On 2005-04-01 12:20:00, Anonymous wrote:"I, too worked at a school like this. I don't know if you will read this but if you do I just want to thank you for helping me put words to two things: that these types of schools harden hearts and change the people that work there for the worse and also that the word sadism is descriptive of what is occuring. This all really is a spiritual battle! "
In desperation I sent my child to a similar school to "save his life" as there was no help & support for him in the community. I was suckered by the slick promos and other parents into believing I was hocking our futures for integrated, whole child, developmentally appropriate education and treatment in a prestine environment that would allow child to pull back from self destruction and HEAL-- like the old "moral treatment" era before the advent of the big state institutions . I would have NEVER considered a "boot camp"-- a program that tears down to supposedly rebuild. I thought I was getting a program that built on positives and accentuated the gifts & strengths of the child. What a nightmare the reality turned out to be!!!! FOOLISH, FOOLISH ME!!! I "pulled" child. Hey, in jail or a mental lock-down you still have civil rights and due process. AND, the big parent hook, DEATH & SUICIDE? It became clear that these were issues in the prestine wilderness, too. At least the time-out, so to speak, was beneficial & gave me a chance to search out some alternatives in the community. Our communities need help and programs to support keeping a child home who is in danger of needing a restricted treatment environment!!!!!!!! There are lots of exposes of youth detention facilities (jail) and of other treatment facilities, too....Everything is so fragmented in the community!!!!!! Well, I agree with everything you have said here and my experiences left me wondering if all emotional growth boarding schools are fancied up boot camps.Thanks for sharing your truth. Maybe somebody's desperate parent will think twice. I don't know what else I could have done at the time, but EG boarding school was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
