School of Shock

wow... I haven't watched the video yet, but that article actually scared me. It annoyed me that it was written in such a way that tried to force an emotional response, but regardless of how it was written, I honestly think it deserves one.

...I'm strongly reminded of the Island of Dr. Monroe.
 
Totally not humane for children. I don't even know how I feel about shock treatment for adults. The simple, brutal fact is that behavioral reconditioning DOES NOT address the inner turmoil of the person nor ever seek to resolve it. The person will almost always end up worse in one way or another. AT BEST, it may be argued that the threat of punishment forces the 'victim' (not patient ;) to seek a greater level of introspection to solve his/her own problems...But this effect has been shown to be at such a low level that it's simply a horrid manner in which to fix behavior and is easily not worth the amount of people who suffer and 'do not' ever find such introspection and help for their inner turmoil. This fails any Utilitarian approach and any Deontological approach as well.
 
Mostly the threat of punishment just makes people more cautious or cunning when committing crimes.
 
I am appalled. On so many levels.
 
What I find horrible is that people seem to think shocking the crap outta kids will change their emotional/mental/behavioral problems. Let's take traumatized kids and get them to shrivel into themselves with the onset of even more traumatization! That sure sounds like a fix!
Uh, no.
In fact, that'll probably turn them into sociopathic serial killers. You do not attempt to fix instability by practically attacking kids....
 
I don't view what this program is doing as an attempt to deter crime, or criminal behavior (i.e. the comments regarding crimes). I view this as misguided experimentation equating to torture on helpless victims of their medical conditions!

The facility, which calls itself a "special needs school," takes in all kinds of troubled kids–severely autistic, mentally retarded, schizophrenic, bipolar, emotionally disturbed–and attempts to change their behavior with a complex system of rewards and punishments, including painful electric shocks to the torso and limbs.
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How many of these are "behavioral" conditions? Most, I believe, would be considered intellectual or cognitive disabilities, which medical science seems to believe to be physical in origin, or the result of natural or induced (i.e. overvaccination) chemical imbalances. I have not done the research but my instinct tells me that many of these conditions probably do not allow for much in the way of long-term behavioral modification, especially if the only stimuli they respond to are pain and/or terror!
Intellectual disability can start anytime before a child reaches the age of 18 years. It can be caused by injury, disease, or a brain abnormality.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/mr3.htm#causes
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What I'd really like to know is who is monitoring this program for effectiveness, and how many of the taxpayers realize they're funding a program that many would view as highly radical.
The Rotenberg Center, which has 900 employees and annual revenues exceeding $56 million, charges $220,000 a year for each student. States and school districts pick up the tab.
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Now, I did go on to read more about it, and this appears to be the "other side" of the story:
Rotenberg is full of children who will run up and hit strangers in the face, or worse. Many have severe types of dysfunction, including self-mutilation, head banging, eye gouging and biting, that can result from autism or mental retardation. Parents tend to be referred there by desperate education officials, after other institutions have decided they cannot keep the child."
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Which makes me consider that, since I have never personally experienced this, I should reserve judging these parents too harshly, since I can not personally imagine the depth of their helplessness or know what avenues they may have explored prior to turning to Rotenberg. I do wonder, though, how negative stimulus can be applied effectively to what sounds like mostly impulsive behavior. How to you provide shock therapy to a child who has run up and slapped a stranger in the face? Is this a temporary training facility, and later, in the real world, parents run around with a bigass backpack containing a fully charged EST unit and wires and clamps and something for the kid to bite on or something just in case a child does something "dysfunctional"?

It really wouldn't be my choice. And it's a really unfortunate name.
 
This is the one of stupidest things I've ever seen.

...and bee stings flippin hurt!
 
ZenCat said:
I don't view what this program is doing as an attempt to deter crime, or criminal behavior (i.e. the comments regarding crimes). I view this as misguided experimentation equating to torture on helpless victims of their medical conditions!

How many of these are "behavioral" conditions? Most, I believe, would be considered intellectual or cognitive disabilities, which medical science seems to believe to be physical in origin, or the result of natural or induced (i.e. overvaccination) chemical imbalances. I have not done the research but my instinct tells me that many of these conditions probably do not allow for much in the way of long-term behavioral modification, especially if the only stimuli they respond to are pain and/or terror!
What I'd really like to know is who is monitoring this program for effectiveness, and how many of the taxpayers realize they're funding a program that many would view as highly radical.

Now, I did go on to read more about it, and this appears to be the "other side" of the story:
Which makes me consider that, since I have never personally experienced this, I should reserve judging these parents too harshly, since I can not personally imagine the depth of their helplessness or know what avenues they may have explored prior to turning to Rotenberg. I do wonder, though, how negative stimulus can be applied effectively to what sounds like mostly impulsive behavior. How to you provide shock therapy to a child who has run up and slapped a stranger in the face? Is this a temporary training facility, and later, in the real world, parents run around with a bigass backpack containing a fully charged EST unit and wires and clamps and something for the kid to bite on or something just in case a child does something "dysfunctional"?
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Good thoughts.

This quote from the article was so revealing to me...It would be great to see how people interpret it:

Michael, now 19, suffers from mental retardation and severe autism. These days, when he comes home for a visit, Marguerite carries his shock activator in her purse. All she has to do, she says, is show it to him. "He'll automatically comply to whatever my signal command may be, whether it is 'Put on your seatbelt,' or 'Hand me that apple,' or 'Sit appropriately and eat your food,'" she says. "It's made him a human being, a civilized human being."
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BTW, Michael wasn't diagnosed with any mental retardation/disability before the 'treatments' began...
 
I interpret that as the future of parenting. Why bother with drugs when you can permanently traumatize you child into compliance?
 
"It's made him a human being, a civilized human being."
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Sounds more like a trained piece of live stock.
 
logan235711 said:
Good thoughts.

This quote from the article was so revealing to me...It would be great to see how people interpret it:

BTW, Michael wasn't diagnosed with any mental retardation/disability before the 'treatments' began...
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I know people who have their dogs trained that way. But not mine. It would be too cruel, especially when there are painless alternatives.

*grind molars*
 
logan235711 said:
Good thoughts.

This quote from the article was so revealing to me...It would be great to see how people interpret it:

BTW, Michael wasn't diagnosed with any mental retardation/disability before the 'treatments' began...
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That kind of made me sick thinking about it. I...wouldn't wish that on anyone, and I don't know how anyone could stand working in a place like that...
 
This is just sick.
 
I heard somewhere that a controlled enforcement (like a small sting) can help improve behavior issues but this is plainly wrong.

My teacher wanted to have a system to shock us (only a sting) all the time when we are sleeping in class or do something stupid... just to teach us a lesson.
 
I wanted to have a system like that in school too. But it wouldn't just be a sting.
 
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