Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith recently announced plans to open a private school in Calabasas, California, just outside of Los Angeles. New Village Academy is scheduled to open in September, and while the couple may have funded the school for philanthropic purposes, their plan has backfired. Many of the school's teachers are members of the controversial Church of Scientology, and the school's curriculum has an emphasis on 'study technology,' which was developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Other study techniques mentioned in website material (which was taken down yesterday after articles questioning the Smiths' motives began to appear) included an emphasis on dictionary study. Hubbard believed that all illnesses, from colds to headaches, were the result of M/Us, or "misunderstood words," and that looking up any misunderstood word in a dictionary would eliminate these illnesses or injuries.
Because of Will and Jada's high-profile friendship with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, rumors have circulated for months that the couple has embraced Cruise's faith. Some staffers who worked on Smith's latest movie, "Hancock," say that the actor handed out certificates for a personality test at the movie's wrap party--and these 'personality tests' are one way that local branches of the Church of Scientology get new prospective members, or 'raw meat,' in the door. Recently, the daughter of a government minister in Norway committed suicide after getting a negative result on one of these tests.
Smith, for the record, has said many times that he is a student of all religions and not a Scientologist. New Village Academy's director, Jacqueline Olivier, told the L.A. Times that "We are a secular school, and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children."
More information about Scientology teaching methods and educational programs can be found at ExScientologyKids.com.
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I LOVE GOD SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO FREAKIN MUCH!!!!
WILL SMITH IS STUPID!
BUT I LOVE I AM LEGEND HANCOCK AND FRESH PRINCE!
ps. HE IS STILL WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG !
I LOVE GOD!
The fact that most of the teachers are Scientologists, in spite on how much they may claim to not promote their "religion", is a red flag and speaks volumes about what the school is about. Since when was Ron Hubbard an expert on teaching and education, other than a few common sense recommendations that most people take for granted - like look up words in the dictionary if you are not familiar with them.
If it smells like a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.
Please! do you really claim to understand Scientology, name one book you've read about Scientology that turned you off so much that you decided to write all this negative scripture. I do not claim to understand Scientology but I do try to keep an open mind, see that's the real problem, unfair judgment, have you ever been judged ? unfairly ? I have, and it hurts, please try to keep an open mind, and don't judge your fellow man, or woman, child. PEACE
Oh no! Please say that Will Smith and Jada have not fallen for the line of BS from the CULT of scientology! I thought they were one of the few normal couples with real talent in Hollywood! Will and Jada-Please get out of it! It's a pyramid scheme at the root, disguised as a religion, someone in there paid off some politicians to be able to be catagorized as a religion when they are not. l ron hubbard was a con artist and he came up with a money making scheme in dianatics. And he got the celebrities into it by playing on the narcissism that most celebrities have (hey you gotta have that to want to have the world watch you and make money doing it-I'm not saying this as an insult of celebs) by stating that celebirties are extra special people or have powers or whatever the exact line of bs was. and it works! scientololgy has the big egos making money for the con artists! Please, Will and Jada, look into the "personality tests" they offer. They have no education or training on REAL scientific tests and measures. Real personality tests and psychological tests, while being developed, take years, are admisistered to thousands of people to make sure the results are reliable and valid. More proof of how it's a scheme: the first "test" is free, everything else after that costs more and more money. Time magazine did a great expose on them in the 90s. It was called the Greed of Scientology or something like that. You can find the article online. Will and Jada, please run away from that cult. They destroy lives, rip families apart and prevent those needing mental health treatment (Tom Cruise is bipolar but he gets to deny it by immersing himself in the cult's un-scientifc quacks) from getting it. They do society a disservice.
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