Fred Finch-Oakland Hills Academy

This school turned my son from an emotionally troubled young teenager into an equally troubled, and behaviorally messed-up teenager. The discipline, which is considerable, is based on 1920s behavioristic theory, so that, for example, there is no reward for honest admission of having done wrong, only punishment for the original wrong; as a result, and perhaps in emulation of certain of the schools' statements, a child can become very skilled at lying. As for teaching. . . what a joke. Nothing is taught there but a structure appropriate, perhaps, to a high-security jail. I realize this is true for many other Bay Area schools, as well.
—Submitted by a parent