Paper Example on Cults: Socially Deviant Beliefs and Practices

Introduction

Historically cults have been with us despite the high disbelief on their existence due to their discretion in operations which seeks to protect their identity and presence in the public. Cults refers to the classifications of religious movement sociologically as a group which is established and thrives on socially deviant or new practices that sets them apart from the community general identity and beliefs (Cowan & Bromley, 2015). Cults often arise through new beliefs and practices that set them apart from the established beliefs and traditions which makes them distinct and receive potential negativity from the public. Cults are highly secretive and may have practices that are considered by the public as extreme or against the established belief. It has long been held that cults represents a way of life that is rebellious against the existing traditions and practices especially in religion and mostly cults seeks to establish a new identity from the existing rigid religious or social institution that fails to accommodate change or dissidents. This paper will assess the presence of cults in private schools and the overall impact of head teachers in the development and establishment of cults in the American schools.

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Nature of Private Schools Cultism

The private schools are established by individuals with the aim of creating a conducive environment to be able to impart knowledge that is unique from the established education philosophies and purpose (Smith, 2017). Teachers mostly create education pedagogy that is in alignment with the cultic education representation as expressed by leaders of the cults in the community. This means that most school based cults are established as an extension of a large more organized mother cults established by power individuals to be able to influence their children identity and perspective of the world. To a large extent schools with cult beliefs and values are established to mirror a unique philosophy or belief which sets them apart from the rest of the established and publicly accepted education institutions. There are several similarities between cultic schools and the movements which has informed the ideation of the existence of cults and their detrimental impacts on an already established culture and belief system (Cowan & Bromley, 2015). The cultic organizations and institutions are uniquely established to mirror their unique ideals and support the sustainability of the established beliefs from being swallowed by the popular culture and their mainstream popularity which have been detrimental to the existence of development of cultures (Smith, 2017). In the American society, a society founded on the strong Christian values and traditions any plight to create new cults is prohibited which has led to secretive creation of education institutions which are privately owned to ensure minimal interference.

Charismatic Leadership in Cults

One of the primary features of the cults in schools is that they are established upon the charismatic leadership which is instrumental in shaping the overall practices and beliefs held by the cultic movements. The charismatic leaders are held with high regard and to some extent they may become objectified and glorified as a source of power for the entire cultic movements. The charismatic leadership of the cults has been instrumental in their survival and further followership by people of curiosity and those that are not satisfied by the existing status quo on religion, culture and the social institutions. The cults in schools seek to build followership and sustainability by inculcating their views and values held by the members onto the children who are viewed as the future of the cultic beliefs. Head teachers and education founders in private schools hold charismatic followership from the community and the cult members who are able to respect and follow the leader directives in totality such as the mode of dressing, relationship between the members and the society at large (Smith, 2017).

Famous private education institutions such as Waldorf schools were established through the efforts of the charismatic leader who was able to create unique values and ideas through which the foundation of the school was established. In Waldorf schools it is believed that the students sing hymns to the spirits which is a culture and practice established to portray a unique identity for the school (Chertoff, 2012). Waldorf schools are associated with the followership of elites in the society who have common goals and future aspirations for their children. For instance, Waldorf School in New York City was profiled due to the minimization of technology use in the classroom which is one of the common values in all the Waldorf schools and established by the founder. Waldorf the founder was a charismatic leader who established the school based on divergent views on science and greater focus on spirituality in which changed his thinking and writing and was able to influence the society (Chertoff, 2012). The Waldorf school has its roots from the Stuttgart school which was established in Germany based on the unique spirituality values and focuses more on understanding how people can communicate spirituality and all the schools have adopted a single curriculum with the dominating Steiner's belief that the schools should be able to cultivate spirit which is not the case for the public education institutions (Chertoff, 2012).

Indoctrination and Persuasive Coercion

One of the features of cultism which can be found in private schools to qualify them as cults is the indoctrination of the learners through the values and beliefs that have been established by the leaders with the aim of influencing their thinking and loyalty to the ideals of the cult (Richardson & Introvigne, 2004). In many private schools curriculums are developed with the emphasis of the cult ideal to promote relevancy and sycophancy from the learners who are designated future members of the cults and staunch believers of the leader point of thinking in regard to holistic matters in the society. Exclusivism and isolationism are areas through which private schools have been able to capture the attention of both the students and their parents. Through isolationism the private schools through different modes of communication from the charismatic head teachers show that the values held in the school are absolute and the learners should opt from associations with those that have a different perspective on matters learning and society (Smith, 2017).

Conclusion

Private schools can be considered as cults due to the nature of operation and their independence from the public education institutions regulations and procedures. Private schools play an instrumental role towards creating exclusivity and isolation from the set values and concepts of mainstream education by providing unique and customized learning experience. The private schools discourage independent thinking in the favor of indoctrinated values that have been developed to ensure that the learners are compliant to the values and the beliefs held by the cult. Through exclusivism cults in schools are able to portray themselves as a special case compared to the mainstream public education institutions that are founded on a common public policy. The exclusivism approach seeks to promote loyalty and adherence to the values and beliefs that have been indoctrinated in the schools using principles and concepts developed by founding fathers.

References

Chertoff, E. (2012). Is this grade school a 'cult'? (And do parents care?). The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/is-this-grade-school-a-cult-and-do-parents-care/265620/

Cowan, D. E., & Bromley, D. G. (2015). Cults and new religions: A brief history. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=D3-4CAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP10&dq=Cowan,+D.+E.,+%26+Bromley,+D.+G.+(2015).+Cults+and+new+religions:+A+brief+history.+John+Wiley+%26+Sons.+&ots=WaVTHCmKah&sig=TqSp38B2yA4T7zM5JmWEdJiPYKM

Richardson, J. T., & Introvigne, M. (2004). Brainwashing theories in European parliamentary and administrative reports on cults and sects. In Regulating Religion (pp. 151-178). Springer, Boston, MA. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4419-9094-5_10

Smith, T. J. (2017). Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. By Michael H. Jameson. Edited by Allaire B. Stallsmith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. xxxvi+ 362. Hardcover, $99.00. Religious Studies Review, 43(2), 163-163. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rsr.12952