Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
Carlbrook
Anonymous:
Ok so the word gulag is strong and loaded but prison is not. Regardless of the experience and whether it worked or not if a person is at a place that limits visitors and does not allow students to leave at all or go home for summer or the major holidays and it monitors incoming and outgoing communication then it is incarcerating them not educating them. I cant comment on whether being incarcerated saved you but by any objective measure I could argue that you were jailed.
As to the fact that you ended up being financially sucessful, I am glad. As there have been few long term studies and those that have existed have had an extremely small participation rate I also cant comment on whether you are the norm. But given that to afford the fees your own family would have had to earn a comfortable salary I would say you are part of a wider statistical norm. Most middle class parents produce middle class kids.
Anonymous:
An interesting aspect of the cult of fornits is watching people try to convince program alumni (oh wait, you call them survivors) they were mistreated and abused. Here's some free advice, if you have to convince someone they were abused, then it's probably safe to say they were never abused. The fornits definition of abuse is so watered down you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't 'abused', program or not.
E Adams:
HAMLET:
.....What have you, my good
friends, deserved at the hands of Fortune that she sends you
to prison hither?
GUILDENSTERN:
Prison, my lord?
HAMLET:
Denmark's a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ:
Then is the world one.
HAMLET:
A goodly one; in which there are many confines,
wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst.
ROSENCRANTZ:
We think not so, my lord.
HAMLET:
Why, then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either
good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ:
Why, then your ambition makes it one. 'tis too
narrow for your mind.
HAMLET:
O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count
myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad
dreams.
Ursus:
--- Quote from: "E Adams" ---And I FULLY agree with TAC's comment on hippies -- just as an aside.
--- End quote ---
Ah, but therapeutic communities as a modality for managing group behavior far predates the 1960s.
E Adams:
And 2 Cents - I must say I agree with you about the 14 yo's. Even while I was there, especially near the end, there were kids coming who were around 14 - like freshmen age. That was way too young for the program (my opinion). My feeling was that the parents, if they're sending off their 14 yo, what is wrong with you people? And they weren't "bad kids" some of them. And I wonder: what was KNOWN about the school on the outside that that could happen, how was it pitched, how informed were parents - and educational couselors? Did they get kickbacks? I was "sent" there, at least in a round about way, on a recommendation by Precilla Blake, an "educational counselor" in Atlanta. I would be VERY surprised if she had EVER been there. I am almost positive she had NOT. That seems ethically wrong, at least questionable. Many people were sent by her, many, and to both CEDU schools. She probably earned a nice living, she and her cohort LB, for shipping kids there. I wonder - what was her reward? But the school should not have accepted many of the kids who came. That's just my feeling. I know people who finished the program and THEN had to go to a regular high school for a year, or two years. I just can't imagine how effed up that would have been. So I agree with you. Luckily, despite the fact I had a 10th grade education (almost - and no academics while there) I was able, due to a high SAT's (thanks in NO part to my education from ID) get into pretty much every place I applied - hell, I was even offered academic scholarships. That was true for several in my peergroup, but I believe it did tail off markedly later on. But the age thing, and the people accepted, that was just something that was hard to ignore. And I would certainly agree that it was a HUGE negative for the "program" - AND for those kids. I don't know where the hammer should fall on that, but on someone (Admissions, owner, Edu Counselors, Parents, etc). So several someones probably. There were exceptions though even to that - a girl in my peergroup for instance, very bright, 14 when she came, had only finished most of 8th grade before she got there, and went straight to college right out of the place - think she made a 1200 or so on the SAT and don't think she suffered at all due the lack of academics (nor did I, nor did MOST others I graduated with - that I kept up with anyway). In fact, when I was there I was under the impression that that was pretty much a prerequisite, that you had to be bright and/or academically prepared for college before you arrived -- but maybe not?). If that was the case it assuredly changed. Anyway, I've heard other people talk about the "poor" academics (understatement) but my math credits consisted of me and a dude from Orange County building a f**king hay feeder (it had angles in it). And I have no clue where my English credits came from. History credit came from (I suppose?) Ishi - or maybe the L&C Expedition? So perhaps it was some kind of greediness and bald money grab that followed the taking EVERYONE paradigm shift that ended up in the final analysis taking it all down, folding the joint up -- but I couldn't say other than that bit of speculation.
And I meant I agree with the "hippies" comment, generally - as an aside - in a manner not necessarily relating to the general conversation - not as relates to therapy or any of that business ---- just as an overall comment.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version