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« on: February 11, 2012, 04:31:17 PM »
Alright, here goes. I am currently attending Shortridge Academy, run by a certain Mr. Adam Rainer, former attendee of Rocky Mountain Academy, and currently hires Don Vardell (this man pops in and out of therapeutic boarding schools all the time) and Amy Fuller, former CEDU employee. Well, I'm glad to say I have not been horribly physically abused, like in most schools, and am currently pretty comfortable. This, combined with the other posts defending Shortridge must make it look like Shortridge is a good place. Nope.
Although not abusive, Shortridge has an unfortunate habit of being petty and intolerant, elitist and superfluously focused on their own traditions and dogma than practicality and help. I'd like to share my story to see what you guys think, and I hope this sheds some light on yet another CEDU clone. Any questions that I can answer about Shortridge, I will, since I don't really know what you guys want.
tl;dr: I go to shortridge, and I can answer questions about it if you need me to.
Well, my story starts Nov. 3, 2010 on a wednesday close to noon. I was checked in by a man named Frank, he was somewhat old, and as I watched, a very good liar. Ironically, I have always been interested in psychology, and as a result, can identify the various speaking techniques upper administration uses on parents. Consequently, he fed me some bullshit about how the school was, and I proceeded downstairs. I was moved in to my room, which has six kids in three double bunks per room. The living conditions are small and sparse, but MUCH better than some stories I've heard, and am grateful for that.
tl;dr: Living conditions fine, but still not exactly suitable for six kids per room and 24-30 per dorm. quite unsanitary
Now, three times a week we have "group" which is not really therapeutic. We mostly sit and talk about how great Shortridge is, and we also cover problems kids are working on, but these problems are always short-term conflicts produced BY LIVING AT SHORTRIDGE. Its never something like: "I have a drug problem, how do I avoid negative coping skills", its "This kid in my room doesn't like me", or "I would like to call out this student for breaking this arbitrary rule".
tl;dr: Group therapy accomplishes nothing, as we focus on pointless short-term conflicts that don't get into issues students were sent away for.
Other things this school does is workshops. Now, workshops have changed drastically since I first arrived at Shortridge sixteen months ago. However, nothing important has changed. All the workshops are designed to do are simply get kids to like Shortridge and their friends at Shortridge, and disassociate themselves from their friends at home. Workshops happen around once every three months or so.
tl;dr: Shortridge uses workshops, which do not do anything but encourage the separation from outside friends and focuses on how great Shortridge is.
Now, Shortridge has a three Phase System.
Phase One: No outside contact besides one twenty minute phone call to parents. that's it. No home visits, and can only leave on off campus visits after being scheduled by school with parents. Parents cannot bring friends to see the student. Phase One students cannot go to their rooms without permisson and supervision without an upper Phase student or staff.
Phase Two: A student can apply for Phase Two after their four month mark. They should have been through at least 2 workshops at this point. "Achieving" Phase Two gets the privlages of home visits and e-mail. Let me interject and say that because of my attitude at Shortridge's program, I have been a Phase One student for FIFTEEN MONTHS. I have been home once, for one Christmas. Let me tell you, its quite purgatorial.
Phase Three: At this point, Phase three students have been here for at least nine months. Of course, it is rare for more than three Phase Threes to be attending the school. In Phase Three, the student gets to watch movies on their computer, gets longer visits, and can be at the dorm unsupervised for one hour a night. Of course, Phase threes are often "mini-staff", and will NEVER break a rule.. They have been completely conditioned by Shortridge, and will support their "sancticity" for the rest of their lives, I'm sure.
tl;dr: three phases, each unlocks what amounts to bread and circuses. No visits for Phase Ones. No outside contcact, either.
Consequences: Shortridge has a very consequense based system. As a Rage against the Machine fan, I think of it as "fear is their only God". you see, we students do our own dishes, and staff will only do clean for us if a lot of parents are visiting the school for a day, which happens two to three times a year. If you break a rule or are late to class, you could be given a "Dish Crew", where you have to do a clean job. Not to bad, but monotonous. As a result of too many dish crews, plates are often covered in food from the day before. If your offense proves disrespectful enough to staff where further punishement is nescessary, or a manipulative student dislikes you enough, you'll get a "WORK PROJECT". Work projects consist of manual labor, and oftentimes involves pointless work like moving some rocks somewhere or cutting down and splitting wood for fires that we don't need. Of course, I've heard that students have also worked on staff houses on campus, like a free labor crew. This happened before I arrived, however.
tl;dr: consequences are too long and pointless, often giving students a chance to manipulate staff into consequensing undeserving students
That's it, at least for now.
Well, sorry about the unexpected essay, but I figured someone might find it useful. My story is pretty much the same as every other student, except that my parents have sided wit hShortridge, which means after I graduate high school at Shortridge (who is narrowly holding on to its accreditation) I will be homeless and jobless because of Shortridge.
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