a high success rate

[Anonymous]

"parent in crisis" quoted HLA's high success rate.
Will someone please provide an OPERATIONAL DEFINITION of this term, "success"??!!
Am I counted as a "success" for HLA because I'm personally successful and once  attended HLA??
I shudder to think.
Am I to beleive that every ex-student who has done something positive with their lives has done so BECAUSE of HLA??!!
Let us instead try IN SPITE OF HLA.
That is a much better fit.

Fact: criminals go to prison and learn how to be more effective criminals from other criminals. Hence the rate of re-incarceration.

HLA was no different and anyone brave enough will second that.

Just check out myspace if you don't believe me.
HLA took kids with temper tantrum issues and churned out adolescents who could use bread, flowers, banana peels, and even benadryl in a hypodermic needle (rest in peace, zb) in an attempt to get high.

I wish I were Stephen Colbert so I could proclaim the following:

ALL of the HLAmates I've gotten in touch with over the years smoke, drink and use drugs either recreationally or compulsively.
Some of them are also functional and successful.
So if the "successful kids" that comprise HLA's "success rate" are, in fact, drug users to a large extent, than how much of their success can possibly be credited to HLA and it anti-drug use policies?!!!
The fact is that HLA may have a certain rate of "success-as-yet-to-be-defined", but there is no chance that rate is any HIGHER than than it's graduates are.
And that's the word.

[Deborah]

The fact is that HLA may have a certain rate of "success-as-yet-to-be-defined", but there is no chance that rate is any HIGHER than it's graduates are. And that's the word.

Word. That was a good one.  :rofl:
I always wondered if incarceration at HLA only delays dealing with substance issues and excelerates use, post program.

I've read many accounts of kids who hadn't used drugs before, or had only smoke pot a few times, and some having never done either, getting way into drugs post HLA. Could it be a boomerang kind of effect? Over indulgence due to 'deprivation' or involuntary 'treatment'?

There are no unbiased, third-party statistics on 'success' or efficacy. But, if the average retention rate is what it's been stated to be, 40%, that speaks volumes. The only way we'd have accurate data is if every kid that attended was tracked, or as many as could be located.

I noticed on MySpace that there are a large number of kids who were kicked out just a month or two before graduating. Could that be because HLA didn't 'fix' them and they didn't want them messing up their internal stats? I would assume that only grads are included in the 'success' rate.
I also wondered how many of those kids were on Scholarship and their parents ended up having to repay all that scholarship money because they didn't complete the program.

I also noticed there's been a number of deaths post program. Maybe 6 or 7, as I recall. No suicides that I'm aware of, but that seems a large percentage of say 1,000 kids who may have attended. Seems odd.

[FunkyChild]

insert the voice of johhny lott:

boy, if you ain't gon' do the step work, you gettin' a fo day restricion.

real prestigious recovery program, eh?

[RobertBruce]

Case in point:

When I was there another kid told me a story involving him getting sick after drinking a bottle of crown. After the story was over I asked him, "What's crown?"

After escaping HLA I was well versed in crown and all other sorts of controlled substances.

[FunkyChild]

the success rate is just the percentage of kids that graduate.
they also state that all of thier seniors go on to college, the military, or to a university. but when a kid in my old peer group wanted to go to a two-year trade school, the councelors practically went ape shit and started making him apply to universities/colleges

[Anonymous]

I noticed on MySpace that there are a large number of kids who were kicked out just a month or two before graduating. Could that be because HLA didn't 'fix' them and they didn't want them messing up their internal stats?

Yeah, that and the fact that since they had already collected the pre-paid tuition upfront, there was no reason to keep the kids anymore

[Troll Control]

the success rate is just the percentage of kids that graduate.
they also state that all of thier seniors go on to college, the military, or to a university. but when a kid in my old peer group wanted to go to a two-year trade school, the councelors practically went ape shit and started making him apply to universities/colleges

Only 40% or so of registrants even graduate.  So this is a 60% failure rate before we even get into calculating 'success' of graduates.

[Anonymous]

The fact is that HLA may have a certain rate of "success-as-yet-to-be-defined", but there is no chance that rate is any HIGHER than it's graduates are. And that's the word.

I also wondered how many of those kids were on Scholarship and their parents ended up having to repay all that scholarship money because they didn't complete the program.

Scholarship :rofl:  :rofl:  ::bwahaha2::
what an absurd concept. isnt the whole point of a scholarship to take a kid who is an asset to the school or the best at something. What is the entrance criteria? The worst behaved kid? meth addiction? mental illness?
or is it based on the parents behaviour? Is there a stepbitch IQ questionaire or just poot parenting "well JR forgot to feed the family dog so we shot it to teach him about natural consequences" Cant understnad why the kid is a shit @ 15.
The concept of a scholarship to a palce that it not quite a school an not really a mental hospital seems a hilarious oxymoron!!

[Deborah]

LOL....I believe it's financial need.