014.html

Emil

[Anonymous]

What was not addressed is that it happened because kids were being taught to not question the authority of hyde.  I work as an educator now and it boggles my mind things I endured (and my poor parents paid for)  and that the place is still chugging along. If you are looking for a Boarding school for your child consider these quick thoughts.
It is character AND achievement, not character over achievement. They are both paramount. Hyde uses the term as an excuse to keep unqualified teachers, and avoid the ardor of putting together a curriculum and doing the day to day work of running a school.   Math there was a joke, I remember a math class where the teacher (Jon Chesterton) would put on his own hyde seminars instead of teaching algebra, like we didn?t get enough seminar. I remember getting everything right on one of his lame tests and the next class was dedicated to him running a session where the entire class lambasted me for doing well and not ?sharing?.  I was a pariah for doing the school work!
HARMONY MATTERS. The phrase is really truth and harmony. And it is difficult to accomplish. Truth over harmony is an excuse for demeaning and insulting behavior. It is how the founder communicates and can?t change. It helps protect them from the customary standards of professionalism. And provides a framework to disguise an archaic system of authority figure centered education. Those who can communicate (truth) and empower (harmony) are the most successful people I know.  And this is what you should look for in a school.
   Oh and you guyz with the acid trips are wacked?you belonged there.

Fifth

  To the contrary  I would submit that it is you that are wacked.  You went down the rabbit hole and forgot where you were.  I never did.   My take is there there is charater education going on at Hyde.  There is chararcter education going on in MCI Walope for that matter.  The thing that I question is what is the standard for assesssing it and how is it applied.  Hyde could not judge who had grown and who had not in any real predictable way.  History has born this out.  /You look at some of the kids that got diplomas, that have turned out to be a net negative on society: self indulgent drug abusers,  pediphiles etc.  Then you look at the folk that were cast aside, like for example Joan G.  Hearing her life story you just got to say, damn if any one should have got a diploma from back then it was her.  
 And wasn't that the reason that Joe founded hyde?  Traditional education did not cultivate people that were ready to participate in society in a whole matter.  It picked people that were good on tests or the sports field.  HELLO!?  How did Hyde pick them?  You fit well with the peer group and were varsity level. You played the game.  you spoke the hyde lexecon.  You shared in seminars.  You picked the pecking order in seminars to put the failures in thier place.  Honest to God the process was like grooming rituals in chimpanzee groups.  What's charater building about that?  I don't think hyde could function with out failures. Two quotes come to mind.  One is from a Rhodes scholar. you can find it on the flip side of Bobby Magee:

'Cos everybody's got to have somebody to look down on.
Who they can feel better than at anytime they please.
Someone doin' somethin' dirty, decent folks can frown on.
If you can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me.

The other is a guy name Addison who said:

It is not sufficient that I succeed, other must fail.


  You always own your reaction.  To say that you had no choice it to say that you are not alive.  Victor Frankel was correct.  The one thing that can never be taken from you is your ablilty to choose how to react.  You obeyed because you wanted to.  Please free free to look down on me if it helps you ( I got that same Rhodes scolar comin' at ya) "make it through the night"

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/kris ... 13014.html

Emil

[Anonymous]

What was not addressed is that it happened because kids were being taught to not question the authority of hyde.  I work as an educator now and it boggles my mind things I endured (and my poor parents paid for)  and that the place is still chugging along. If you are looking for a Boarding school for your child consider these quick thoughts.
It is character AND achievement, not character over achievement. They are both paramount. Hyde uses the term as an excuse to keep unqualified teachers, and avoid the ardor of putting together a curriculum and doing the day to day work of running a school.   Math there was a joke, I remember a math class where the teacher (Jon Chesterton) would put on his own hyde seminars instead of teaching algebra, like we didn?t get enough seminar. I remember getting everything right on one of his lame tests and the next class was dedicated to him running a session where the entire class lambasted me for doing well and not ?sharing?.  I was a pariah for doing the school work!
HARMONY MATTERS. The phrase is really truth and harmony. And it is difficult to accomplish. Truth over harmony is an excuse for demeaning and insulting behavior. It is how the founder communicates and can?t change. It helps protect them from the customary standards of professionalism. And provides a framework to disguise an archaic system of authority figure centered education. Those who can communicate (truth) and empower (harmony) are the most successful people I know.  And this is what you should look for in a school.
   Oh and you guyz with the acid trips are wacked?you belonged there.

Fifth

  To the contrary  I would submit that it is you that are wacked.  You went down the rabbit hole and forgot where you were.  I never did.   My take is there there is charater education going on at Hyde.  There is chararcter education going on in MCI Walope for that matter.  The thing that I question is what is the standard for assesssing it and how is it applied.  Hyde could not judge who had grown and who had not in any real predictable way.  History has born this out.  /You look at some of the kids that got diplomas, that have turned out to be a net negative on society: self indulgent drug abusers,  pediphiles etc.  Then you look at the folk that were cast aside, like for example Joan G.  Hearing her life story you just got to say, damn if any one should have got a diploma from back then it was her.  
 And wasn't that the reason that Joe founded hyde?  Traditional education did not cultivate people that were ready to participate in society in a whole matter.  It picked people that were good on tests or the sports field.  HELLO!?  How did Hyde pick them?  You fit well with the peer group and were varsity level. You played the game.  you spoke the hyde lexecon.  You shared in seminars.  You picked the pecking order in seminars to put the failures in thier place.  Honest to God the process was like grooming rituals in chimpanzee groups.  What's charater building about that?  I don't think hyde could function with out failures. Two quotes come to mind.  One is from a Rhodes scholar. you can find it on the flip side of Bobby Magee:

'Cos everybody's got to have somebody to look down on.
Who they can feel better than at anytime they please.
Someone doin' somethin' dirty, decent folks can frown on.
If you can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me.

The other is a guy name Addison who said:

It is not sufficient that I succeed, other must fail.


  You always own your reaction.  To say that you had no choice it to say that you are not alive.  Victor Frankel was correct.  The one thing that can never be taken from you is your ablilty to choose how to react.  You obeyed because you wanted to.  Please free free to look down on me if it helps you ( I got that same Rhodes scolar comin' at ya) "make it through the night"

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/kris ... 13014.html

Emil

Mike and Emil, would you be willing to talk to a major network about your experiences at Hyde?  I have a Producer who is interested but needs former students and parents to interview.  I understand if you are not comfortable with this, but just thought I would give it a shot.

[Anonymous]

Mike and Emil, would you be willing to talk to a major network about your experiences at Hyde?  I have a Producer who is interested but needs former students and parents to interview.  I understand if you are not comfortable with this, but just thought I would give it a shot.[/quote]

In principle I am interested. However, I am shy of interviews and cameras, and am more comfortable submitting written answers. I reside in Jerusalem, which may also be prohibitive. Most of all, I am concerned about Hyde's legal reaction.

Mike

[Anonymous]

Mike and Emil, would you be willing to talk to a major network about your experiences at Hyde?  I have a Producer who is interested but needs former students and parents to interview.  I understand if you are not comfortable with this, but just thought I would give it a shot.

In principle I am interested. However, I am shy of interviews and cameras, and am more comfortable submitting written answers. I reside in Jerusalem, which may also be prohibitive. Most of all, I am concerned about Hyde's legal reaction.

Mike[/quote]

Interesting that you reside in Jerusalem.  There is another girl who went to Hyde who has positive things to say about it.  She is one of the ones I had contacted before my parents sent me to Hyde to ask how she liked it.  Boy was she off base or maybe just brainwashed.

Speaking of brainwashing, I have been relating Hyde's tactics to the tactics used by the boy who is recently in the paper and who was kidnapped and held by a pedophile. This is the boy who was kidnapped years ago and then helped hold another young boy for the pervert. The authorities recently rescued both boys. They say that he was completely brainwashed by the first 30 days of captivity which is very common given the circumstances. Certainly I was not kidnapped by Hyde but the tactics used to tear me down and then build me into the perfect Hyde student was very similar. Do any of you relate to this?  Brainwashing as a young person by older adults is so profound.  I think of all the times I tried to tell my parents what was going on at Hyde and all those times they would not believe me because Hyde was telling them differently.  IMHO Hyde damages so many kids and families.  The word that comes to my mind is "toxic."

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I came across some interesting public informations regarding Hyde 990 Tax return  for Bath - Woodstock - and DC
it is quite informative, if any of you have accounting background you could have fun finding the loopholes and possibly build a case against the corruption.
go to www.guidestar.org

[Anonymous]

Mike and Emil, would you be willing to talk to a major network about your experiences at Hyde?  I have a Producer who is interested but needs former students and parents to interview.  I understand if you are not comfortable with this, but just thought I would give it a shot.

In principle I am interested. However, I am shy of interviews and cameras, and am more comfortable submitting written answers. I reside in Jerusalem, which may also be prohibitive. Most of all, I am concerned about Hyde's legal reaction.

Mike[/quote]

  I am not really interested in in speaking to the press on the matter.  I have just been try to sort out what it all meant and still means for me  Having other people to bounce stuff off of here has really helped a lot.  Going back to Hyde I find really does not help much, other than to remember the place physically.  Most of the people I would most like to see are the people that are least likely to show.
 At this point I am not vested in hyde surviving, changing or closing.  I am also not willing to say the experiance was on the whole negative.  I many aspects it was positive for me.  There are a number of places/cults if you will that are far more dangerous that folks have been tilting at for years.  If Hyde is your windmill power to you.  My main concern in life is getting my kids through college not saving people from Hyde.  Being associated with a public effort to discredit Hyde would not aid in my primary goal which is "the most important job" to steal a phrase, getting my kids out and started on thier own.
  The other piece is I know some of the kool-aide drinks and I actually like them.  

Emil

[Anonymous]

drinkers