How was my post too pinball to track? My original post if you had read it at all was about the fact that factors like zero tolerance laws, kids being medicated earlier and for longer and other public policy decisions in the US are what contribute to the "need" for programmes. They both shape public opinion and make it easier for kids to be at risk. They also encourage the idea that rehabilitation of real problems should be punitive and that US kids are out of control when the statistics dont support this. I dont believe it even mentioned the parents of kids who went to programmes.
As to whether i have been to a programme, you are right, i have not. I also have not been to Abu Ghraib or guantanamo bay but i do believe organisatons such as Amnesty international and the red cross when they say that there is abuse.
But as you want a case study of a standard "teen industry" programme in the US lets look at Academy at Swift River. Perhaps you can explain to me the therapudic value of some of the policies which Dave marcus outlined in What it takes to pull me through. Afterall in his preface he claims that when he went to the school it was an industry leader. Here are some questions that book raised with me.
Why did a boy who was in for impulsive behaviour continually get "banned" from hanging out with a boy who was known for being mature and calm. Surely this is a friendship they would encourage. What was their paranoia about kids like DJ and Tyrone developing friendships?
Why would they send a girl with an eating disorder on a rigourous wilderness programme. Rudy Benz had discribed her as being dangerously thin.
What good interrogating Ashley did? While they finally forced her to admit to a sexual relationship with phil, the process of writing truth lists and confessing to all of her peers was so degarding that she threw herself in front of a car. Surely people who are experts with troubled kids would be aware that this kind of public humiliation could tip an emotionally fragile girl over the edge.
Aah. the dirts lists. Yeah that brings back memories. Mine was always incomplete for some reason. The staff always kept handing them back. "You missed something. You know what". Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn't. In either case, it didn't seem right to rat people out for pointless shit like "breaking bans" which could actually get them into real trouble. Most of the time they were just handing it back to see if they could squeeze out something more. By comparing the lists in group as they were being written, by a process of elimination, they were pretty effective in discovering just about everything that went on. Snitches were rewarded handsomely. It's a nice bit of ethics to teach kids.
In fact what is the specific therapudic benefit of truth lists and public confession at all?
You get them to "face up to their shit". That's therapeutic ... ish.. kind of:rofl:. They have to face the truth of what they did (or any rumor, which became truth after enough people wrote it down). So dirt lists teaches kids truth. Yes that's it. The virtues of truth and hearsay.
I'm not sure how much about dirt lists are understood but i'll explain why the programmers use it. In order to initiate proper reprogramming of the mind, the programmer must appear to have almost supernatural control over the environment, creating a "big brother" atmosphere where you feel you are being watched by informants all the time (and you were... you never knew what peers were writing down on their dirt lists. If they didn't have anything good, they would put down rumors). This type of "peer based" surveillance was commonly practiced in "communist" countries where almost a third of the entire population were informants. With dirt lists, it's worse, you never knew who you could trust, as even you were an informant.
If you, person A, knew about something, and person F wrote "person B kissed person C, and person A and person D saw it happen" you would have to do one of two things:
Option 1Write nothing, and hope nobody else did. Taking the chance that if they find out you knew about it, you would be in shit. Generally only level 1s took this option since Level 2s would lose their levels for that sort of behavior. Chances are the staff is going to hand the dirt list back as incomplete in any case. They like to do that to see if they can squeeze any more information out. Since you don't know whether or not Person A, B, C, D wrote down, or what is on person F's dirt list, you have to weight the probability that staff knows about the horrid act (kissing) and if they do, you might as well attempt to carry favor by writing down "I , person A, saw Person C kiss person B, person D was also there and saw it happen." You may ask, "Well how did person F" get to know about it. Well none of us ever knew exactly how either. Somebody had loose lips but you never knew who. If you kept denying things, and eventually even person B, and C confessed, you would end up being in even bigger trouble then they would be. It is at this point when you are fined up the yin-yang and given "work ethic".
Option 2"I , person A, saw Person C kiss person B, person D was also there and saw it happen." Hey. If you wanted to emotionally grow yourself up to level 2 you had to fuck some people over on the way. Eventually they would convince themselves that they were doing the right thing, "helping the others", by forcing them to "face their shit". Privacy was a non-issue.
The overall effect on the psyche of the kid eventually is.
"Well i guess i can't get away with anything, i have not privacy, i should just give in". Only you wouldn't succeed if you did that either, by the time you realized that out, you were Isolated from the rest of the student population for "spreading negativity". With this method they could instill a sense of powerlessness into a person and get them ready for "Friendship Workshop" / "Propheets" where they would place the final straw on your back so you would decompensate (see above link) and they could subesquently obliterate your sense of self.
The tactics of a thought reform program are organized to destabilize individuals' sense of self by getting them to drastically reinterpret their life's history, radically alter their world view, accept a new version of reality and causality, and develop dependency on the organization, thereby being turned into a deployable agent of the organization operating the thought reform program.
What was the therapudic benefit of making kids write lists of things wrong with them? (DJ)
Aah. The rap sheets. Therapeutic value.. lemme see. Well you got to discuss your issues in raps(group). If you didn't put down three "legitimate" "issues" on your rap sheet, staff would bring up a "legitimate" issue for you. Well I guess it taught kids to "face their shit"... It taught sexually abused kids how to talk about their experiences with "daddy" in public. Hmm. People got "called out" when staff thought they were not being forthcoming enough. Confrontation was encouraged. Hmm. I suppose that's therapeutic.
Why were all the kids strip searched when entering base camp, including those who had not done drugs? Afterall mainstream drug rehabs dont even do this.
Why? You never know when they might have a twenty dollar bill, or more in their sock. God forbid they decided to leave before the refund period.
How did ASR "help" Trevor. All the Smile bans in the world could not prevent him from "speedballing" on his first exeat weekend
In fact while we are on the subject of kids not helped ehat about tanner? he died in a drug overdose at age 20. Did ASR's brand of therapy help him? or his poor grief stricken father who ended up robbing a randon shop because his sadness tipped him over the edge.
Did forcing a girl with a devoutly Catholic upbringing to confess all of her sexual acts publically show a level of cultural sensitivity you would expect of a specialist programme?
Well maybe it.... Nope. I can't even find a sarcastic justification for that one. Yeah I saw similar disclosures happen more than a few times and I wouldn't exactly describe it as sensitive.
I would argue not. And i note it did not stop Bianca from getting pregnant 1/2 2 years into college.
And if this was one of the more sucessful peer groups, and Dave claims it was, then how much did the Academy help the other kids?
Which troubled youth programmes in Australia, the UK , ireland or Slovakia employ such methods? Also I am curious If you do know of such programmes in these countries are they for profit?
I don't know of any. Odd that. Wonder why there aren't any people on Fornits from those places. Hmm. Makes you wonder. Sorry for the long post. I would suggest letting the programmie continue to put his foot in his mouth. The more they type, the more they embarrass themselves. They are used to a less knowledgeable audience.
PS: I'm going on vacation for a week and might not have net access. If you need to contact me my cell has roaming.
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