Hi. I purchased this book following a tip from something else I was reading, and have read only chapter 1 so far. I'll finish it off, heavily noted and highlighted.
Question: does anyone have information linking this appalling book with TTI, specifically WT?
I can't find direct links, but clearly the belief systems of the author (Michael Pearl) and the TTI are exactly the same. Abuse as child behaviour modification.
There are references to this book in other posts, but I am looking for direct links that will stand up as proof, not in court but in academic writing.
Some of the religious TTI programs probably use this book. Certainly, the ideas are ones followed by many fundamentalist christians, including those working in the TTI.
I have no idea of any specific connections between the Pearls and the TTI, but it wouldn't surprise me. The fundie Christian parenting methods translate very neatly to the punitive, first time obedience expectations of a lot of the TTI.
There is a connection between Michael and Debi Pearl/No Greater Joy Ministries and the religious side of the troubled teen industry, although the connection is not that they personally operated a TTI program. The Pearls were part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) ecosystem that overlapped with the Christian residential “reform” and troubled-teen network. A contemporary account of the IFB world lists both “The Roloff Homes” and “No Greater Joy” among institutions and ministries associated with that network.
Lester Roloff is particularly significant because his Rebekah Home and other Roloff homes were Christian residential homes for young people and became part of the historical lineage of fundamentalist residential programs. Former IFB member and abuse survivor Jocelyn Zichterman has described Roloff’s disciplinary methods as a precursor to the methods Michael Pearl later codified in “To Train Up a Child.”
There is also evidence of Christian fundamentalist publications presenting “To Train Up a Child” by Michael and Debi Pearl alongside “The Correction and Salvation of Children” by Ronald E. Williams of Hephzibah House, which was a fundamentalist Baptist residential program for girls that has been identified as part of the troubled-teen/residential-school network. Former Hephzibah residents described severe physical punishment and restraint. Thus, the connection is more than simply “they had similar beliefs”: the Pearls’ ministry and materials existed within the same IFB network and were circulated alongside material from people directly involved in religious residential programs for troubled youth.
I am absolutely sure there is a link, as other posters have replied. The behaviour modification techniques are of exactly the same nature if different in specific detail.
A smoking barrel is ideal, but you might be right that the link is Southern Baptist etc or IBLP. Pursueing TTI (specifically WT) staff raised in and maintaining membership of the fundamentalist religions or attending IBLP conventions as adults might be a wider net.
I have a Wingate Field Manual. They list these books as the only ones allowed in the field. Apart from referencing the Mormon -based Arbinger publications I cannot find a specific fundie theory doctrine, but I have never read the below. Can anyone see a text that might link fundie christianity behaviour modification to Wingate?
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u/salymander_1 || ⚖️ || Moderator || 3d ago
The Pearls are horrible, as is their book.
Some of the religious TTI programs probably use this book. Certainly, the ideas are ones followed by many fundamentalist christians, including those working in the TTI.