Do you think it's possible to have a therepuetic environment, and at the same time teach respect for authority? This is the question I ask myself a lot. Many kids at CEDU don't have serious emotional problems, they just have absolutely no respect for the authority of their parents so their parents automatically think they are crazy because they won't listen to them or do what is asked of them. A kid at CEDU is their for not cleaning his room. Another was raised by a disabled mother and has no respect for authority, but is very emotionally stable. Then there is very emotionally unstable kids who cling to every word that staff says. If someone is emotionally unstable and disrespectful, it seems they end up in lock down or wilderness. I am not that experienced in this field, but I would like to ask you, Manchester, or anyone. Is there a balance? Is it possible to teach both? Is this the problem inherent in the CEDU system? Some students don't ever listen to staff and end up on consistent work assignments or dishes given to them by the variety of staff they disrespect. After a while, it becomes normal to them and they don't care even more than they didn't before. One student had 72 nights of DRC. Would it be better if we did not have this power? I, myself, don't use it as much as most. When I first started working, I didn't use it at all. It was only when people started to disrespect me and literally treat me like shit, that I began to give consequences. I don't think that they treated me like shit because I was an asshole though. It was just the fact that I was "staff". A part of the system. Is there a difference between punishment and consequences? I don't think so. CEDU does.
At CEDU I am both friend and enemy. I am doctor and executioner. I don't think it's possible to fill all of these roles. Everybody does there own thing. Some staff are relaxed, some are stern. Some hand out work assignments for minor infractions and others get nothing for doing the same thing. No amount of training sessions can change this. The inconsistency is inherent in the system and the system is that if staff says it, it's right. They learn what they can get away with from whom, so if they are rebellious most of their time is spent trying to do that. I can think of at least 10 kids that just need old fashioned discipline. An idea instilled in them that life isn't always going to go their way. We have every kind of kid at CEDU. We have normal teenagers who experimented too heavily with drugs. We have rapists avoiding jail and girls that have been raped. We have selfish spoiled brats who have gotten their way their entire life. We have firestarters. We have seriously suicidal teens too. We have anti social computer junkies. We have kids from foreign countries. We have kids whose parents are there for them and kids whose parents are not. We have a cornocopia of problems and one system that is convinced it can solve them all. That is the real problem of CEDU.
