Is Scientology Sneaking Into Classrooms?
Applied Scholastics, a teaching method explicitly linked to L. Ron Hubbard, has put a group of Phoenix charter schools in the hot seat.
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| Actor Tom Cruise attends the grand opening of Applied Scholastics International's new headquarters on July 26, 2003, in St. Louis, Missouri. Applied Scholastics is an international teacher training centre utilizing the learning methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard. (Photo: Getty Images) |
Scientology could be creeping into the curriculum at a group of charter schools in Phoenix, Arizona.
At the encouragement of the superintendent Robert Duffy, many of the kids at the six schools, which serve 1,000 students, are taught using Applied Scholastics, a teaching method researched and developed by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
This can pose a serious problem for the schools, and for Duffy.
Although charter schools are privately run, they are publicly funded and under the First Amendment, public schools are required to be neutral concerning religion in all of their activities.
The ACLU Legal Bulletin, The Establishment Clause And Public Schools, explains that "the Supreme Court has long held that the Establishment