Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Ridge Creek School / Hidden Lake Academy
Methods and Techniques
Antigen:
--- Quote ---On 2005-04-25 06:11:00, Anonymous wrote:
We need real services in the community that these kids can turn to though, and a humane, relevant public educational system.
--- End quote ---
Can you give an example of a humane and relavent public school system? Cause the one we've got is not that. It's based on the Prussian model; same philosophy that left Germany so ripe for exploitation by the Nazis. Here's a good read on that. http://www.educationreformbooks.net/
I think you're working from a couple of faulty premises. First, that kids are disordered and in need of repair and second that the public sector is the answer to everything.
Virtually all kids resist schooling. That's why we have so many layers of rules and traditions to compel attendance. By definition, a kid that doesn't resist that insult is disordered, not the other way around. School failure and truancy are not pathologies needing treatment. If anything, they're signs of character and strength.
I laughed reading about all that is mandated by MA law wrt meeting children's educational needs. The laws of nature trump all regulation and legislation ~ always. There isn't the money to provide these services; there probably isn't the need for special services in most cases and, even if there were, the services don't exist. Great! If that ever works out, maybe we should mandate by law that water run uphill to eleviate flooding. If your kid is bored and distracted in school it only means they're paying attention and properly assessing the situation as boring and not worthy of their attention. It's not the kid who needs to be fixed.
What we need is not more layers of public sector tinkering, but a return to respect for individual sovereignty and voluntary cooperation.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein
--- End quote ---
Deborah:
Environmental- Do you mean the Health Dept? If so, I did contact them to inquire if they had given HLA permission for the 'restriction diet'. The headmaster told parents they had approved it, which was blatant lie. It is not within thier scope of services to do so.
ORS- I called ORS when HLA told me that wilderness programs were not required to have a license in Ga. There was an investigation which resulted in RC being licensed. They 'negotiated' with HLA and determined that they were a 'Specialty School' and didn't require them to be licensed. I think they assume that the Accreditation Associations which they are members of, monitor them. It's my understanding that those assoc's monitor the academics, not the health, safety, staff requirements, therapeutic model, students rights, etc.
ORS does not address abuse/neglect.
CPS- In order for CPS to investigate a parent has to be able to say definitely that there is abuse.
They weren't concerned that he was in an unlicensed wilderness program at the time, with staff who did not meet state requirements. I wouldn't discourage anyone from calling even if it's to report suspected abuse. I can't tell you what CPS would consider 'abusive'. So much of it is emotional/psychological, which is hard to prove.
DOE- At the time they weren't listed with the BOE (board of ed). I haven't checked in a while. Okay, I checked and they are not listed.
GAC- They are accredited with GAC as an 'Educational Agency with Special Purpose'. You can read the requirements here:
http://www.coe.uga.edu/gac/standards/educagencies.html
Anyone could certainly file a complaint if they know HLA is in violation. This is academic monitoring- not going to be particularly interested in abuse/neglect.
SACS- They are also accredited with SACS as a 'Secondary Special Purpose School'. You can read the requirements here:
http://www.sacscasi.org/region/standard ... nonpub.pdf
ACLU- Couldn't help. I did work with an HR organization. One of their staff helped me compose letters to certain politicians and government offices. No response - primarily because they were/are considered a private corporation, and as such have significant protection.
TX/Ga Offices of ICPC- HLA and most other programs accept children in violation of this federal law. Tx didn't even know how to interpret the law, therefore defered to Ga. Georgia claimed that HLA was a private boarding school, therefore exempt. This, inspite of all the information I provided to the contrary.
FBI- They will get involved if there is known abuse, and it has to pretty bad.
Lawsuit- It is not wise to discuss this on a public forum. There are several who are interested, have mentioned it. Many parents that have contacted me had hired attorneys to assist them in getting a refund of pre-paid tuition, but planned to just chalk it up as a mistake.
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2005-04-25 09:41:00, Antigen wrote:
"
--- Quote ---
On 2005-04-25 06:11:00, Anonymous wrote:
We need real services in the community that these kids can turn to though, and a humane, relevant public educational system.
--- End quote ---
Can you give an example of a humane and relavent public school system? Cause the one we've got is not that. It's based on the Prussian model; same philosophy that left Germany so ripe for exploitation by the Nazis. Here's a good read on that. http://www.educationreformbooks.net/
I think you're working from a couple of faulty premises. First, that kids are disordered and in need of repair and second that the public sector is the answer to everything.
Virtually all kids resist schooling. That's why we have so many layers of rules and traditions to compel attendance. By definition, a kid that doesn't resist that insult is disordered, not the other way around. School failure and truancy are not pathologies needing treatment. If anything, they're signs of character and strength.
I laughed reading about all that is mandated by MA law wrt meeting children's educational needs. The laws of nature trump all regulation and legislation ~ always. There isn't the money to provide these services; there probably isn't the need for special services in most cases and, even if there were, the services don't exist. Great! If that ever works out, maybe we should mandate by law that water run uphill to eleviate flooding. If your kid is bored and distracted in school it only means they're paying attention and properly assessing the situation as boring and not worthy of their attention. It's not the kid who needs to be fixed.
What we need is not more layers of public sector tinkering, but a return to respect for individual sovereignty and voluntary cooperation.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein
--- End quote ---
"
--- End quote ---
I agree with your source. The irrelevance and Prussian, drone creating industialized school machine IS what needs to be changed. I'm ok with dropping compulsory education laws and mere SEAT TIME requirements. That is 85% of my kid's problem, as it is for many. Kids become "disordered" - rebellious and turned off - from dealing with that crap.....Yet I do believe that some kids do have Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD, etc., and that we could be a little more accomodating and flexible with them at school instead of criminalizing them. If kids' needs are being met in a respectful manner, there should be no need to call the police.
Getting rid of compulsory education will require public participation on some level. In the meantime, there are civil rights laws that kids and parents can use to protect the kid. If kids must be there, then their needs should be met, and their education appropriate to their stengths and needs and interests.... or we could continue as a society to pack them of to jail, youth detention centers, or therapeutic boarding schools.
I think we agree that one of the roots of this crisis is what kids are forced to do or put up with.
Deborah:
Do you think it possible to have a standard outlining what childrens' needs are, like no more than X minutes sitting in a classroom.
I don't think they were considering kids needs when most schools eliminated mandatory PE class to squeeze in more academics, which some are recognizing as a mistake.
If a child has an IEP/ARD the district is required to provide their 'needs'. And here's how that can go:
My sister knew her son needed special accomodations- a quieter space to work and test. She bit the bullet and got him dx (ADHD) and drugged in order for his 'needs' to be met. He'd been on the drug for a while, only during the week, and had so many side effects that she took him off of it. Didn't mention this to the school, and no complaints from them.
At a recent ARD meeting they told her that they no longer saw symptoms of ADHD and that he would no longer receive special accomodations. They suggested that his 'problems' were 'behavioral' and he would benefit from being mainstreamed.
The psychologist (not psychiatrist) disagreed- he saw symptoms of ADHD and depression- and told her she needed to put him back on meds. She asked if he'd accompany her to the next ARD meeting and present his professional opinion in order that her son may retain special accomodations- where he was doing very well, btw.
He said he couldn't, he would have to defer to the teachers observations and the ARD's decision.
She went to the principal with her complaint. He agreed with her and overrode the ARD decision.
He is not taking the drugs, and is doing well.
Antigen:
--- Quote ---On 2005-04-25 11:39:00, Deborah wrote:
"
Do you think it possible to have a standard outlining what childrens' needs are, like no more than X minutes sitting in a classroom.
I don't think they were considering kids needs when most schools eliminated mandatory PE class to squeeze in more academics, which some are recognizing as a mistake.
--- End quote ---
No, I don't really think you can set such a standard for all kids. Really, I dont' think you could set such a standard for one individual kid. Human beings, like most other creatures on this planet, are seasonal creatures. Some of us are thrilled to till a garden in the spring, but happy to quit that and move on to something else pretty shortly. When I was a kid I went through various phases. Sometimes, I couldn't force myself to do one more page of stupid repetative schoolwork (busy work) but, instead, wanted to talk and play and have fun. Other times I'd cloister myself w/ my books or binge on guitar or piano practice or biking or tinkering w/ various mad science projects w/ my dad or thinking of ways to turn a buck.
I have a deep seated envy of cultures that make play of work. I used to work for a small family restaurant. Every day, the dough had to be made. And that is boring work! But every day, the work was just a sideline to the event. It was a time for all of us to sit in the back, swap stories and jokes and such. Sometimes, it was about family business, in which case I'd be banished to the front to clean something or slice meats or some other necessary work.
It was just all so perfectly natural and pleasant; work and life and play running together and being indistinguishable from each other.
--- Quote ---
If a child has an IEP/ARD the district is required to provide their 'needs'. And here's how that can go:
...
--- End quote ---
I think your sister found a way to game the system to the benefit of her son. Good for her! But I don't think that's the ideal situation. I think the ideal situation would be to shut down the DOE and the entire public school system and quit taxing for them and let people seek their own education based on their own values and priorities.
Now, that said, the troubled parent pawns itself off as just what I've described. But they don't really provide. Just because it's not the public school system w/ their host of shrinks and pill pushers doesn't mean it's better in any way.
I think what we need is a epidemic of incredulity. Humans and other creatures have been bearing and rearing young on this planet for millions of years w/o any sort of professional assistance. It's the most natural thing in the world. Much of it comes pretty nearly automatically through instinct IF you give your own instinct and common sense precedence over dictates from on high.
That's all marijuana is, after all. It's just a plant, a common and easily grown one at that. In many cultures, its consumption was lawful for millennia. And in all that time, the bond between thugs, mayhem, murder and marijuana that we see today did not exist.
Dan Gardner, CanWest News Service
--- End quote ---
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