Suri Cruise's Scientology School Isn't As Freaky As It Sounds

on September 22, 2011 at 3:34 PM

scientology Poor Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are getting attacked again. This time, it seems, they've signed 5-year-old daughter Suri up for private school. Which sounds pretty typical for famous parents. But of course being the Cruises, this particular institution is a Scientology school.

And you'll have to forgive me from diverting traffic from the "OMG, Suri's parents are morons" train when I say this, but it doesn't sound ... that bad? Described as a co-educational, secular day school, the New Village Leadership Academy in Calabasas actually sounds pretty normal!

I poked around on their website and tried to see what was different from my kid's school. The truth is? Not a whole lot.

Suri's new school has "individualized reading" -- which sounds a lot like the "guided reading" method that my kid's public school prescribes too. Kids develop at their own pace. Ditto the "individualized math" program that New Village has. I found out just a few weeks ago on Meet the Teacher Night that my daughter's first grade classroom is piloting "learn at your own pace" math in her district. New Village even has some rules that make my nerdy heart swell like making kids look words up in the dictionary if they don't know them (rock on! high five!) and using the "real object" whenever possible for hands-on learning. That's just how homework gets done chez Sager.

Being private, of course, they have all sorts of things my poor rural school district doesn't, like iPads for the kids and technology instruction on individual laptops instead of making all the kids switch off in the same computer room. There's also a longer school day so kids have less homework and more time to hang with the fam.

So I've got ask, what's so freaky about this place? Because they let the kids use clay during the day, and no one gets a bad grade? OK, except ... my kid did art projects almost every day in kindergarten last year AND you had to majorly mess up to not get at least a "check" on your worksheet. Or is it because they have the kids chart their progress with a graphing system, which bores the people at LAist? Dudes, we moms have been using reward charts for potty training and reminders for chores for decades. Not that new, really.

And while the whole Scientology thing is a major turn-off, we see people sending their kids to religious-based schools all the time because it's the best educational option, even if the core religion sucks. I've got to tell you, if I had the money and lived in California, I think I might just send my kid to Scientology school with Suri Cruise. How about you?

Image via Anya_/Flickr

About the author Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. Diet Pepsi courses through her veins. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

Filed Under: elementary school, celebrity

Comments (27)

amandasmomma

on Sep 22, 2011 at 4:04 PM

Sounds fine.

Except for the Scientology part...

Report this comment

AngiDas

on Sep 22, 2011 at 4:17 PM

None of it is ok BECAUSE IT IS A CULT!! banging head into wall

Nonmember comment from sara

on Sep 22, 2011 at 4:31 PM

People send their kids to other religious schools so... Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. It's not a cult. Is catholicism a cult ?

Nonmember comment from zizi

on Sep 22, 2011 at 4:33 PM

This is stupid. I've read one interview with Katie in one of those fashion magazines and she said Suri is gonna be hoeschooled. All this drama with the school is made up. nothing you read on the internet is real!

CrimsonRain

on Sep 22, 2011 at 4:54 PM

Scientology is great at making things appear and sound normal. But get sucked in and you may just end up like Lisa McPherson, among many others.

Nonmember comment from Steve

on Sep 22, 2011 at 5:16 PM

If they did weird stuff at that school, do you think they'd discuss it on their website?

Nonmember comment from Observer

on Sep 22, 2011 at 6:09 PM

I just have to say, the school is not a scientology school. If in doubt, you probably should not believe everything you read. Just call up the school and make an appointment to do a tour! Try doing your own research instead of relying on the media! I've been there. It's a regular school. No smoke in mirrors. Just a cool school where students get to learn about their passions in life!

Nonmember comment from Dean Fox

on Sep 22, 2011 at 6:49 PM

The school uses "study tech" as devised by L Ron Hubbard the founder of the church of scientology. The school pays licence fees to the church of scientology so it's a way money gets in to the corrupt and corrupting organisation calling itself the church of scientology. (Should note I have nothing against the beliefs of scientology as practiced by an ever increasing number of Independent Scientologists.)

The study tech however is flawed because of the dogmatic way it sticks to it's primary tenet, that problems understanding concepts are down to words not understood in the text (misunderstoods).

A student can be told the must have misunderstood some word(s) in the text for all manner of reasons, from yawning to asking a question. A student with misunderstoods must define each word in the text including the kind of words we use but would be hard pressed to define like "a" or "it". When a student finds a word they cannot define they look it up. Now here's the rub, they must repeat the process for the definition too. Once they have understood the definition they must use the word in several sentences, for each definition if the word has multiple definitions. This becomes tortuous very quickly. The result is students learn not to yawn and worse to never ask questions - an important lesson when being indoctrinated.

Nonmember comment from dean fox

on Sep 22, 2011 at 6:53 PM

It may not be a scientology school but it pays license fees to the church of scientology to use their "study tech". A teaching system that suppress free thought and enquiry.

Nonmember comment from Z

on Sep 22, 2011 at 9:58 PM

Suri will never be forced into the Sea Org or basically imprisoned on a compound "volunteering" for the cause, every facet of her life controlled. That's only for the non-rich/non-celebrity adherents. Idiots like Cruise and Holmes are pandered and catered to while never being exposed to what goes on behind the scenes. It's sickly ingenious.