Will Smith's new school has shades of Scientology
Categories: Celeb parenting, Behaving badly, In the news, Playground bureau, Education
Actor Will Smith has turned in his homeschooling hat and is helping fund a school he feels will meet the needs of his children and others, called New Village Academy (NVA), which sounds like a great thing.
There's only one teeny little catch, Scientology is never mentioned but hints of it abound on the NVA website. My antennas went up with this passage:
Upon completion of a subject chapter such as in math, the teacher sends the student to "Qual", where he/she is given an test in various forms. If the student scores anything less than 100%, the Qualifications teacher will sit down with the student and go over the part of the exam that was not fully understood and make sure the student understands all of the words and concepts in the chapter. The teacher will also make sure the student did not skip any concepts which would inhibit learning. This is done to help students so that they gain 100% certainty.
If a student is having difficulty in class in a particular subject, the teacher may send the child to Qual for assistance in finding out why the student is not progressing. Qual staff will intensively work with the student to determine what is going on and work with them one-on-one until they have grasped the subject matter and are ready to move on.
Celebrity website Celebitchy did some digging and found that five out of the seventeen teachers listed at NVA have completed Scientology courses, the language arts program uses the literature created by Scientologists and used in the Scientology-run schools for children of their members, and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's concepts, key phrases and unique words abound on the school's website.
Even the school's mission statement: "We believe that an individual's survival and prosperity are inextricably bound to the rise and fall of his or her family, social groups and humankind." mirrors Hubbard's statement on ethics: "Dishonest conduct is non survival. Anything is unreasonable or evil which brings about the destruction of individuals, groups, or inhibits the future of the race."
Educating your child according to your religious beliefs is fine and something that parochial schools do on a daily basis. However, parochial schools clearly state that they are a religious organization and what that particular religion is, usually in the name of the school. Not mentioning a school has ties with Scientology is pretty awful and doesn't do much to dispel the rumors of Scientology being a cult.
It's also not the way a legend should behave, Will.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jessica 5-21-2008 @ 11:06AM
UGH! I absolutely adore Will Smith. I worried this was happening. To each his own and all......but Scientology is creepy for sure.
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dzappone 5-21-2008 @ 11:33AM
I personally don't have much respect for Scientologists due primarily to their cult like techniques and lack of, well, science. I'm more of a Humesian radical skeptic myself so my personal issue with the whole concept, like anyone cares, since I'm not Will Smith or anyone remotely famous is knowing something with 100% certainty. This is a setup. It's impossible to know anything with 100% certainty not matter how much you want to believe it. The universe is an uncertain place and our perceptions are limited. So saying that they work to get students to know something with 100% certainty is like saying we will have control of your child and they will be subject to our idea and concepts indefinitely because they will never know anything with 100% certainty. But of course a Scientologist wouldn't mind since it all seems to be about controlling others.
Holly 5-21-2008 @ 12:54PM
I'm not shocked since he hangs out with Tom Cruise.
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queenoqueens 5-21-2008 @ 3:23PM
I guess he's getting jiggy with Scientology.
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meredith 5-21-2008 @ 4:49PM
I am not so sure I follow why this is all so wrong.
I am not a Scientologist nor do I know much of their practices. (I tried to read the darn book but I found the first paragraph about not being pretentious horribly pretentious, ha!) But I don't think they are evil.
From the paragraph printed above, it sounds like a great place to learn and get encouragement and one on one evaluations on learning. I also suspect that any parent sending their child to an 'alternative' school has done the research in to their background. If not, shame on the parents, no?
So whats the big whoop?
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dzappoe 5-21-2008 @ 6:58PM
Well here's one of their practices for you. If you go in to take a personality test at one of their centers I guarantee you will have some sort of problem that only they can help you with. After which you will be pressured to come to meetings and join the Church of Scientology.
I wouldn't say they are evil in the diabolical sense. In the manipulative sense, yeah.
As for schooling techniques I think the Montessori method is extremely effective in inducing children to desire and enjoy learning but they don't make them 'do' anything. I don't think there is an issue with children progressing in the Montessori method. they progress because they want to. There are no Quals (which smacks of typical cult like behavior where someone is taken out of a social environment placed in a situation with where their thoughts can be manipulated) which seem to indicate that the teaching methods are not so effective in that they feel something like a Qual is required because a child isn't progressing. And there is no one at a Montessori saying you have to be have 100% certainty. You can't be 100% certain about anything and teaching that you can will only lead to disappointment when you discover you aren't 100% certain.