What about "Carlbrook School"?

[anythinganyone]

I find it absurd that anyone would think that being in complete silence forbidden to socialise or engage in any sort of stimulating activity for weeks on end is not abuse.

[Anonymous]

What I meant by "not abuse" is that it couldn't be grounds for a lawsuit or anything, or at least not one that would be very fruitful.

[Anonymous]

i went their and can say hands down this place should be shut down.  Why because not only is it run by administrators who have worse problems then most the kids attending do(if you think this is wrong then follow the paper trail on people like Andy coe, tim brace, johnathan gerni, grant price)(Spelling??) ... but also their impact on the kids only hurts them in the long run.  if you went their and found something that was good (you claim). i know that was not caused by carlbrook but an individuals ability to overcome.. the only way to explain this place is a jail that you dont have to worry about being physically raped in. (emotionally is different because almost everyday someone is mentally destroyed left feeling like they had just been raped) its a bad place that still gives me nightmares today and has only made problems much bigger and worse in the real world.. And i was not a fuck up or whatever you have it i  have been claimed a success story but will not sit quietly and hide the real truth.   :rasta:  posting.php?mode=reply&f=9&t=8792#

[Anonymous]

i went to carlbrook and i hated it, but i still don't agree with everything nomorecarlbrook said.

B) yeah, the staff have fucked-up life stories. but i'd trust someone more who was open about how they used to be on drugs/got molested/etc. than someone with a perfect life who never experienced pain. i'm not saying i think the staff did what was right in every situation, but i don't think we should condemn them for having messed-up backgrounds. (also, it's jonathan gurney not johnathan gerni.)
C) i agree that the good that comes from carlbrook is a result of personal perseverance and not the program.
D) please don't compare things to rape. it trivializes rape. i know i sound like a freak but it's just one of those things for me. it's one of my "issues" or whatever you want to call it. you weren't "emotionally raped." rape is when someone forces you to have sex with them. go here, it's interesting: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/ ... think.html
E) i understand what you're saying about the emotional repercussions, though. it affects me every day.

[AuntieEm2]

I agree. It trivializes rape.

I also wish people wouldn't use "gay" as a derogatory term. I don't think you all mean to hurt others by saying that, but it's really hurtful to GLBTQ folks. There are enough painful topics and stories here without jabbing thoughtless insults.

Okay, that's my rant.

Auntie Em

[Anonymous]

FUCK

[Anonymous]

RED FUCK BOY GO HOME.

I guess this ass clown is hoping his posts get deleted so he can claim the forum is moderated and sue for damages.  You are a desperate little sausage.  The admins can always move your red fucks into another forum called "pricks on parade".

[Anonymous]

yeah, i don't really get what fuck-boy is trying to do...i mean, congratulations, you can post a red word on a forum. great. hope you feel powerful and ~*ReBeLLiOuS*~

same about the gay thing. i've been trying to get myself out of the habit of saying "retarded" too.

[Anonymous]

nomorecarlbrook is an idiot that can't spell

[Anonymous]

Thx4 sharing judgemental Guest1. You and "FUCK" troll are special.

[Anonymous]

Hi. I used to post on here frequently. There are so many things that I can say, butI worry that I will end up repeating myself. I also don't feel like wasting my time repeating everything I have said for new people to this forum. No offense of course because I'm actually glad that you're here. Well anyway, I've been posting since page 5 on this forum. I encourage everyone to read through what I have written.
Also: Since this forum has gotten pretty chaotic over the last few weeks, I though I might direct our topic on something else. How do former students/parents/other feel about the education at carlbrook. We talk a lot about the therapy side but never really mention the school side. I personally enjoyed school there (as you'll learn if you read my posts) but I didn't feel challenged. I also didn't like how the other kids took advantage of teachers and how therapy always was more important than school work. For example, I thought it was absurd that students could and many times interrupted a lesson to give out a crew to another student. I also felt better in school because I felt that teachers were the most "normal" people on campus. Furthermore, although many of the teachers were smart and very knowledgable in their field, many of them lacked the ability to teach. Lastly, I didn't like how education was always limited by another factor that was in my mind, less important. For example, I thought it was absurd that we couldn't use the internet for research. Instead, we were forced to use old and outdated books in the school's tiny library. My list goes on

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed it but didn't feel challenged at all. The teachers were way too lenient. I mean, their leniency was convenient, haha, but not productive. Kids would blow off papers and the excuse "I'm going through a hard time" was accepted without question. This sounds really nice but it doesn't set them up for the real world or college, and usually it was a bullshit excuse anyway.

I didn't really see kids giving crews randomly in class. Usually, the teacher would go "[obnoxious student], stop." Obnoxious student wouldn't stop and the teacher would go, "That's a crew. Who here's on D-Comm that can crew him for me?" Kids would only give crews if the teachers asked them to or if the obnoxious student was doing something RIDICULOUS. I remember one time a new student gave the finger to a teacher. That kind of thing.

I was much, much closer to the teachers than the advisers/other staff on campus. Dena  DeStefano Greene is an angel (I feel SO badly for the kids there now since she left...I seriously can NOT imagine keeping my sanity without Dena there). Foran is my hero, inspired me so much, believed in my writing when I didn't. Jonathan Gurney was the best, even though he kind of waffled between being a therapeutic staff member and a set-up-alumni-stuff guy (I loved him because he had perspective, he knew that the things we were doing like flirting or doubting the system were NORMAL and shouldn't be condemned, that the world outside of Carlbrook was going to be more important. He had a son who was sent away so he understood on so, so many levels). Elmes helped me out a lot. Doom before he got scary with me and other girls.Dean Visco was always a sweetheart and willing to listen and not judge. Malissa at the college office.

Not being able to research on the internet was ridiculous. They should have set it up college-office-style at least, with a few computers that had facebook/etc. blocked and adults to supervise us to make sure we weren't doing anything out-of-standard. I never got why we could research colleges but not medieval literature/etc.

I think the teachers saw how fucked up some of the things we had to go through were. Dena did especially. Foran, Ulrich, Tenzek, they all started wearing down at the end. I think being around that takes a toll on you. Maybe it was worse for them, you know? Students are soaked in the Carlbrook environment 24/7 so we grow to accept it, even embrace it, because it is literally ALL we know. Meanwhile, the teachers have to slip between two worlds, going between the insanity of Carlbrook to the normalcy of their homes. Maybe it made them feel crazy, or guilty, or...something. Advisers, too. The average time that an adviser stays is 3-5 years, right? After that, they just can't take it. Mindi was definitely starting to HATE Carlbrook by the time December graduation rolled around. She'd talk to me and a few other girls about how she saw through it and how fucked up it was. Maybe, in retrospect, she shouldn't have shared that with us, but it was illuminating.

[Anonymous]

I can understand what you're saying Ik. For me, school was a major thing that helped me keep my sanity while I was there. Before I went to Carlbrook, I was an ideal student. Not only did I get straight A's, but I really appreciated and felt enthusiastic toward learning. The school I attended before Carlbrook was very rigorous and rated one of the best schools in the nation for years. On my way to Carlbrook from the woods, I tried to pacify my skeptical thoughts by asking questions to my guardian. At that time, I really wanted to go to Cornell University, so I kept asking if this new school would help me reach that goal. However, how could I have predicted that I would be reprimanded and yelled at in group for trying hard in school? In my first term there, I easily made Dean's List as well as received the acknowledgements from my teachers as an aberration to the typical Carlbrook student. I actually cared! I didn’t set a goal or anything; I just did what I usually did in school.
However, a majority of the people at Carlbrook (excluding teachers of course) grew very incredulous that I was truly different. For example, on the first day of my second semester, Dr. Bender (Dean of Academics) was calling out people that made Honor Roll and Dean’s List. At the end of the ceremony, the Assistant Dean of Admissions stated that one of the people standing (the people that were named) acquired a perfect 4.0 GPA and I was then awarded a round of applause. This was a bit unusual for me. I had always received these grades throughout my life because I always tried my hardest, just as I expected everyone else of doing. Anyway, after the meeting ended, Dr. Bender approached me and whispered in my ear, “Now that you’ve gotten this out of your system, I hope that you can focus more on the important stuff such as what goes on in group.” Even though I didn’t say anything, I felt infuriated. I truly believe that there was envy in that man’s eyes that day! Carlbrook was upset because unlike the other typical students who lacked ambition or were “heading down a bad path,” I was not only heading down a better path, but doing it without their stupid principles. During my stay at Carlbrook, I must’ve turned a lot of heads. I was never a fuck-up in life and never made any major bad decisions. The only reason I was there was because my guardian thought it would be a good idea for me to have therapy after both my parents died.
I really don’t care what anyone else has to say at this point. As far as I know, I suffered more than ANYONE else that went to Carlbrook. I never made my own problems but instead was forced to deal with the problems that life threw at me. I never needed therapy, I needed a better life! I hated being compared to these self-deprecating losers! If you know who I am at this point, so be it! I ultimately ran from Carlbrook once I turned 18. The only thing I regret about that decision is that I couldn’t think of something to get myself out of there sooner! After leaving Carlbrook, I began to carry out my dreams which were limited by Carlbrook. Instead of living everyday like a brainless puppet and believing everything my advisor told me, I was outside living the life that everyone else said was impossible.

[Anonymous]

lk, Doom got creepy w/ me too! And w/ a few other girls in my graduating class. You think he's all nice until he starts hitting on you and making you uncomfortable! Like he'd tell me he couldn't live w/o me and that he loved me more than anyone in the world! Wtf! that's not okay in my book!!! My adviser put me on P-Bans w/ him but he would still try to break them! I'd be like uhhhh Doom I'm on bans. Soooo awkward...I felt sooooo unsafe w/ him.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Paperclip,
Are you referring to Carlbrook grads in general as "self-deprecating losers?" Seriously? There are people who graduated from there who did pretty damn well with themselves....

I had the same experience at Carlbrook.  There were some staff who truly got me through: Kalyn, Jonathan Gurney (He normally dealt with laidback guys and I was a rather dramatic girl--and somehow he put up with me, even after graduation. The man is an absolute saint and was basically my dad at Carlbrook), Mrs. Elmes, Melissa Peacock and Kirk in the advising office, Armando Cooper and Mitch.  As I've written before though, I had a great academic record before Carlbrook.  I graduated with over a 4.0 and was also frustrated when I had a major AP exam coming up and Julie decided to take my computer away (which I was using to study for the exam!) because I "hid behind it."  I was incredibly frustrated when I could only use the small library.  I think that's why I'm so in obsessed with my university's art and architecture library today.

I felt kind of used by Carlbrook when I applied to college.  I applied to 22 schools, a ridiculous amount, and was pretty pushed by college advising to do that.  I was the first kid in my family (I mean, my parents went to college, but that was decades ago) to go through the application process and I could have saved a lot of time and money.  A lot of the schools I got into are now on their "acceptance" list and I think I'm still the only National Merit Finalist/Scholarship Recipient they have had.  My dream had been to go to an Ivy League school since before I got sent away.  Unfortunately, when you graduate straight from Carlbrook instead of getting to spend a year at a regular boarding school, that isn't possible.  I still go to a school that regularly competes with Brown for placement on the U.S. News' list but sometimes I do wonder what if.  Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly grateful for Mrs. Elmes and her AP Art History classes as well as Mr. Foran's English classes.  They really did try to push us and make our experience as normal as possible.  But there's only so much the teachers can do.  I really wish I'd been able to take classes from those teachers in a normal setting, where Carlbrook couldn't step in and get them to not challenge us--I enjoy being challenged academically.  I missed that a lot at Carlbrook so I used to just read my art history text over and over in the program room.  I'll be graduating with a 3.75 GPA from college in the spring, taking a year off, and then planning on getting my masters in what else, art history.

I guess what I'm trying to say is yes, the academics could be a lot better at Carlbrook.  I got yelled at numerous times for "hiding behind schoolbooks" or "putting my work over emotional growth."  But for me, doing well academically keeps me sane.  Even today, if I'm doing bad emotionally, that thrill of getting accepted to a prestigious internship or handing in a well-researched paper makes some of the other struggles worth it.  And unfortunately, a lot of the Carlbrook staff don't understand that.