Suri Cruise Goes to Scientology School

Screenshot/CelebTV

Suri Cruise, the stylish 5-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, attended her first day of school last week. Aside from the obvious fact that she'll reap from the best of the best in academia, Suri's school is extraordinary. Thanks to her famous Scientologist parents, Suri has been enrolled at the New Village Leadership Academy in Calabasas. The Scientology-influenced school applies "study technology" methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard. What's a day in the life of academic Suri like? Let's take a general look.

Schools that employ Hubbard's system are not directly affiliated with the Church of Scientology, so variation among institutions is quite common. Students usually begin the day with a checklist of tasks that they must accomplish by the day's end. This list typically consists of a series of short lessons followed by exercises designed to apply recently gained knowledge. Sound a bit too heavy for a 5-year-old?

Should Suri have trouble grasping a concept, clay will come to her rescue. The founder of Scientology believed that an absence of mass fostered frustration for a student. If Suri finds difficulty in shapes, like the shape of her father's nose, for example, she can sculpt them using clay.

Students are also required to track their progress using a graphing system. Different tasks win different points, and students update their charts to visualize progress. We're officially bored for you, Suri.

If the tiny fashionista develops a learning disorder, she'll simply be deemed as misunderstanding individual words. Hubbard's schools reject the idea of learning disabilities and put "learning disorders" in quotes. Yawning is even viewed as a physical indication of misunderstanding a word. Young Suri, do not yawn. We know you know your words. Use them. To escape.

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By Lauren Lloyd in News on September 20, 2011 3:30 PM

Comments [rss]

Jhon Key

y is other religions base as religions

Queenie

That is going to be one heavy duty 'clear' child ..... this is fasinating to me. I know people who are scientologists, and they do lack something... its called spontienaity, and imagination. I feel Tom and Katie are lucky, they get to tap into their creative sides via acting. Prolly less that 4% of scientologists have that luxury. I own LRH original manuscript. I read it occasionally. Its in a black sachel type caseing. I read it now and then, and do understand alot of it. It is a bity 'wordy' however.

LeoRyan78

"Schools that employ Hubbard's system are not directly affiliated with the Church of Scientology"Hmm, so they're not "directly affiliated" but
1. All the people in leadership are Scientologists
2. The school has to pay licensing fees to Scientology in order to use the material. so money is going directly to Scientology if you go to these schools.
3. Students are taught that Hubbard is a great philosopher, humanitarian and educator. Reality, where hast thou gone?
4. Scientology lists such schools as part of its "org boards" with other front groups that help bring people to Scientology. So Scientology considers it part of their greater ambit.
5. Other such schools have been used to help raise money/donations where the money ends up going to Scientology directly. For example, a similar school in Australia, mortgaged the school, and then gave the money to Scientology in order to help pay for one of a new Scientology "Ideal Org" building. This same school at the same time was getting money from the government to the tune of $300, 000.

But no, not directly affiliated, lol.

PicoPhreako69

If Suri grows up even remotely normal and not utterly screwed up, I think this will count as Scientology's first miracle.
Seriously, I feel for this kid.
Talk about starting out life with such a disadvantage....

Henry__Chinaski

THIS ISN'T NEWS!

MissCabbage

Even Betty Butterfield knows what $cientology is!
http://youtu.be/c1FbT_Tvk4A

Up_Against_The_Law

Good start; now if only LAist was this snarky and condescending to every other religion. They're all bullshit, but the big ones get big passes.

Jasperzoo

Scientology isn't a religion, it's a cult. You're trying to legitimize Scientology by putting it in the same category as mainstream faiths.

Up_Against_The_Law

I'm legitimizing Scientology by calling it "bullshit?" It doesn't sound like I'm doing a very good job.

Mainstream faiths are based on ideas that are at least as stupid Scientology, and probably more dangerous to humanity because they have real power behind them. Mainstream religions ban scientific research because they think a bundle of cells is a human baby, kill people over cartoons, and strictly limit women's opportunities to run their own lives so they can be men's(/God's) breeding machines. They're just older, and intertwined with established dogmatism and polite thought, so people politely don't refer to them as cults. They're certainly cults to the extent Scientology is. They're just bigger and stronger.

Jasperzoo

By your definition, there's no difference between religion and cults. I know of several FBI agents and cult deprogrammers who might disagree with you. How pathetic you are, and disrespectful of people who have had their lives destroyed by cults.