Character First: The Hyde School Way and Why It Works

[Anonymous]

"Tough Love: Abuse of a type particularly gratifying to the abuser, in that it combines the pleasures of sadism with those of self-righteousness. Commonly employed and widely admired in 12-Step groups and treatment."
-- Charles Bufe

Does this sound like anyone you know? For those of you who have not gone to Hyde, this is a description of Joe Gauld which is what makes Hyde very scary. He learned these tactics while going through AA and introduced them as part of the culture at Hyde School.

TTBOMK Joe never went to AA.  His wife, Blanche , was an active alcoholic in the years that I was there.  He was going to alanon an made a trip to hazelton during my tour of Bath Me.  this was in the mid seventies. so the founding of hyde pre dates his involvement with the 12 based programs, which i might add work for about 10% of alcoholics.

Exactly right! Joe was involved in AA programs whether for his wife or himself.  AA seldom works, just like Hyde seldom works.  Hyde is good for one thing.  It provides structure that some parents are incapable of giving their kids.  For the time the kids are at Hyde, they are in a structured environment which is helpful.  For some kids this structure can help them temporarily, for others it does no good.  

What frightens me the most is the lack of education at Hyde.  I hope they have improved their system since the 90's, but when I was there, the lack of educated teachers was appalling.  I don't think Hyde should be calling themselves a "college prep school" because it just isn't so, and I think it is unfair to mislead families into believing their child will get a good education.

[Anonymous]

"Tough Love: Abuse of a type particularly gratifying to the abuser, in that it combines the pleasures of sadism with those of self-righteousness. Commonly employed and widely admired in 12-Step groups and treatment."
-- Charles Bufe

Does this sound like anyone you know? For those of you who have not gone to Hyde, this is a description of Joe Gauld which is what makes Hyde very scary. He learned these tactics while going through AA and introduced them as part of the culture at Hyde School.

TTBOMK Joe never went to AA.  His wife, Blanche , was an active alcoholic in the years that I was there.  He was going to alanon an made a trip to hazelton during my tour of Bath Me.  this was in the mid seventies. so the founding of hyde pre dates his involvement with the 12 based programs, which i might add work for about 10% of alcoholics.

Exactly right! Joe was involved in AA programs whether for his wife or himself.  AA seldom works, just like Hyde seldom works.  Hyde is good for one thing.  It provides structure that some parents are incapable of giving their kids.  For the time the kids are at Hyde, they are in a structured environment which is helpful.  For some kids this structure can help them temporarily, for others it does no good.  

What frightens me the most is the lack of education at Hyde.  I hope they have improved their system since the 90's, but when I was there, the lack of educated teachers was appalling.  I don't think Hyde should be calling themselves a "college prep school" because it just isn't so, and I think it is unfair to mislead families into believing their child will get a good education.

Yes, when I was at Hyde the educational quality was sadly lacking.  Part of the problem is that so many Hyde teachers are young and inexperienced and many leave after a year or two.  You don't have the kind of experienced faculty most schools have.  Also, education isn't the big priority at Hyde.

[Anonymous]

Funny how a few visitors to this site trash Hyde's educational standards. There are kids who left Hyde, screwed up and fell on their faces, as with many/most schools. This individual is probably one of them (or a parent of one), and it seems much easier to blame someone else (Hyde) for one's own failure. I graduated there and along with ALL of my classmates went on to various colleges and did fine. Several that I know of have done graduate and advanced graduate work. Not sure where the disconnect is, but some folks here sure likes to paint a grim picture of Hyde academics, when it's just not true (except perhaps in their own case...).

[Anonymous]

Funny how a few visitors to this site trash Hyde's educational standards. There are kids who left Hyde, screwed up and fell on their faces, as with many/most schools. This individual is probably one of them (or a parent of one), and it seems much easier to blame someone else (Hyde) for one's own failure. I graduated there and along with ALL of my classmates went on to various colleges and did fine. Several that I know of have done graduate and advanced graduate work. Not sure where the disconnect is, but some folks here sure likes to paint a grim picture of Hyde academics, when it's just not true (except perhaps in their own case...).

 Don't mean to bash you, but if indeed you went to Hyde and if indeed you went to college, you invaribly would know that Hyde's education is practically non existent.  I excel in college now, but it was made much harder because I did not have a good foundation at Hyde.  My spanish teacher was less versed in Spanish then I was.  The head of one of the other depts barely got through school himself and was not qualified to be a teacher no less a department head.  I disagree with you that it is the students fault for not doing well in school.  It is necessary to have good teachers and the good teachers do not work at Hyde.  If we were lucky to get a decent one, they left within a year.  Why is it that teachers in the public school system stay until they retire, but at Hyde they don't last more than a year or two?  Please don't give me the typical Hyde lecture about Hyde being a tough place and you must be totally committed. If Hyde succeeded as they advertise, then they would attract good teachers from all over.  This is not the case at Hyde.

[Anonymous]

Funny how a few visitors to this site trash Hyde's educational standards. There are kids who left Hyde, screwed up and fell on their faces, as with many/most schools. This individual is probably one of them (or a parent of one), and it seems much easier to blame someone else (Hyde) for one's own failure. I graduated there and along with ALL of my classmates went on to various colleges and did fine. Several that I know of have done graduate and advanced graduate work. Not sure where the disconnect is, but some folks here sure likes to paint a grim picture of Hyde academics, when it's just not true (except perhaps in their own case...).

Don't mean to bash you, but if indeed you went to Hyde and if indeed you went to college, you invaribly would know that Hyde's education is practically non existent.  I excel in college now, but it was made much harder because I did not have a good foundation at Hyde.  My spanish teacher was less versed in Spanish then I was.  The head of one of the other depts barely got through school himself and was not qualified to be a teacher no less a department head.  I disagree with you that it is the students fault for not doing well in school.  It is necessary to have good teachers and the good teachers do not work at Hyde.  If we were lucky to get a decent one, they left within a year.  Why is it that teachers in the public school system stay until they retire, but at Hyde they don't last more than a year or two?  Please don't give me the typical Hyde lecture about Hyde being a tough place and you must be totally committed. If Hyde succeeded as they advertise, then they would attract good teachers from all over.  This is not the case at Hyde.

When I was at Hyde the teachers were a real mixed bag.  Some were very bright and dedicated; unfortunately, they didn't stay at Hyde long (I think they quickly became disenchanted with Hyde's overall model, about which they didn't know much when they took the job).  Other faculty were very weak.  I remember one history teacher who talked about how he had been a very poor student.  I had to laugh; he made many grammatical mistakes and just didn't seem to belong in a classroom.  Yet, he seemed to buy the Hyde belief system, so they were willing to hire him and put him in a classroom full of kids with problems.  So, I think part of the problem at Hyde is the glaring inconsistency in the quality of education -- it's not all good or bad, but there sure was some "bad."

[Anonymous]

"Tough Love: Abuse of a type particularly gratifying to the abuser, in that it combines the pleasures of sadism with those of self-righteousness. Commonly employed and widely admired in 12-Step groups and treatment."
-- Charles Bufe

Does this sound like anyone you know? For those of you who have not gone to Hyde, this is a description of Joe Gauld which is what makes Hyde very scary. He learned these tactics while going through AA and introduced them as part of the culture at Hyde School.

TTBOMK Joe never went to AA.  His wife, Blanche , was an active alcoholic in the years that I was there.  He was going to alanon an made a trip to hazelton during my tour of Bath Me.  this was in the mid seventies. so the founding of hyde pre dates his involvement with the 12 based programs, which i might add work for about 10% of alcoholics.

Excuse me for not being as smart as you, but what does "TTBOMK" mean?

[Anne Bonney]

Funny how a few visitors to this site trash Hyde's educational standards. There are kids who left Hyde, screwed up and fell on their faces, as with many/most schools. This individual is probably one of them (or a parent of one), and it seems much easier to blame someone else (Hyde) for one's own failure. I graduated there and along with ALL of my classmates went on to various colleges and did fine. Several that I know of have done graduate and advanced graduate work. Not sure where the disconnect is, but some folks here sure likes to paint a grim picture of Hyde academics, when it's just not true (except perhaps in their own case...).

Go on Myspace and search for Hyde Schools.  See what you come up with.  Most of them seem along the lines of this.....


 

Don't mean to bash you, but if indeed you went to Hyde and if indeed you went to college, you invaribly would know that Hyde's education is practically non existent.  I excel in college now, but it was made much harder because I did not have a good foundation at Hyde.  My spanish teacher was less versed in Spanish then I was.  The head of one of the other depts barely got through school himself and was not qualified to be a teacher no less a department head.  I disagree with you that it is the students fault for not doing well in school.  It is necessary to have good teachers and the good teachers do not work at Hyde.  If we were lucky to get a decent one, they left within a year.  Why is it that teachers in the public school system stay until they retire, but at Hyde they don't last more than a year or two?  Please don't give me the typical Hyde lecture about Hyde being a tough place and you must be totally committed. If Hyde succeeded as they advertise, then they would attract good teachers from all over.  This is not the case at Hyde.

[Anne Bonney]

and this....


i went to boarding school for 2 years in another small town called woodstock up in ct. it was a punk ass boarding school and totally sucked ass!! but now i'm in college and i love it!! i'm undeclared and i usually have no idea what i wanna do after school. it changes like every month. lol



And I'm still waiting for an answer as to how someone like this Larry guy can be allowed anywhere near the campus.

[Anne Bonney]

and this......




i lost my virginity there to. except to the secretary. katie richards, hahaha that was alot of fun. it was during one of those weekends where your parents come down and you do that boring ass therapy shit. got i hated it. i do miss the flying carpet and shit. oh and the barbeque chicken pizza. yummmm. oh other than that fucck hyde.

[Anonymous]

and this......

i lost my virginity there to. except to the secretary. katie richards, hahaha that was alot of fun. it was during one of those weekends where your parents come down and you do that boring ass therapy shit. got i hated it. i do miss the flying carpet and shit. oh and the barbeque chicken pizza. yummmm. oh other than that fucck hyde.

Well this certainly contridicts what the other poster said about most kids having a positive experience at Hyde.  Where can I go to find these posts about Hyde?

[Anne Bonney]

Myspace.  Do a search for Hyde.... one of them is Hyde Robots

[Anonymous]

From Hyde Robots



LOL havefun with that. it is depressing. I sware ... I was put on depression meds... You have limited contact with the outside world... I got yelled at when I talked to my parents on the phnoe in the dorm. Im outta there now but I was there for summer challenge and my 10th grade year.

[Anne Bonney]

This one gives a good insight into the mentality that is likely to come out of Hyde.  I'm assuming he's considered a "success".  He responded to someone's complaints about Hyde.



..... Stop ur bitching. Nothing makes someone worse unless that person just had it coming for them, so aparently you were fucked up enough to go to the school, and seeing for the fact you got kicked out doesnt say much on your half either..... No one "learns" to smoke pot at a boarding school. People learn to smoke pot because they have nothing better to do with themselves so think before you speak girl.

[Anne Bonney]

hyde sucks.... alot pf people who go there just get more problems.. i was NORMAL. now, i fucke din the head. believe me, it is okay for some, but the people who go there who are kinda normal, they just learn how to be a bad kid. not saying hyde hasen't taught me anything, like how to do homework and smoke pot, but for the most part, stay away from it. all you grads who are like, "yay hyde", it's changed big time. how do i know? even ask the grads that come back for a tour. you'll here stories of what it's been like.
my brother even knows that it gets worse as it goes along, and he's a grad. not worse as in the place sucks, but like the problems there. everywhere you look, kids are dirty. supposedly the problem is that hyde isn't "strict" enough, that people will sue if they take it to a boot camp level. but w/e i got kicke dout 2 times at woodstock, and my brother is this great hyde success story at bath. maybe it's just the campus, who knows?

[Anonymous]

hyde sucks.... alot pf people who go there just get more problems.. i was NORMAL. now, i fucke din the head. believe me, it is okay for some, but the people who go there who are kinda normal, they just learn how to be a bad kid. not saying hyde hasen't taught me anything, like how to do homework and smoke pot, but for the most part, stay away from it. all you grads who are like, "yay hyde", it's changed big time. how do i know? even ask the grads that come back for a tour. you'll here stories of what it's been like.
my brother even knows that it gets worse as it goes along, and he's a grad. not worse as in the place sucks, but like the problems there. everywhere you look, kids are dirty. supposedly the problem is that hyde isn't "strict" enough, that people will sue if they take it to a boot camp level. but w/e i got kicke dout 2 times at woodstock, and my brother is this great hyde success story at bath. maybe it's just the campus, who knows?

Thank you for sharing this cogent, literate information with us. This has really changed my thinking on Hyde.