Hell On Wheels, I hope you'll stick around or at least skim the topics from time to time. I think you probably do have a great deal of common ground w/ repentant former staff. A lot of people say they're afraid to say too much about CEDU. I believe them. But I think the most important part of the story is made up of the sort of things that are not going to draw any lawsuits or death threats.
The headline makers are all about horrible overt abuses that anyone can plainly see are wrong and illegal. The response to those is usually denial, excuses and/or distancing the corporation from the chosen scapegoat. Those kinds of headlines are one common thread in the industry. But nobody in the industry sets out to kill or disfigure the kids. I think, for the most part, they're true believers. And when you guys describe in detail the day-to-day methods they use to force their ideology on others, then we can all see some other common threads.
These are the reasons why the overt, life threatening abuses always come about under these circumstances. That's what people need to understand and, for the most part, they don't. Once you have somebody convinced that we're talking about a "bad kid" here, then the rest just washes off. They really don't give a damned what anybody does to a "bad kid", especially if the parents are for it.
So, for practical purposes, the most important issue to bring to light is the intake process. I don't know if you youngin's fully appreciate this or not, but when we were young (I'm damned near 40) and, moreso, our older brothers and sisters, the kinds of things that land kids up in trouble w/ the law and/or shipped off to reform school would have only drawn a detention or maybe some heavy labour in the back yard when we were kids! Maybe a good 2 weeks grounding and loss of allowance, but nothing like what some of you guys get for the most minor infractions. When my dad sent me off for smoking pot, he had never smoked pot and was really afraid of it.
Parents who send their kids off today for smoking pot (or for getting caught at it), they are most likely among the majority of people our age who smoked pot when they were your age.
So, if you don't mind, I'm very curious to know the personal stories of how kids land up in these places. I can infer some from the recruiting material. But there's nothing like actual history to tell a story.
On 2004-04-22 18:12:00, Hell on Wheels wrote:
Now I have no problem with talking about shit that went on over our heads and behind our backs, it confirms our suspicions, and opens our eyes a little more. That is good shit, taking a peek at the staff and corporate dirt lists so to speak.
This is important to. I don't care so much about forgiveness and appologies. I really do tend to believe people who talk w/ their feet. Makes life real simple. But understand that CEDU is far from unique. It's very similar to the other Synanon based programs in a lot of fundamental ways. And, even when people set out w/ the best of intentions to create a kinder, gentler Program, it always seems to turn out the same way.
So maybe we can shed a little light on how that happens.
Every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid."
--Alexander Hamilton
