Suddenly, a terrible story of humiliation in one of the US schools

The publication of the New York Times published an investigation about the American school TMLandry College Prep, which became famous thanks to the large number of viral videos, where students of the institution will learn about their admission to prestigious colleges.

Photo: Facebook / TM Landry College Prep.

The journalists found out that the school principal falsified marks, beat students, threatened them, and the level of education at TMLandry was so low that students dropped out of prestigious colleges after the first semester.

In December, 2017 was scored millions of video views, the hero of which was a guy named Ayrton Little - a student at TMLandry College Prep in Louisiana. Ayrton, surrounded by his classmates, sat in front of the computer screen and checked whether the online results of his college admissions had appeared. Another second, and the crowd around the guy explodes with joyful shouts. They just found out that he entered Harvard.

All the hard work was worth it. I got accepted to Harvard at 16!! ??? #Harvard #Harvard2022 pic.twitter.com/KjW3pAF0VG

- Tha Little Man (@AyrtonLittle) December 13, 2017

At that time, many media outlets talked about Ayrton, describing his story as a classic American dream. His mother and brother (who, incidentally, also enrolled at the prestigious Stanford College) were brought up by his mother alone, she worked as a teacher at cooking classes, and another son of her died as a child from asthma.

There are a lot of stories about how ordinary guys fulfill their dream of enrolling in prestigious educational institutions, in a school where mostly black children and teenagers study. Many of them - like the story of Ayrton - are captured on the tape. However, the New York Times found out that TMLandry College Prep is not at all as rosy as it may seem after watching it on video.

The publication conducted its own investigation, talking with 46 people, among whom were both students of the school, and their parents and teachers. They told reporters that pupils were publicly humiliated in front of their peers, and different racial groups set against each other. According to some of those with whom the publication spoke, the school’s director, Michael Landry, repeatedly stifled children, beat them on their desks, and once locked the autistic child in a closet.

One of the students of the school Tyler Sasso admitted that he once stood in the bathroom on his knees for two hours.

When the New York Times turned to the school principal for a comment, he denied all the accusations. The man confirmed only that yes, he likes to scream and yes, sometimes makes the students kneel to teach them humility, but it lasts a maximum of five minutes.

Michael Landry on the right. Photo: Facebook / TM Landry College Prep.

He also denied that, in the 2013 year, according to a court document in the possession of the New York Times, he was sentenced to a suspended sentence and ordered to attend anger management courses for beatings that he struck a student. In 2016-2017, some parents filed police reports with the director, claiming that he had beaten or humiliated their children, but local law enforcement agencies declined to comment on the status of these applications in the New York Times.

The director, speaking to reporters, justified his not quite typical teaching methods by preparing children for life in the adult world in this way, for it was not for nothing that many of his students actually went to prestigious colleges. But with the admission of teenagers, too, not everything is clean, as the publication found out.

Photo: Facebook / TM Landry College Prep.

According to journalists, the director faked data on students, including in the application for admission false assessments, courses that the children could not take at all, and even alter the facts of their lives. So, for example, looked like Bryson Sasso's recommendation.

Very bright, energetic, compassionate boy with a broad outlook. His alcoholic father beat him and his mother and did not give them money for food and shelter. His grades speak for themselves, but it is also worth noting that he founded the social program Dry House to help children whose parents suffer from alcoholism or use violence. He was the best baseball player, more than once he won the Mathematics Olympiad and studied English for four years at a special rate.

In an interview with the New York Times, Bryson said that none of this characteristic is true: his father does not beat them, does not deprive them of money, and he never took the courses indicated and did not reach the heights described in his summary.

Pupils admit that the director not only wrote good characteristics, but also threatened to write bad ones if they told about what was going on in school or left it. Many agreed with these rules and hoped that everything would be fine when they entered the university. But even there the problems started.

Asya Jackson, who entered Wesleyan University, was forced to drop out on her own, because she simply could not reach the level of education there.

I failed the first chemistry tests, I just left the biology exam, and I was ashamed to attend my literary writing classes. I tried to study hard, but I could not do it. I could not tell my friends about this, they would then ask: “What did you do?”, And what would I say to that?

TMLandry College Prep is a private school founded in 2005 by a Landry couple as a school for their family. Gradually, students in the institution became more and more, but the quality of education, judging by the confessions of children and their parents, was very lame.

My six year old granddaughter played there all day in Lego. They have not taught her to read or write. I kind of paid for a very expensive nanny, ”the grandmother of one of the students told reporters.

Schooling was not cheap for many local families: 7 200 dollars a year. In addition, as soon as the institution became famous for giving many simple dark-skinned girls and boys a chance in life, many donations began to go there - up to 250 thousand dollars a year. However, the school never provided scholarships to those who went to college, and none of the parents knew how the institution distributes the money.

Photo: Facebook / TM Landry College Prep.

Now the school continues to work and even opens a new branch in the neighboring city. When the New York Times journalist visited the institution to try again to talk with its director, he accused the publication of condemning him for his desire to make the future of black children better.

Write about what you want. But in the end, sister, if our children go to Harvard, I will fight for it. After all, Asians can be in Harvard? After all, white can be at Harvard?

Read also on ForumDaily:

What tricks I had to go to take the child to a good school

How a child adapts to the American school

Different types of American schools: how to get and how much it costs

Five essential skills that American education provides

What is the difference between an American school and a Ukrainian one: personal experience

What American schools require from preschoolers and their parents at the beginning of the school year

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.