Lars, you accuesed me of baiting people when you just wanted to get something off your chest. I have no issue with you getting stuff off your chest, but since I loved Hyde, I will take issue with your attempts to sway parents, and to provide a contrary opinion. You in turn have responded with viturperative name calling and judgements. (Something I am probably guily of as well.)
I would rather we just debate the issues, but you made a specific post NOT ABOUT your experience but about me and the pro-Hyde people. If you don't like my response, that's your problem, but I will do my best to honestly represent the good and bad about Hyde and try my best (not always possible) to not make this personal.
That said, when people like Tom Allan who experience Hyde for six months and ran away three times become one of the dominant posters here, along with Antigen, then I will question all of you. I don't know your facts, but I do know Tommy left long before he had the chance to get it....a small number leave Hyde like Tommy, and his posts are less than authorative."
People like myself get angry whem you bait us (and you do, whether you realize it or not. It's a well known Hyde technique.) because we had a truly painful experience - something you just don't seem to understand. Maybe you don't mean it that way, but it comes across as malicious. I spent three years there and graduated with a diploma. I went through it all - 2/4, "auditions, "Family Learning Centers," "attitude trips," wrestling, getting reamed out for not snitching on others, sleep deprivation, and many other practices that I've becomed convinced over time (if I wasn't convinced at the time I endured them) are emotionally harmful.
If you loved it, wonderful for you. I know some kids & their families who thought it was a lifesaver. But for many, the "round peg in square hole" cliche sums it up very well. And I believe beyond any doubt that many of their practices and techniques are abusive, demeaning, and, in the case of their "seminars," dangerous theraputic malpractice.
I hated it everyday I was there, even after I learned to play their games and mouth their catchphrases. I just remember going off to college and not being able to stop smiling as I strolled around campus, even when I'd had nightmares about being back at Hyde and being told that I had to spend yet another year there. I remember getting my first college report card and seeing that I'd made the dean's list. No "lacks effort," or "needs to be more of leader," just the letter "A." I remember standing in the warm Arizona sunshine and feeling human again.
And that's why I won't set foot on the Hyde campus ever again. Why my charitable donations go elsewhere. Why I'd like to warn prospective parents about the place.
That's it - all the bile I needed to spill, all the warning I can give. If any prospective students or parents on this board want to know about anything I went through, just ask. I'll peruse these boards from time to time. Until then....
