Why Great Boarding Schools are Like Cults | articlereference.net

With the myriad of boarding schools available for parents to consider sending their children, it?s important to think about the critical factors as they apply to each individual child. At the same time, there are boarding schools built on universal pillars of educational excellence that surpass traditional public schools by far. Primarily, a great boarding school should be cult-like.

Parents might be alarmed at the idea of sending their children to a cult-like school, and rightfully so. The mass media have traditionally cast cults in a negative light, conjuring images of hypnotic mind-control, unhealthy rituals, and demanding the abandonment of family loyalties. This is not the kind of cult referred to here. A healthy cult does not function by instilling fears and phobias into children. Instead, a cult builds a culture on a set of strong values that typically run counter to average groups of people. In short, excellence is not average by definition. Therefore, it is necessary to create a culture that rises above average by design. Only a cult is capable of producing excellence in a systematic manner, and so a boarding school for boys or girls will only produce excellent results if it functions like a cult does.

The reason why a cult structure is necessary is simple; a cult defines its culture by isolating its members, to a degree, from ordinary people. It can be observed that excellent performers in any field tend to mingle with other excellent performers. This is not an accident, and it can be replicated with every single student. The reason why many students leave public schools only to enter into mediocre or low-paying jobs rests with the fact that public schools are not designed to create a culture of excellence. Any average student, regardless of race or background, can become an excellent student. The most effective and proven way to accomplish this effect is through an immersive boarding school environment, where students learn to think and speak using the language of excellence. It is language that separates a cult from an ordinary group of people.

A dangerous or destructive cult uses the language of fear to define its values. A strong and healthy cult uses language of striving and expansion. Bad cults are like criminal gangs; they engender psychosis in otherwise normal people. Good cults are more like professional baseball teams: welcoming, but demanding. They instill the drive to achieve great results in otherwise average people. Cults are neither inherently good nor inherently bad. They tend to create highly focused individuals who think differently. It might also be said that a bad cult uses brainwashing to manipulate the minds of its members, whereas a good cult empowers students to recondition their own minds by their own choice.

When evaluating prospective boarding schools for your child, take a look at the way students stand and conduct themselves. Watch the way they make or avoid eye contact. Observe their posture and listen to the way they speak. If the school is cult-like in a healthy way, you will hear a consistent degree of genuine confidence in the air. You will observe the students moving in sync, but not too much so. A red flag to watch out for is mechanical behavior. If the movement of students seems too tense, or too rhythmic, this is a sign that a boarding school may be employing unhealthy conditioning techniques.

Content distributed on behalf of Oak Creek Ranch Schools with their express permission. All Rights Reserved 2012.

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A good boarding school teaches students how to think for themselves. A bad one robs them of the ability to think. If you are considering entrusting an institution with twenty-four hour care of your child, be sure that you can tell the difference.

The Oak Creek Ranch School is a boarding school in Arizona that provides learning solutions for children of all ages.

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