On 2006-01-15 19:04:00, Anonymous wrote:
"maggie maggie maggie...I am surprised that you take such a one sided view towards RMA. I'm not surprised as I understand you have a child in one of these schools. I am curious...will the next child go there...what about the 3rd and 4th child that you have? How many children will you send there before you realize that the problem might not lie with the child but with the parent?
You comment on Lon's website that the people on Fornits are very abusive. I feel that the most abuse comes from people attacking those that say that there were certain aspects of the program that are NOT GOOD FOR CHILDREN.
I find it interesting that the people that seem to have done well after RMA come to these boards in order to tell people that are having difficulties with what they went through to get over it. Why on earth would somebody who's life was so wonderously affected by the program even feel the need to look for it on the web...and why would they need to discount the fact that other peoples experiences were not similar to yours?
Try telling people about "boogies" experience at RMA...should he have been there? Should the school have done something else with him other than "warehousing" him. I mean really...isn't 4 years in a program long enough to realize that yelling at him in raps, allowing him to be abused by other students without any consequence and putting him on work details all the time wasn't what he needed?
If the school really cared about the students then here is a perfect example of where they went wrong."
THIS IS MAGGIE... AND YES, I READ THESE POSTS. BUT I DO NOT POST. I STUMBLED ACROSS THIS SITE A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH A VERY DIFFICULT TIME WITH MY STEP-SON. HE WAS SENT TO A WILDERNESS PROGRAM -- WHICH WAS A BAD CHOICE AND HE WAS ONLY THERE FOR ABOUT A WEEK. A DECISION I DO NOT NEED TO DEFEND TO ANYONE ON THIS SITE. AND, CONTRARY TO THE POST THAT CLAIMS TO KNOW ME... HE IS STANDING IN MY KITCHEN AS I TYPE... NOT IN A PROGRAM!!!!
ANYONE THAT KNOWS ME AND MY STORY BACK THEN AND EVEN NOW WOULD NOT THINK THAT I WROTE THE POST ABOUT THE "PUKE ON ME" AIR BAND!!!! IT MUST BE SOMEONE FROM MY PEER GROUP, THOUGH, BECAUSE I REMEMBER WHO MADE UP THAT BAND AND ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE IS DEAD. ANYWAY... I WAS AT RMA FOR A LONG TIME. AND THOSE OF YOU THAT KNOW ME, KNOW WHY. SOME OF US DID NOT COME FROM LOVING, SUPPORTIVE FAMILIES. SOME OF US DID NOT HAVE A PLACE TO GO AFTER GRADUATING. I WAS 16 WHEN I GRADUATED IN DECEMBER OF 1987!!! I WAS ONE OF THE YOUNGEST STUDENTS THAT THEY TOOK BACK IN THOSE DAYS. I WAS NOT ALLOWED HOME EVEN AFTER I GRADUATED! SO, I STAYED... AND THEN A FEW MONTHS LATER WAS ASKED TO LEAVE WITH NO NOTICE. I WAS TOLD I HAD AN HOUR TO LEAVE, LITERALLY WALK DOWN THE ROAD... BECAUSE I WAS NOT FOLLOWING AGREEMENTS!TALK ABOUT BEING FUCKED UP... I HAD GRADUATED!!!!! IT WAS HORRIBLE. A VERY BAD CHAPTER IN MY LIFE.
THOSE THAT KNOW ME WOULD ALSO KNOW THAT I AM NOT A PRO-RMA PERSON. I AM A PRO-RELATIONSHIP PERSON AND VALUE SOME OF THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT I MADE BACK THEN. ALTHOUGH I NEVER EXPERIENCED OR WITNESSED ANY PHYSICAL ABUSE, I DID SHARE IN THE EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL ABUSE. YOU KNOW WHAT??? IT SUCKED!!!! IT WAS REALLY SHITTY!!! IT SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? I AGREE THAT THERE WERE SOME GOOD TIMES, TOO. I DID MAKE SOME GOOD FRIENDS THERE. I DID LAUGH. I HAD SOME REALLY FUN TIMES. I HAVE ALSO WITNESSED SOME REALLY GOOD FRIENDS GET SCREWED UP AS A RESULT. I CAN NOT FIND ONE PERSON NOW... SHE MEANS THE WORLD TO ME... BUT, FRANKLY, I THINK SHE WAS FUCKED UP BECAUSE OF WHAT SHE EXPERIENCED AT RMA!!! I KNOW OF SOME OTHER FRIENDS THAT I HAD BEEN CLOSE TO THAT ARE NOT DOING WELL AS ADULTS NOW. IT HURTS ME.
WERE ALL KIDS MEANT TO GO TO RMA? NO!!!! "BOOGIE" DID NOT BELONG THERE! IT WAS SAD... SOME OF MY FRIENDS DID NOT BELONG THERE. FOR ME... I AM GLAD THAT I EXPERIENCED WHAT I DID. SOMEONE SAID IN A POST I READ, IT WAS WHAT IT WAS (or something like that). SOME OF US DON'T KNOW ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY... IT CERTAINLY WAS A BETTER PLACE THAN THE HOUSE I GREW UP IN... THE PLACE I DID SUFFER PHYSICAL ABUSE... IT WAS BETTER THAN THE LOCK-UP I WAS IN FOR 6 MONTHS! IT WAS BETTER THAN THE JUNVENILE HALL I WAS IN!!! AND I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT OTHER OPTIONS I HAD. CERTAINLY, NO ONE ELSE WAS STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE.
BUT MOST ON THIS SITE ONLY SEE ONE SIDE. HOW SAD FOR YOU. I SEE BOTH. HAVE WITNESSED AND EXPERIENCED BOTH AS A STUDENT AND AS A PARENT! AND I AM NOT AFRAID TO SAY OTHERWISE. I HAVE NO REASON TO HIDE BEHIND SOME STUPID SCREEN NAME OR "ANONYMOUS".
MAGGIE
