We are considering enrolling a child at Carlbrook. I would love to hear from some people who were there is the last 1 or 2 years. All the hugging and touching makes me very nervous and has a very cult-like feel. Also, I am not sure any of their tactics will prepare the students for "real-life", in the real world life does NOT revolve around you and your problems and the day cannot stop for you to talk about your issues with others.
Carlbrook doesn't help anyone with everyday life more than just maturing naturally. In fact, it hurts. What they will say is that talking about your issues isn't intended to be something that is continued at the same level after Carlbrook but is a needed step. I was there and I know what really goes on. Talking about your issues is something that is needed, for everyone. Some people just talk with their friends while others feel the need to pay other people to talk to. However, Carlbrook is in almost everyway, a microcosm of a tolitarian society. If you read more entries in this forum, which I definitely would recommend if you are still considering sending your child to Carlbrook, many people can agree on something. Carlbrook, because of its tolitarian-like infrastructure, will bring each student down and force each child to not only question their morals, behaviors, and actions, but to recognize all of them as bad (even the good ones). The reason they do this is because they want to build everyone up again from scratch, modeling each and every student after the “Carlbrook ideals/standards.” They do this through intense forms of manipulation and cognitive illusions. The harder a student resists Carlbrook, the intensity of the “treatment” increases. Some people are rushed into suspension while others can mingle in the fear of being next, but every person must deal with being told that they are the rejects of their family and society. By graduation, each student is expected to be a mindless puppet.
The hugging is used for a couple reasons. One reason is to aid in the brainwashing. Throughout one’s stay at Carlbrook, they must undergo severe emotional trauma. The first thing any intelligent and right minded person would think is who is causing me this pain? After recognizing that, the first thing someone would do is try to escape the pain. For obvious reasons, it is hard to explain to others and yourself that this school is causing me unneeded pain, when everyone is hugging each other. The second reason is to make the school look like a nurturing environment. Most parents don’t want their child to undergo pain and when they see everyone hugging, the first thing they think is, “wow, this place is really nurturing.” Other parents become uncomfortable with the hugging (similar to how you expressed). It doesn’t matter however what the parents think of the hugging, as long as they are thinking about it. As long as the parents think about the hugging, they are distracted from any of the evils of Carlbrook and can easily ignore any of the cries for help from their child. Lastly, when the child does cry for help, the child looks like he/she has mental problems, which in turn, further supports a parent’s decision to send/keep their child at Carlbrook.
