concerned-parent wrote:.
For me, the most shocking thing I have read in this forum was the account of the boy who was caned for not going to his philosophy group (youth group?) the previous evening.
Without wanting to sound insensitive to those people that have suffered at the hands of the teachers at St Vedast and St James, I have to say that as a parent today, with children at St James, I am more concerned with the emotional and psychological abuse that many have gone through in the past and that which may still exist at the school today. Corporal punishment does not exist in the schools today or at least I am unaware of it, if it does. However, it has come to my attention of an incident of a young child being smacked with a ruler on the hand by an assistant teacher in the past month. From what I hear apologies and the promise of this never happening again were given and lo and behold everything carries on as normal. Having read 'The Secret Cult', corporal punishment may have been abolished, but not much else has. The book written all of those years ago bears startling similarities to the schools and their ethos today.
It goes without saying that one should follow the spiritual path that one chooses out of their own free will, this is not the case for those attending the schools today. It is clear that children are being forced fed ideas and thoughts in a drip drip fashion. Most of those children are unaware of this as this to them is normal schooling, they know nothing else. Unfortunately many parents themselves are unaware of the teaching behind the schools and what these teachers stand for and believe in. Many I am sure know nothing of the SES and its manipulation and tight reign on the school, its head teachers, teachers and so on. What is the effect on our children today? What will the effect be ten years from now?
More often than not the parent asking legitimate questions about their childs education is treated with indifference or made to feel inferior and ignorant. Parents of the junior school were not even told about the inquiry until a few days before the report was published. Farcical meetings then took place two weeks later at which only a handful of parents showed up. These meetings were given by the junior school headmaster and one of the governors. Those parents that had the courage to stand up and ask pertinent questions were quickly put in their place by the comments of those SES members obviously deliberately placed there to stand up for the school. Needless to say no questions asked about some of the more negative aspects of the SES were answered, and the headmaster for all he was worth was at times condescending and at worst totally ignorant of the anger and legitimate concerns that some parents had. Meanwhile at the back sat the deputy headmaster taking notes...(God knows what for).
As a parent I feel totally confused, scared, angry, sad at the lack of morality and truth at the schools today. What do these schools stand for? Everyone is frightened to talk to anyone else for the fear that they may be an SES member. Meetings take place secretly between parents in order to find out the truth. What is the truth though? What exactly is the purpose of the SES and the St James schools?, Is it a cult? Is it some form of hybrid religion? Are the schools really being investigated by the authorities? The answers to these questions when posed to the school headmaster is a resounding NO.
Everyone drops their children off in the mornings and picks them up with big smiles plastered over their faces...seemingly nothing is wrong, every thing continues as normal. But behind the facade lies a deadly and corrupt enemy.
quote error fixed - mike