Many have speculated that the school Will Smith and her husband, Jada, are opening in LA this September is really a Scientology indoctrination center.
In an LA Times report , the head mistress of HanCOCK’s school basically says the Scientology school front talk is nonsense.
She says the school’s teachers are of all religions and that one of the teaching methods the school will be employing (‘study technology’) is erroneously attributed to Scientology. The school boss says, “People tend to think study technology is a subject, but it is really just the way the subject is taught. They then come to the conclusion that we are teaching Scientology when actually a methodology doesn’t have anything to do with content.”
The paper goes on to point out that critics argue Will’s school is not being honest about its links to Scientology.
David S. Touretzky, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, created a website that dissects study technology and asserts that in the case of the Smiths’ school, it is Scientology religion disguised as education.
The Prof said many phrases and concepts on the school’s website are specific to Scientology.
For example, the school lists a “Director of Qualifications” and another teacher who is an assistant in the “Qual” department. The “Qual,” said Touretzky, is where people who have completed a Scientology counseling, or “auditing,” session or a course in the Church of Scientology are tested by a qualifications teacher.
“There is no reputable educator anywhere who endorses [study technology],” said Touretzky, a critic of Scientology. “What happens is that children are inculcated with Scientology jargon and are led to regard L.R. Hubbard as an authority figure. They are laying the groundwork for later bringing people into Scientology.”
Ron Reynolds, executive director of the California Assn. of Private School Organizations, which represents primarily independent religious schools, tells the Times that all schools should strive for transparency.
“I know next to nothing about Scientology, but if you’re using some method or technology closely associated with Scientology and Scientology is characterized as a church or religious body, it raises a question if they proclaim themselves as other than religious,” Reynolds said.
He has not seen the school’s website but went on to say, “I don’t want to insinuate the school is failing to disclose anything. But as a matter of good practice, if a school has an affiliation, it would behoove it to expose it.”
If the critics are right, why do you have to be all shady, Will?
Did Tom put you up to this?
[Image via WENN.]