Whoa, WTF?!

[passionatefool]

that is so fucked up on so many level it isnt even normal. I would hate or distrust my parents for the rest of my life...and who the hell in their right mind does that?! i would have a heart attack if I was woken up to two unknown guy trying to kdinap me and send me to Jesus camp ....creepy cult shit.

[Ziploc Surprise]

Oh, my. I came on this thread a bit late. A school that does not publicly post it's address and the staff must have aliases should be illegal. It provides an environment for all sorts of illegal activity. Notice also the writer said nothing about outside regulators visiting the school. If these places exist lawsuits need to be filed.

[The Grand Nudger]

They shopped around for a state with favorable laws and moved there when they got into trouble where they started. If they're breaking any laws they're not likely to be obvious about it, and I know this is probably too much for some of us to consider...but they probably aren't breaking any laws.

[Violet]

I also can't help but wonder how much psychological care someone would need to recover from the likely PTSD involved. We're talking about 15-somethings here, still at an impressionable stage, being subject to isolation, food and sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, etc. as a matter of policy (never mind what goes on under the surface). I shudder to think how this could really fuck someone up for life.

More than a little...

Though I don't believe that adults are any less impressionable regarding isolation, food and sleep deprivation, solitary confinement (etc?)...

[Ziploc Surprise]

They shopped around for a state with favorable laws and moved there when they got into trouble where they started. If they're breaking any laws they're not likely to be obvious about it, and I know this is probably too much for some of us to consider...but they probably aren't breaking any laws.

Yeah, I know but I've had a lot of dealings with the regulations for daycare and nursing homes. Though abuses exist, these places get a microscope shoved up their ass on a regular basis. Some of these rules are ridiculous. For example in the state of Maryland for an in home daycare with more than about 7 children including the children of the day care owner, each child needs to have their own mat to nap on and their own sheet. If a child happens to fall asleep on a couch, the day care used to get dinged for this. In nursing homes the staff isn't allowed to call the residents little names like sugar, sweetheart, darling. They think it's demeaning.

How is it that day care's and nursing homes get regular ass rapings but these boarding schools get away with outright abuse?

---

I understand that they sort of take a military approach to reformation (which is why I think people turn a blind eye to the abuse) but If you look at it there are very few paralels between the situation that happens in the military and whats happening with these kids and their families. I will list a few of these differences:

1) Overall those who enter the military are (relitively speaking) well adjusted.
2) Those joining the military are adults therefore parental family dynamics have little to do with reforming their character.
3) Except when there's a draft, those joining the military do so by their own choice, which as I mentioned before, they made as adults.
4) From what I understand after the military "makes" a soldier they build the person back up again. The person has some amount of free choice and autonomy.
5) When it comes to troubbled children it is asinine to "fix" a child without "fixing" the whole family. Yes I understand that some children come out of the womb defiant but if you only work with a child and not with the whole family very little get's accomplished. Most of the time the parents need as much "fixing" as the child.
6) This is the most disturbing part. When the child gets demoralized, brainwashed, crushed (however you want to discribe it) what actually takes the place of what was before? How mentally healthy is a brainwashed person? Has anyone followed the graduates of these boarding homes to measure if they are behaving like mentally healthy people? Are these people able to make and maintain healthy long term relationships? Are they co-dependant? Are they able to not only keep a job but move up in a company. To prove that any program works requires long term studies. Is anyone doing this?

[Mister Agenda]

Well, clearly it's perfectly legal and the same people who stand up for this sort of thing would stand up for atheists parents sending their straying children to a military-style atheist indoctrination camp, so it's all good. ;(