My former step-daughter went to Hyde and the most dangerous thing I found about Hyde was how easily she got away with manipulating and dishonesty and in spite of being called out on it, she continued. She accused her father of physical abuse and her mother called her out on it as an absolute lie, I called her out on it, her dad was devastated over the accusation, and nobody at the "session" seemed to be worried that she just lied, was caught dead to rights, and moved on as if nothing had happened.
Just for clarification, I am assuming that this was one of the seminars or Discovery groups held over the course of a Family Weekend or FLC, yes? Where there are about 20-30 other people (#?) in the room hearing your extremely private personal story and
nobody there has any actual
bona fide therapeutic experience or recognized credentials whatsoever, amiright? ...But Hyde seems to think that "caring" should be enough!
Now, several years after graduation, her life skills learned at Hyde have allowed her to flunk out of community college after 3 semesters (and 6 earned credits), had her hooked up with addict after addict, fired from many jobs due to attendance issues (how can you work and drug at the same time), several pregnancy scares, and a general lack of morals. What that kid needed (and still needs) was consistant steady parents (not one self absorbed mother and alcoholic absentee father) and counseling to help with her self esteem.
Did Hyde work for her - no. Why? Because Hyde is just a place for parents to dump the kids they cant handle (She has a choice - Foster care or Hyde) and buy them a very expensive high school diploma. Or it is for parents who buy into the hype and beleive it is a life altering place for their child. Did Hyde let her down? No more than her parents did.
Lols. IMO, Hyde School is the
last place a kid in need of some self-esteem should go. Oh, they can sure heap it on the "chosen ones": offspring of the cultic elite and/or scions of very generous and well-washed benefactors, not to mention good "character development" spokes-model types for future use... But, that's hardly reality-based and doesn't always last outside of the Hyde bubble.
Perhaps more relevant to the perspective of the average kid is the fact that Hyde School sees the whole process of character development as being innately difficult and obligatorily fraught with painful soul searching. "No pain, no gain." [A particular Helen Keller quote that is plastered throughout Hyde's literature also comes to mind, but I can't seem to find it at the moment...] Hence the "Hyde experience" is filled with seemingly arbitrary tasks and group sessions that can sometimes feel like a veritable gauntlet of confrontation and humiliation.
Plus, irregardless of what they may tell parents, Hyde has tremendous disdain for any psychiatric or psychological diagnoses, so if your kid has depression, bipolar, and/or similar issues, these will be treated like
character flaws. Not good for building self-esteem or as a substitute for the steady hand of loving parents, if you ask me...
Now as far as the cult like atmosphere. Oh yes, it existed when we were there. Parents who express disaticfaction are treated poorly and forget about the cost and the fact that they also strong arm you for an additional "donation". Smart kids can play the system and get by and the smart parents (who didnt want Junior living back home) play the system as well.
And it is absolutely true that if your child runs away Hyde does tell you not to let them back home. The Gaulds are very full of themselves and Ken and Laura are just as bad. Hardly knew the McCrans (not sure of the spelling but Duncan and his wife) because I personally dropped out of the Hyde parent program then because of what I saw as its absolute failure to do any good.
That "cult like atmosphere" isn't just in the air. Do searches on the Hyde School portion of fornits to find connections to: Landmark Forum, est, Lifespring, Ramtha, Mankind Project/New Warrior Training Adventure, therapeutic communities (forerunner of Guided Group Interaction and Positive Peer Culture) and more to come!
There's even a recent thread on the "
Hyde-Hoffman Process," which I am interpreting as Joe's version of the Hoffman Quadrinity Process (think est + Lifespring + some psychological mumbo jumbo about finding your inner child). It appears that Hyde is now pressuring parents, staff, and alumni to take this 8-day LGAT because they will be offering it right at the school.
