Will Smith’s Stepping Stone To Becoming Scientologist, Opens New Scientology Elementary School
Will Smith is a philanthropist at heart. As one of the most successful actors in Hollywood, he and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, often donate sums of their wealth to what they consider worthy causes, including political campaigns and charities which help underprivileged youth. So news of Smith donating and helping found a new school dedicated to teaching children the fundamental building blocks of learning is hardly something shocking.
What is shocking is what we find at the New Village Academy. Scientology. And A LOT of it. Here’s a description of the school from NVA’s website:
New Village Academy is a Pre-kindergarten through Grade 6 (in 2008) independent school scheduled to open in Fall, 2008. Currently a home school, we are thrilled to announce that we have just secured a new site for our school! The site will be in Calabasas, California. NVA will be fully operational in the fall (September 3 is the first day of school) after we spend the summer moving in and making campus improvements. We are now accepting applications. Please contact the Head of School at NVA with questions about the school, our philosophy, mission and goals.
Not only will New Village Academy be employing “study tech” straight out of the teachings of science fiction writer and Church of Scientology found L. Ron Hubbard, but the Academy is also employing Scientologists to teach the children these unique forms of “study tech.” From NVA’s site on their curriculum terminology:
Study Technology – An educational model developed by L.R. Hubbard, study technology focuses on three principles. First is the use of “mass†(manipulatives and hands-on experiences) to foster understanding – children need to see and feel what they are learning about. Second is the attention to the “gradient,†which ensures sure students master one level before moving on to the next. Third is the “misunderstood word,†in which students master word definitions and are taught not to read past words they don’t know the meanings of in order to understand completely what they are reading and learning. NVA uses study technology as an umbrella methodology woven through the subjects.
Before I get into the specifics of the New Village Academy and their links to Will Smith, I want to point something out. Unlike much of Scientology and its otherwise cult-like activities, I’ve heard some relatively positive things about LRH’s “study tech” and “Applied Scholastics” programs. I recently spoke with two ex-Scientologists who used the tech and were taught in Scientology schools and while they had very little positive to say about the abuses of the Church and especially those who are stuck in the Sea Org (the most devout sect within Scientology) they did state the “tech” can help struggling students learn.
Essentially, the same technique used to brainwash members of the cult into turning their lives over Scientology, works wonders for helping children who have barriers to learning. Through the use of repetition and breaking down difficult subjects or words even, into their smaller parts, this allows children to understand concepts little by little, when it might be otherwise overwhelming to those with either learning disabilities, like say dyslexia (like Tom Cruise claimed to have before being cured by LRH tech) or specific mental block to a certain subject.
On the surface, this sounds innocuous enough. Much of tutoring and teaching is built around breaking down broader concepts into smaller parts, and certainly much of how we learn is through repetition. My issue isn’t with the “tech” but rather how it is applied and by whom.
Celebitchy, who did much of the legwork into this story, outlines the number of Scientology-ties linked to the school, and how Will Smith’s involvement is being somewhat hidden. The original story broke in the National Enquirer and now we have new information.
I was contacted by a member of the “Old Guard” in the anti-Scientology movement to look into this school more thoroughly and ask some specific questions. So, I did. I called the New Village Academy at their listed number on their website and identified who I was. A nice young woman named Keisha called me back and asked me to get in touch with their publicist, which just so happens to be Pat Kingsley.
Pat Kingsley should ring a bell as she was Tom Cruise’s publicist and is now Will Smith’s publicist. A small world indeed. I’m not sure why a children’s elementary school needs a publicist, especially the most powerful publicist in Hollywood, but if any doubts remained about Will Smith’s involvement in the NVA, this should remove them for you.
While I await word back from Ms. Kingsley’s office regarding some of the tech used at the Academy, my concern remains heightened as to why Will Smith, who consistently denies being a Scientologist, would then found a new “independent” school which has curriculum designed specifically around the “study tech” set forth by L. Ron Hubbard? And why there was a need to employ Scientology teachers (from Celebitchy article)?
Five out of seventeen teachers are easily identified as Scientologists:
Director of Learning: Tasia Jones
Education Enrichment Program Supervisor: Andrea Beckham
Director of Qualifications: Sigrid Burgett
Artistic director: Sisu Raiken
Teacher: Marcia Perkins
Teacher: James Oliver
Do these Scientology teachers have teaching accreditations? Is the school itself accredited to teach children? Will the tech be perverted into a subversive effort to direct its children and their parents to convert to Scientology? Will an e-meter be used as a learning accelerator? Will NVA be using word clearing methods 3, 7, and 9? Will students be taught how to assign a condition and apply appropriate ethics? Will they use clay table demos?
These are all questions I have for the NVA, I mean Keisha, I mean Pat Kingsley. I mean Will Smith.
Will, are you and Jada going to come forward and admit your are closet Scientologists who already are using LRH’s study tech at home? How long until you start “Sec Checking” your own kids to find out if they are PTSP, or “out ethics”? Hmm…Will, because inquiring minds want to know before we spend another dime on one of your movies which you will then turn around and donate to some Scientology-run “school” which brainwashes kids into disconnecting from their families.
Pink Stripe WordPress Theme Designed by Joni Mueller &
They need to just admit it.
Comment by k — May 21, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
great scoop, Dawn
Comment by fred willcutt — May 21, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
damn, d, i missed your entries. you were witty and generally an impressive journalist before the scientology shit hit the fan, but i think youve risen to the challenge in ways not many can match in print media.
kudos to you, dear woman. you make this blog worth reading.
Comment by meh — May 21, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Dear Lord,
slay this school before it destroys children’s lives.
Amen
Comment by tuffyt — May 21, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
From an excellent article explaining why “study tech” is NOT okay:
“There is a significant problem with Hubbard’s Study Technology.
Let me tell you what the problem is. It’s a big one.
First, a better name for Hubbard’s Study Technology is “Indoctrination Technology”. That may sound like I’m making some snarky comment and taking a dig at Scientology, but I’m perfectly serious. Hubbard’s study technology is very specifically designed by Hubbard as a tool for indoctrinating his students into his Scientology writings.”
The article can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/6mwsww
Comment by anonymous — May 21, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
An ignorant(although previously quite likable) man opening a school. Sad.
I’ve read his comments about education, including his own, continuing, and they are pathetic.
Save Willie!
Comment by marcab — May 21, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
A bigger issue (to parents) should be what they are getting out of this $13,000-per-year cult primer.
If the school is not accredited, any diplomas or graduation certification or OT levels there are worthless. Well, that’s not entirely true about the last; OT levels are useless even from accredited schools.
Study Tech/Applied Scholastics are not accredited anywhere in the USA that I know about; the program has been evicted/barred from most school systems. It can help some kids learn, but for most it holds them back and slows down their development.
Comment by Anonymous — May 21, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
If it’s going to be a Scilon school, they should just call it that. It sounds like a sneaky back-door kind of approach to injecting Hubbard into your children’s life. With all the media entheta of late, it’s no small wonder that they are trying to keep the affiliation low-key. But Pat Kingsley? WTF? Why would one of the highest paid image minders in Hollywood be representing a school in Calabassas? Good reporting as always. On another note, I just got back from my first trip to Chicago and I have to say it’s one of the most Scientology-free big cities I’ve ever seen—virtually no downtown presence like you see in SF, LA or NY. Just another reason to love the windy city.
Comment by Artoo45 — May 21, 2008 @ 4:29 pm
I’d imagine all the well-to-do acting coach parents who live vicariously through their children (I Know My Kid’s a Star, anyone?) will clamor to the NVA hoping to have a leg up during the casting calls because, afterall, their child was educated at Will Smith’s academy. All in all, it sounds like Derek Zoolander’s Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.
Comment by Anon, Anon, My Boyfriend's Back! — May 21, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
Why do $cientologists lie about everything?
Now they have Will Smith lying. I bet Will didn’t need to tell lies before he joined the cult.
Comment by Ben — May 21, 2008 @ 5:13 pm
Lovely article Dawn!
“We teach our children to be leaders and have a sense of ethics – to reflect on the choices they make and actions they take for themselves. If a child makes a wrong decision, instead of going to the principal’s office, he or she speaks to the ethics teacher.”
Sounds like sci to me…
And yes, they are going to do clay demos…
“Mastery can be tested traditionally with pen and paper, but often we prefer to have children demonstrate their understanding by creating models.”
Comment by Donovan Cook — May 21, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
Will Smith’s Scientology School uses L Ron Hubbard ‘Study Technology’. However, the other, non-Hubbard, teaching theories that the school claims to use were, I think, invented by educational psychologists. (http://newvillageacademy.org/_bin/curriculum/Glossary.cfm)
Mr Hubbard repeatedly wrote that psychologists are suppressive persons whose sole purpose is to enslave humanity, in complete contrast to Scientology. The product of Hubbard ‘Study Tech’ is a student who knows that that the definition of psychologist is ‘psychotic criminal’. Tom Cruise knows this, that’s why he’s so riled up.
Adulterating ‘Study Tech’ with psychology is a High Crime in Scientology.
If the school is using Hubbard Tech, its absurd for it to pretend to use psychology. Hubbard Tech and Psychology are IN NO WAY compatible, according to Mr Hubbard. Mission number one is to obliterate ‘Psychs’ (psychologists and psychiatrists), not go to their evil schools.
Accordingly, no scientologist should send their children to this school.
Wait a minute . . .
I wonder if the school’s claim that they are using these psychology techniques is just a front to confuse the public and give kids proper Scientology indoctrination.
Comment by Lex — May 21, 2008 @ 6:17 pm
I can’t understand why will is doing this at these times, when this is clearly a career suicide.
Comment by Scientology Official Site — May 21, 2008 @ 6:41 pm
The initials NVA have a particular resonance where I live in the former GDR. They mean ‘National Volks Armee’. The unfortunate members, both volunteers and conscripted, were told they were defending their land against evil. The system in the GDR, as manipulated by the leadership, corrupted the well meaning socialist ideals of helping your fellow man.
The poor misguided people in the lower ranks of scientology are similarly corrupted by the present-and former- leadership of their organisation, as they pursue the ideal of ‘clearing the planet’.
An obvious difference between Socialism and scientology is that Marx, the founder of modern socialism really wanted to improve the quality of life of people in general. Ron Hubbard on the other hand was just an old fashioned crook.
David Miscavige the present leader,after he made sure Hubbard died prematurely in the fashion of a Roman Emperor, continues the true traditions of his firm by lying and cheating in a manner that would be entertaining were it not dangerous.
Comment by Flour Power — May 21, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
For some reason, “Animal Farm” by George Orwell came to mind. Oh lol, I should really stop associating one with the other, honestly.
Comment by 9 — May 21, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
Wow, what an incredible group of reactions. Because study tech was developed by L. Ron Hubbard doesn’t make it valid or invalid. Just look at it on it’s own merits. Does it help students to learn? Are there any better techniques out there? Because this school uses it, and has hired Scientologists experienced with it’s application to apply it does not mean this is a “front” for some nefarious purpose. They are not hiding the fact that they use Study Tech, or that some of the teachers are Scientologists.
Comment by Merrill — May 21, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
Merrill:
NO. It doesn’t work. Students learn to shut off the ability to learn from anything but what they are TOLD because they learn not to trust anything but a source (the dictionary thing for example). Learning experientially and from context is part of learning to learn. So is learning to think critically, which is pretty anti-study-tech and exactly counter to what LRH wanted people doing.
And, of course, half of the methodologies listed on the curriculum page contradict the other half. Education people would notice that, but people who want to send their kids to a snooty private school won’t. Montessori and LRH are mutually exclusive. Multiple intelligences and LRH are mutually exclusive. Saxon math and learning math are mutually exclusive…et cetera.
Comment by twentythree — May 21, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
Yes, twentythree, Hubbard’s Study Tech is very flawed. It teaches children to read, duplicate and AGREE with the material. No thinking, no creativity, no questioning. It is an indoctrination technology (as an earlier comment mentioned), great for control, but really awful if you want children who can think for themselves, children who can think outside the box, children who are able to question authority, and figure things out.
The individual parts of Hubbard’s tech may be OK in a very limited sense, but the whole package is only good for religious, no-questions-asked, indoctrination.
Pay attention, these are children here! Learning to think is very important and this tech suppresses that.
Comment by Peter — May 21, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
Dawn,
Ask if they will make the students write knowledge reports (KR) and squeal on the other kids and parents?
Great story, thanks for all the work!
Comment by InnocentBystander — May 21, 2008 @ 10:35 pm
Dawn ROCKS!! my rocks.
SP LEVEL: Large F*CKING! pain in the ass.
I Love you.
Keep up those radio interviews, we’ll push this to the highest listened to Internet show.
I smell Epic WINS approaching in the breezes.
Keep up the good work everybody.
It all going to blow up in DM’s and OSA’s face.
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
Expect us
Parent’s must read: http://www.studytech.org/home.php
Comment by DM Longcat — May 21, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
The product is usually a reflection of the creator. This isn’t always true, but I’d hardly trust a guy who ordered his degree through the mail (thereby bypassing and devaluing the educational system) to in turn create a quality educational method.
Study Tech is drilling and repetition. This may help some kids, true, but if it is held to rigidly it stunts others. And also, as mentioned, it does not reward or encourage critical thinking, at all. The “leaders of tomorrow” should probably be capable of independant thought–at least, one would hope.
As far as its own merits go…getting tossed out on its ass in most school systems speaks for itself, really.
As far as the school as a ‘front’ goes–it has scientologists for an appreciable percentage of staff (and in high ranking positions at that), it pays a double-digit percentage to CoS front groups, and it derives a lot of its curriculum and techniques from the CoS playbook. At this point, this isn’t wild or tenuous speculation–it’s calling a spade a spade.
Comment by Anonymous — May 21, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
Of 10 definitions on the page, only “Study Technology” is notable. Just you wait until Scientologists become noted for un-haunting old castles and such. Ohhh, the Lulz.
Comment by Terryeo — May 21, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
Wow, Jada don’t look very happy to be the meat in that particular sandwich.
Comment by Aciel — May 21, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
Where are the credentials listed for the instructors?
How is the school being accredited?
Why isn’t this information easily accessible for evaluation?
Why do they seem to be trying to hide the fact that most/all of the faculty are Scientologists?
Why aren’t the names of the founders, board of directors and sources of financing disclosed?
Clearly they are trying to hide many things. Having no names listed is becoming a hallmark of Scientology as it solves the problem of having to “scrub” people who get fed up and leave.
Great idea for Anons to flyer the area. Great job D.
Comment by Jane — May 22, 2008 @ 1:29 am
I knew I was right when I sent you that article, D! Too fishy. Will’s just signed his own pink slip.
Comment by Joanie — May 22, 2008 @ 1:58 am
I am never ever going to watch any movie of Will Smith. If all the people out there did it, he would have only scientologists left as his fans. Oh, wait, are they allowed to watch the TV?
Comment by davee — May 22, 2008 @ 2:24 am
Everything having anything to do with $cientology uses a sneaky back-door kind of approach. Seriously, these people couldn’t tell the truth if the lives of their body thetans depended on it.
Comment by Rachel — May 22, 2008 @ 11:38 am
ok… have any of you tried the study tech????
I was born and raised in Sci-bitch-town!!! I’m not a Scientologist! I don’t believe in what they believe in… I knew this loong before I left, but i couldn’t get out! My family is still there, and yes!!! I can’t talk to them nor see them!! my own blood!! my own father and mother!!! So yea… I can be a little pissed about it all! okay so that’s my vent… But…
I did learn the study tech at a young age, and if you only use it, and use it as it is, it is actually really good, and basically very simple, and I think most people “do it” as they study or want to learn something, there is just not a name or a tag put on it as if L. Ron created it himself… who fucking knows where it came from!! It is just a good way to learn a subject. I used it, and became a pretty good student and have built a very nice life for myself.
If they started involving Sci-bitch-ass stuff to it, then that’s not fucking cool… and if they try and make it a Sci-bitch school then thats not cool… but i’m just saying that those learning methods are good.
So anyways… I’m just saying…
Sure Will is falling into the trap I’m sure…
Comment by Whateves — May 22, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
Whateves,
I think that Study Tech has some good things; but what it does is pin the blame on the student for not understanding, that the source is perfect, and since the source is perfect, you cannot question it. Thinking critically is one of the things they teach you at school, and, the way I see it, LRH’s Study Tech does not instruct you into doing so.
Comment by 9 — May 22, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
For some reason I just remembered the Hitler Youth.
Comment by gary — May 22, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
Applied Scholastics is the worst Scientology front group of them all because it targets young school age children and tries to teach them the terminology created by Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. In fact, it sets the foundation for these kids to grow up Scientologists. A better name for Hubbard’s Study Technology is “Indoctrination Technology”.
YouTube:
Disconnection – Why can’t we be friends?
Google:
Applied Scholastics: A testimony from inside
Comment by Been There — May 22, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
The study is largely as useless as all the rest of the tech, with the exception of the misunderstood words thing. Anyone with a brain knows that you should look up a word in a dictionary if you don’t understand it, that passing up words you don’t understand in an article or something negates from your understanding of it. The study tech, on the other hand, says that if you don’t understand something, that there are physical symptoms such as eye irritation and feeling smushed (whatever that means). For a great critique of the study tech, see David Touretzky’s article here:
http://www.studytech.org/study_tech.php
Comment by anonymous — May 22, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
I feel uneasy about this school. By the looks of the website they seem to be catering to African Americans, does that mean this is a push to get more of them into Scientology? I hope not, but its more than likely, IMO.
Comment by Duranie81 — May 22, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Fer cryminee sakes, this guy is intelligent and thoughtful, has he not kept up with the news at all this year??? Has he not ever heard of Jason Beghe? I’m really surprised that he is still inching his way over the threshold into CoS. I hope that his Gramma does more than turn in her blessed grave as he often says, I hope that she haunts him every night until he comes to his senses.
Comment by Capcom — May 22, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
You know, if these children start writing knowledge report on their parent’s activities, Scientology will have its own spy network. A bit like the old former communist block,where children were indoctrinated to spied on their parents and neighbours on each other.
I can imagine a school activity would be to take pictures of all important documents on the house. And sending it to the school teacher.
The key I imagine would be to get parents in important sections of the government and private sector to enroll their children in Will Smith’s School of Indoctrination and Intelligence gathering.
And as we know from the Nazi youth programs, if you start the indoctrination process early, you get soldiers with that extra bit of fanatical loyalty. The never die, never surrender attitude.
Comment by JCK — May 22, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
That sounds so much like 1984, man. ]:
Comment by 9 — May 22, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
Will Smith was my favorite actor up until now. I will now no longer view any of his movies. Sorry, I don’t support cults.
Comment by James — May 22, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
My children’s school has monthly PTA meetings and so on where administration representatives inform parents about the methodology by which are children are being taught.
At NVA, those meetings will be sales pitches for Scientology, direct recruiting attempts to get parents into the “orgs” to learn more about LRH’s “study technology,” and more, all in the name of providing educational support at home.
With regard to testing and verification of results, my children’s public school shares with parents the results of standardized test scores, the school’s overall rating, graduation rates, percentage of graduates going on to college, subject area achievement, and so on. Those results are viewable and verifiable to the public on state websites, and can be compared to those of other similarly situated schools.
As small private schools, will standardized test results be published, or will NVA be exempt because of its size? Will independent monitors be there to ensure that children are not given the answers, or coached by teachers? Will detailed reports be available online, without request? On exscientologykids.org, accounts by now-adult former students of Scientology schools have reported extensive coaching. If “study tech” works so well, why is that necessary?
For $13,000 annual tuition, parents are entitled to surety that their children are actually learning, and being taught to the standards required for graduation and for success not just within the shuttered “Scientology world” but within society as a whole. Our children, all children, deserve no less.
Comment by Liberty Belle — May 23, 2008 @ 2:01 am
My Exhusband looked at the context a word was in if He misunderstood the word Pretty smart just a little note. a question on topic now do they use thr trs in the study tech the trs are reported to be a trance hypnotic state by staring for periods of time not blinking or speaking? i agree this applied scholatics is not good it has been shunned by Public Schools. God Bless
Comment by judy — May 24, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
I just posted this data on another site but I feel it is also appropriate for this discussion.
—–
Take a look at http://www.scientologyhandbook.org/SH1_1.HTM. This explains some of the study technology. Also, in Scientology: A New Slant On Life, there is a significant discussion on how to study Scientology. While this goes on for several pages I’ll quote a couple of significant paragraphs:
“[The student]should make up his own mind about each thing that is taught – the procedure, techniques, mechanics and theory. He should ask himself these questions: Does this piece of data exist? Is it true? Does it work? Will it produce the best possible results in the shortest time?”
“Look at Scientology, study, it, question it and use it and you will have discovered something for yourself. And in so doing, you might well discover a lot more. The techniques and the theories are highly workable, but they are not highly workable just because we say so!”
My point being that the purpose of Hubbard’s study technology is to enable a student to understand a subject, not to force him/her to agree with it.
Elsewhere (in a policy dated Feb 9, 1979) Hubbard explains what to do with material that doesn’t make sense after attampting to clarify it. He instructs that one should clear any misunderstood words (this ensures the best chance of understanding what was written), try to get clarificaition from the author, and make sure the material hasn’t been altered from the original. If it still makes no sense it is false.
Comment by Merrill — May 26, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
There is a law of Nature or law of God called “Physiological Reactions†that is the true secret behind Scientology’s Dianectic study technology.
The LRH discovered that when you passed a misunderstood word—you manifested many reactions of various types: Yawning, sleepiness, not there feeling, dizziness, blurry eyes, nervousness and dozens more.
Being the liar that he was, he claimed that Dianetics was “‘his†invention and not a law of God; he hid the fact that it is our human inheritance since time began.
Granted that his power of obnosis was the best in the world, his crime against humanity was to make a “religion†based upon the falsehood, that it was his invention or creation and not a law of God.
There is an EBOOK that explains and reveals the dark and evil secrets of this cult and a few others.
It teaches a person the ways of natural self-healing and also exposes this cult for the thieves that they are.
Go to: http://selfhealingdata.com/
There you will learn to self-heal and learn how to expose the crimes of Scientology.
The Ronbot Hunter.
Comment by The Ronbot Hunter — May 29, 2008 @ 8:55 am
I am a Property Manager can I get a job there? I am catholic but do not care what they teach as long as it is legal. I am Starving. Will, Jada and Mia will you Hire me?
Comment by Charlie — May 30, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
[...] and closet Scientologist, Jada Pinkett Smith, has been coming under fire in the last year for the controversial Scientology school she and hubby, Will “Keepin’ My Xenu On The DL” Smith, dumped almost a cool [...]
Pingback by GlossLip » Jada Pinkett Smith Ready For Scientology High School — March 23, 2009 @ 5:24 pm
[...] and closet Scientologist, Jada Pinkett Smith, has been coming under fire in the last year for the controversial Scientology school she and hubby, Will “Keepin’ My Xenu On The DL” Smith, dumped almost a cool [...]
Pingback by Celebrity Blog | Babelogs | Celebrity Gossip » Blog Archive » Jada Pinkett Smith Ready For Scientology High School — March 24, 2009 @ 2:54 am