Lawsuits and complaints against Hyde School?

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools

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Anonymous:

--- Quote ---On 2006-05-10 17:26:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I did a search on hyde:

zero results

Maybe there search engine sucks

Sue"

--- End quote ---

Here's one message about Hyde that unleashed an intense exchange of private emails about the school. I don't have access to the private emails: http://www.strugglingteens.org/cgi-bin/ ... 1;t=000645

Anonymous:

--- Quote ---On 2006-05-10 17:51:00, Anonymous wrote:

"
--- Quote ---
On 2006-05-10 17:26:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I did a search on hyde:

zero results

Maybe there search engine sucks

Sue"

--- End quote ---

You didn't look closely enough. Hyde is in there."

--- End quote ---

Here's more information about Hyde from the Internet (book review at Amazon):

More to Hyde than what is written..., April 5, 2005
Reviewer: Hyde Student (Hyde School) - See all my reviews
I am a current student at the Hyde School. I saw this book on amazon.com and immediately thought that I should post a comment on what I felt and truths behind the philosophy and how it is taught.

I recall hearing a statement that someone believes Hyde is viewed by many as something along the lines of a cult. It is true; many students have used that metaphor many times, including me. They believe that they are always right, and there is no way around it. Their philosophy is great; the views and things they try to teach the students are dead-on and I barely have any complaints about them. HOWEVER, they go about teaching them the wrong way. Example: There is a prinipal at Hyde that they call "Brother's Keeper," which is defined as holding eachother to their best. This idea is a great idea and should be practiced, however students should not be penalized and given severe consequences for such petty incidents such as being with someone who is wearing a hat inside a building. They go about dealing with students using profanity by making them do pushups rather than actually seeing the reason behind the profanity and seeing if there was, infact, true justification for it's use.

Example of a severe consequence? "2-4." I believe it stands for 24 hours in a day, in which a student is put on "2-4" for an indefinite period of time. While on "2-4," a student is not permitted to talk to anyone else in the school except for faculty, not allowed to eat hot food on the lunch line (bagels, salads, etc. are allowed), rake leaves/shovel snow/clean all the buildings (depending on the season), and must attend "5:30's" every day. What is a "5:30," you ask? It is when a student is required to be inside the gymnasium at 5:30 in the morning in order to conduct a workout. These include suicides (the type of running, not the taking of one's own life), laps, pushups, situps, wall-sits, and basically every form of physical work you can think of. I have been on "2-4" for weeks at a time because Hyde dean's THOUGHT that I had broken rules and still had them on my consciense, which I clearly did not. I am scared to use my real name on Amazon, my grade, what year I am in at Hyde, or even which campus I am at, because I would most likely be put on "2-4" for attitude and have to deal with multiple confrontations about something along the lines of a "rebel attitude."

I apologize because it seems that this is turning into a whole complaint and argument against Hyde, which is not my intention. This is not the place for that. However, I am just trying to portray some things regarding Hyde that you may not know of by just reading Joe Gauld's (whom I have had the pleasure of meeting, as well as his son, Malcom Gauld) book. I have lived this book for long enough to know what I am talking about.

Basically, my advice is to not look at this review and say "Hyde must be full of bs" because Hyde is far from it. Their views are great and their philosophy is great, but the way they teach it to their students is way too off. I suggest reading this book if you have children and carefully looking at all of the ideas and philosophies in the book. However, I suggest NOT teaching your children those ideas in the ways that may be described in the text, but rather using your own ways and seeing what works on your child, because no technique will work for everyone. Hyde's techniques have worked on a select few individuals in my school (I'd say around 7 out of over 200), and I have seen more negative results than positive results.

Anonymous:

--- Quote ---On 2006-05-10 17:26:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I did a search on hyde:

zero results

Maybe there search engine sucks

Sue"

--- End quote ---

Here's more Internet commentary on Hyde (from Amazon):

Hyde Way or the Highway?, March 31, 2005
Reviewer: Sunshine "aaprima" (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews
Much of what the Gaulds try to teach us in this book was inspired by the teachings of Malcolm's father, Joe Gauld (see his book, "Character First: The Hyde School Way and Why It Works"). The original book about Hyde talks in depth about the "Ten Priorities" for developing good character in your children. A few of the ten are, "truth over harmony", "attitude over aptitude," "principles over rules."

The problem I find with this book is the authors' "one size fits all" strategy for resolving students' and families' issues. In a perfect world we could apply these principles at home, as the authors suggest; we could have the prescribed "mandatory fun" within the family, and "fix" our families' dysfunctional patterns. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world and in this sense the authors' framework is unrealistic. Regrettably, the authors do not acknowledge the many well known failures at Hyde.

The authors take pride in how many students enrolled at Hyde are accepted to four year colleges. They do NOT, however, disclose to the reader the percentage of those students who actually graduate from college. As the parent of a former Hyde student I personally saw a large number of graduates at Hyde who did not succeed in college; many clearly had difficulty surviving in the "real world" after leaving Hyde's very controlled (and controlling) environment.

In addition, the book fails to acknowledge or discuss a very significant percentage of Hyde students: adopted children. Many of these students struggle at Hyde and do not respond well to the school's "one size fits all" program. Interested readers would do well to read an alternative book such as "Parenting the Hurt Child." This book will teach you how to love, praise, be patient and consistent with your child.

The Gaulds' book should also be supplemented by "Parenting a Teen with Love and Logic." Although I believe many of the exercises in the Hyde book are good, it concerns me that the Gaulds believe that all problems within a family are based on "character flaws." As we all know there are many psychological disorders with which struggling teens are diagnosed. These complex emotional struggles cannot all be corrected by the Hyde method explained in this book, although I do believe many character flaws can be addressed by the family involvement embraced by the authors. During my family's time at Hyde I saw many students at the school who had eating disorders, were suicidal, bulimic, violent, or addicted to drugs, yet the book's naï¿½ve premise is that if students can work on themselves and their parents will work on themselves, all will be well! This is not only untrue, it is extraordinarily risky, especially at a time when violence in schools is so common. Some students struggle with genuine mental health problems that need to be treated as such.

Yes, read the book and get out of it what you can, but don't believe that this book provides an accurate portrait of Hyde. Also make sure your child is not missing out on the proper health and emotional care that comes from high quality mental health professionals.

Anonymous:
Five post that lead to a furry of private emails does not really look like a huge out cry on the net. Show me an I will believe. A book review on amazon? To quote Miles "So what?"

Sue

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