Last August I was honored with the chance to participate in one of the most unique graduations I've ever attended as six students ended their journey with the John Dewey Academy (JDA) and moved into the thrills of "the real world." Although a therapeutic boarding school for troubled youth located in mid-western Massachusetts, JDA is one of the most "real" programs that exist today. Their peer-based approach allows students to learn what is expected of them while on campus and teaches them how to behave off campus as well.

The John Dewey Academy is a year-round, college preparatory boarding school for students age 15-21. Housed in Searle's Castle in Great Barrington, JDA is for adolescents of high potential who have made poor life choices. They are often referred to as jerks who continue to make bad decisions… not caring about others around them, especially their families. They lack motivation in school, their grades have slipped and they have often turned to drugs or alcohol, engaged in risk-taking behaviors, etc. School refusal is a common presenting problem. They typically have very poor relationships with their parents, siblings and grandparents or other extended family and use negative influences to fill the void of relationships. They are almost always anxious and depressed, and psychotropic medications have failed to address these issues to any meaningful degree.

The length of stay at John Dewey Academy depends on a variety of factors, including age at time of arrival, with a range of 18 to 30 months. Two years is the average. Students must commit to being at the academy and those who cannot or will not often find themselves in a wilderness program to help them through their resistance.

I understand the graduation ritual lasts approximately three days, during which family members come for parent/ family workshops. There is also an emotional/spiritual bonfire, time for graduates to leave campus with their families and primary group therapy sessions with all the non-graduating students and their families. I was on campus for the primary group sessions, went to dinner with a few non-graduating families off campus, spent the night in the castle with the students and then attended the graduate breakfast and graduation itself. This was a most impressive event.

As I arrived on campus, the graduates and their families were heading off campus for some personal family time. The rest of the families were headed into what the staff at John Dewey call Primary Group. I was glad to see Tom Bratter, Headmaster Emeritus, standing in the foyer of the castle as families separated into their groups. I later learned that Primary Groups are group with the student's primary therapist. Headmaster Ken Steiner and Dean of Students Andrea Esperat run the Primary Groups. Headmaster Emeritus Tom Bratter and Parent Liaison Lisa Sinsheimer co-facilitate groups for parents such as the Divorced Parents Group and the Senior Parents Group.

When I mentioned that JDA is one of the most real programs, I of course was referring to their no bull therapeutic style. Primary Group is one direct example. Ken led the group that I attended and his style was both full of compassion and reality. Students talk about issues, and their peers call them out on behaviors and ideas that aren't genuine. I witnessed a compassionate way of doing this the day I attended. One of the "rules" of confrontation (whether spoken or unspoken) was that if a student or staff called attention to a student's misbehavior, that person had to relate the behavior to their own life. An example, say I notice Sally is being manipulative and attempting to play her parents against the staff and I confront her in group. In order for me to validly confront her in group, I have to be willing to air my own experiences of manipulating my parents and explain what was happening with me when I was trying to create havoc. This strategy helps the rebellious student relate to other students and realize they're not alone in their issues and at the same time, helps the student create a peer group setting. It also helps the relating student remember what they've come through.

During Primary Group, one of the boys was "kicked out." He'd been at JDA only a short time and was not committed to working the program. His parents sat strong in the group and told him he'd run out of options, that he was going to a wilderness program because there was no way he could return home with his dysfunction. The boy pleaded that his parents let him come home because of this excuse or that. "It was too hard; he would change; he missed his room; he missed his little brothers." He was reminded by other students that he hadn't "been there" for his little brothers for quite some time and that until he fixed himself and his own dysfunction, he was truly unable to be a good big brother. He cried as reality hit him that he would not be returning home to waste his life. Toward the end of the weekend, this boy had had time to think about his situation and was keeping an open mind to going to wilderness with the possibility of earning his way back to John Dewey Academy. (I have since learned that this student returned in October to JDA and is now fully committed to graduating.)

We left Primary Group and readied for a parent dinner. Each undergraduate student (except the boy who was leaving) was responsible for setting up dinner reservations off campus for them and their parents. I went with several families as well as the parents of the boy leaving for wilderness. During dinner, I witnessed students explaining their backgrounds to this couple. One boy in particular had a similar story and related his experience to reassure them they had made the right decision. He answered any questions they had. One thing that stuck out to me is that these students had chosen a life of complete sobriety. They firmly and politely explained to the waiter that no drink menus would be necessary, and gently reminded one of the parents who considered ordering an alcoholic beverage that our table was a "drug free" table by choice. During dinner, I watched their body language, their facial expressions; I listened to their tone of voice. I was impressed by their level commitment and self-control. I was further impressed by their self-confidence and sense of pride.

After dinner, I returned to the castle and turned in for the night. Most of the staff had left the campus at 5pm and students were left in the castle without direct adult supervision, although an adult is on campus 24/7 in case of emergency. This is what is meant by a true peer-based approach. Students consult adult house parents when necessary, but they are clearly holding each other accountable. Because of the admissions process at JDA, and the fact that the students have to prove they want to be there, this approach works well with this population. I was able to observe the students, many of whom were unaware of my observation. This gave me a true sense for what happens in the castle when the staff is away. I was again impressed by the sense of community and self-control displayed.

The next morning I attended the graduate breakfast. All the students attended, dressed for a formal ceremony. All the faculty and staff were in attendance, as were the parents of the graduates. However, none of the parents of non-graduating students were invited. At the buffet style breakfast I was able to visit with the graduates and observed them giving back to their community in a special ceremony.

After breakfast pictures were taken and we left for the nearby theater where the graduation ceremony would take place. I was instantly transported back to my own graduation 17 years ago. Back when graduations from therapeutic boarding schools were small and personalized. This graduation produced a similar feeling. Each graduate was asked to speak and faculty and staff spoke about each graduate's journey. Parents came forward and shared their journeys. Undergraduates stood and shared their feelings and well-wishes for the graduates. There were many goodbyes, much laughter, and many tears.

Finally, there was an award ceremony where all deserving students were awarded with achievement awards they had truly earned. The class of 2011 was then presented to the audience. And at the end, six young adults stood before the audience, ready to spread their wings and fly off to prestigious schools (Vassar College, Wheaton College, Clark University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Carleton College), full of hope for a bright future and courage to conquer life.

Your recent assessment/review of some days in the life of a John Dewey Academy (JDA) commencement certainly "nailed" it. As the grateful parent of a prospective JDA graduate '12, I think you captured the heart and substance of this wonderful place that has helped to resurrect my son. He had graduated from high school with a 2.01 GPA, bombed out of his first year of college and whose very reasonable prospects then included jail or death. He had entered John Dewey as a very dysfunctional boy. Yet, through a great deal of hard work on everyone's part, he now, believe it or not, loves Nietzsche and is prospering in Advanced Physics. He will graduate JDA as a man recognized by the school and his peers as responsible moral leader. Yet the resurrection of my son is not the only fruit of JDA's "compassionate confrontation" and the rending dynamics of the fact that faculty, staff, parents and students all continue to be "in the struggle together". This "other fruit" comes from the required attendance at periodic parent weekends by all parents. These weekends have worked such transformation in my wife and myself so that we will be leaving JDA not only as better parents but also individually as a better husband, a better wife and a better person. Needless to say, our whole family is indebted to JDA in the most profound way.

You may use any or all of this letter in any way for the benefit of JDA.

Sincerely,
John Smathers (son John Samuel 2012)
judysmathers@gmail.com