Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
Escuela Caribe ~ New Horizons
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2004-05-02 11:42:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Well, I agree that ISAC has good intentions, but do not feel they have taken a hard enough stand against the cottage industry of ed cons and independent referral services who are profiting from the lucrative business of "referring" (sic) kids into the greedy hands of the teen hurt industry.
Make no mistake, this is the #1 threat to every single pre-teen and adolescent in America. These folks are professional predators, IMO. "
--- End quote ---
Excuse me, I should have said they have taken NO STAND.
:roll:
Anonymous:
I teach at Escuela Caribe, and I believe your hostility towards our school is unmerited.
In regards to the "guilt by association" argument, Escuela Caribe is not related to Teen Help or any other organization. It is part of New Horizons Youth Ministries which runs our school here in the D.R., a campus in Merion, Indiana, and a summer academy in Ontario, Canada. We do not pay people to refer students to us; word-of-mouth is sufficient to direct interested parents to us.
I think you also misunderstand the type of students that we have here. These are not your typical well-adjusted (more or less) high school students. These students have already rejected a relationship with their parents and are involved in highly destructive activities (e.g., gangs, drug use or distribution, suicide attempts, living on the streets). Believe me, we want these kids to have a relationship with their family, and the "psychological disorientation" produced by "culture shock" is an important ingredient in helping the students to realize that they want to have a relationship with their family. We try to keep the environment as non-institutional as possible: students live in "houses" with houseparents. The key to success here is relationship and love. These kids (and families) have already had therapy (although we do that too), and it hasn't worked. We believe that it is through loving relationships that these kids will change. So we love them.
In recent years the moral situation in the D.R. has declined. However, our campus is not located on the tourist coast (where prostitution is still illegal, but tolerated), but up in the more conservative mountains. Students' interaction with the local culture is limited, but about once a month they will go on a service project, and once a week they might go into town for dinner or shopping. Students do not have unsupervised time to go out partying.
Hope this helps address some of your concerns.
Anonymous:
With all due respect, may we pleeeeeeease hear from a former student, perhaps even a graduate? Testimonals whether they be from owners, parents, teachers, admissions reps, or as in the case of the Bethel Girls Academy, even a neighbor down the road, simply do not hold any water.
As for the need to send kids to third world countries to shock them into appreciating "how good they had it at home", or as an integral part of a missionary style out-reach program, this is an argument that has been used ad nauseum by many programs such as yours.
Raising a teenager is not a project that requires a "village" to complete. Forcing them to love Jesus as the answer to "entitlementitis" or a drug addiction is not rehabilitation, is is indoctrination.
Let children come to find Jesus in their own way, and in their own time. Chaining them to a program (no matter how "unrestrictive") is not true salvation, it is coercion.
Anonymous:
I just came back from DR where I spent a week helping to build a new school for JCS (Jarabocoa Christian School) I had the oppertunity to... 1. work with an Escuela Caribe administrator
2. Have a grande tour of the facility
3. hear testimonials of 4 senior students
4. work side by side for 3 hours with one particular student who was escorted to Escuela Caribe against his will.
1, 2 The administration is very professional. They are bright, caring and loving. Infact, one of the site admins was a past student. They follow all the rules of the US and Canada based programs so this facility could exist in the US. The environmnet is safe secure but not a prison at all. If they run away, the folks in the town all help look for them and return them.
The rooms are all very clean, students are very well fed and appear healthy and clean. The classrooms are moders with a computer lab. Yes they work hard on the site, and earn each level raises based on behavior, academic achievement, leadership and treatment of others. Yes they are taught about Christ, and many leave non-believers, and many do choose to follow Christ. A person sometimes needs to be broken, before they can commit to real and lasting change.
3. I attended Church at Escuela Caribe and whitnessed the testamonies of 4 students who when on a local mission trip to another part of the island. There they administered medical aid, and fed and played with children who literlally live in a local garbage dump. These four students are changed. They belive in God, they see how thier behavior affected others, and themselves. They see the selfishness in thier lives, and clearly are better for thier experience. I think they have an excelent chance of staying on the right side.
4. When buildng the school (JCS) sever teens came over to help. I worked with this teen for several hours. He really was a hard worker. We talked at legnth about how he was treated, what he had done to get there, how he has grown. I was amazed how strong his resolve was to be good, and change is life. He new his weaknes and is working hard to overcome it. I was very impresed and listened very objectively. I was looking for "programed answers" but I didn't get them. I think I spoke to the real thing when we talked. I was skeptical but not now. He was also grateful that his parents did it.
I think this school is an excelent facility for kids that are on the wrong path. They even work with the parents alot. I think the saddest part is that so many parents let it get that bad where they had to go to this extream. Sure some kids just go bad, but I feel that most of the time, it is preventable if the parents trained thier kids well. If I had the need, I would send my own child there.
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2004-05-25 11:47:00, Anonymous wrote:
[snip]
The rooms are all very clean, students are very well fed and appear healthy and clean. The classrooms are moders with a computer lab. Yes they work hard on the site, and earn each level raises based on behavior, academic achievement, leadership and treatment of others. Yes they are taught about Christ, and many leave non-believers, and many do choose to follow Christ. A person sometimes needs to be broken, before they can commit to real and lasting change.
[snip]
--- End quote ---
No, a person *never* "needs to be broken."
Not ever.
Breaking a person is the difference between conversion (to any religion) by voluntary persuasion and conversion by the sword.
The programs are the 12-step cult's radical fanatic fringe of conversion by the sword.
Any religion in the process of practicing conversion by the sword is an unlovely system.
Nobody "needs" to be broken. Conversion by the sword is, always and everywhere, no matter what religion practices it, WRONG.
A religion is any deeply emotionally held belief system about the nature of existence and what each person should do about it.
Some religions have as one of their tenets of faith that they are not a religion.
I want every 14 year old to know that he *right now* has the legal right to refuse to leave the United States regardless of his parents wishes or who his parents have hired to "escort" them.
I want every airline flight attendant or cabin personnel, and every skipper and crew member of every ocean-worthy boat, and every border patrol employee, to know that any 14 year old US citizen has the right to refuse to leave the country, regardless of his parents wishes or who his parents have hired to escort him.
I want every airline flight attendant or cabin person, every skipper and border patrol person, every escort employee, to know that if they assist in moving a person over 14 across international boundaries against that person's consent that they *will* be prosecuted in federal court for violating that teen's fundamental civil rights (in the case of government employees) or kidnapping (in the case of skippers, pilots, flight attendants, and escorts).
And yes, since the law says the 14 year old has the right to refuse, *if* the 14 year old refuses to leave the country, the escort forcibly taking him across the border is at that moment committing kidnapping.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'd bet money the justice dept. could make those cases stick---and certainly the teen has a cause of civil action, and has two years after his 18th birthday before the statute of limitations runs out for bringing that suit.
(I'm not a lawyer, this is not specific legal advice.)
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