Hi, I am glad to see that this issue is being discussed on the web. Where to start... I attended the Hyde school in Bath, Maine in the 90s and had many experiences similar to what tommyfromhyde had in the 70s. My parents decided to send me to the school after I was diagnosed as bipolar and attempted suicide the previous spring. The program promised to "build character" with "the five words and principles" through academics, sports, and performing arts. Besides the sports, I found the aspects of the program Hyde advertises to be quite lacking. The academics were very poor--especially the American history, math and science programs. History was a review of Jr. High, we did not do proofs in our geometry class, and did not balance any more than basic chemical equations (no acid base or redox reactions).
Hyde requires all of their new students to attend a 12 week summer program before entering for the fall term. During my summer at the school I witnessed many acts of both physical and emotional abuse, including a male student being forced to run three miles on a rough dirt road with a broken foot. Only after the run was he allowed to go to the doctor; when he came back he had a cast on for the remainder of the summer. In addition, they sent all of the "really bad kids"--i.e. the kids who were resistant to the program-- to secluded Sequin Island off the coast of Maine. I was sent there and had to clip a 1/2 mile long trail with garden shears, run up and down the same trail at least five times, move boulders 1' in diameter off of the beach, and swim out to a buoy and back in 50* ocean water. When I was allowed to come back to the school campus, I had pneumonia. The faculty at the school ignored all medical complaints from the students--many times resulting in the worsening condition of the child.
During the regular school year, I was disciplined for having sexual relations with my boyfriend (admittedly a bad thing for a 16 year old to do). Instead of addressing the reasons behind my promiscuous behavior (low self-esteem and feeling abandoned and unloved by my parents) they humiliated me in front of the whole school by publicly discussing my actions and setting me apart from the rest of the student body cleaning and participating in harsh workouts (called "2-4") in silence instead of attending my classes. Finally, after a couple of days I refused to participate further with my punishment, and just sat down.
The faculty responded by sending me out to the woods in a program called "outpost"--which is similar to, but not quite as severe as a wilderness program (they work you just as hard but feed you more than S.U.W.S., a wilderness program I attended in Idaho when I was 14). Besides going through further emotional abuse by the faculty member leading the outpost program, I was also deprived of my lithium, an anti-manic drug prescribed to me by my psychiatrist. This made me even more susceptible to their abuse.
In general, Hyde had a very backwards viewpoint on the advances in medical treatment of chemical imbalances, including medication and therapy. They did not monitor whether or not students took their medication, "forgot" to pack my medication both times they sent me to outpost (I was sent again in the spring), and made it very difficult for me to see a therapist off school grounds. In order for me to do so, my psychiatrist had to write a note to the school telling them I had to be allowed to see a psychologist and that their own visiting psychiatrist (who came three times a year) was grossly inadequate for an adolescent who recently was diagnosed as bipolar and had attempted suicide. Even after they reluctantly let me go, they sent me to a therapist of their choosing and wanted me to sign away my doctor-patient privileges, threatening that I had to do so in order to see the therapist. I refused. The faculty didn't push it for too long--we both knew it was illegal for them to require such a thing.
In general, the Hyde School in Bath, Maine participated in many cult-like practices. It was a totalitarian closed system with the head of the school as the sole authoritarian leader with the faculty as his minions. Since most of the FACULTY as well as students had had histories of emotional and/or drug problems, they were susceptible to being controlled through cruel practices of only being shown love, appreciation, and good will if following the "words and principles" as determined by the head of the school through the faculty. A false sense of student participation in the organization of the school was created by so-called "student leaders", who were given special status as long as they helped to spread the "words and principles" and confront students who questioned or did not follow the system as it was determined. These "student leaders" were instilled with the fear of falling from grace by the faculty if they did not do enough confronting and "narc"ing, or if they questioned any part of the practices of the school themselves. This system created an almost political maneuvering within the student body, where no real friendships or other healthy relationships could survive for long. In fact, each student lived in complete isolation and fear of being singled out by their teachers, councilors, and peers--further scarring them and making them even less prepared to work out their problems and become a productive and successful member of society.
In short, instead of giving a troubled adolescent with emotional and/or drug problems a supportive and safe environment to work out their problems while getting back on track emotionally and socially through success in acedemics, extracurricular activities, and social interactions with peers, the Hyde school did the complete opposite.
In the end, the Hyde School only left me one thing: the knowledge that I can survive at least a year in a cult.
