Scientology: How We Help—Defying the Education Odds

Nearly half of all American adults—60 million people—are functionally illiterate. The students of Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon, are already exceptions to that rule.

Eight million students have been labeled as “learning disabled,” with prescription drugs too often the “remedy” rather than the three “Rs.” Standing in sharp contrast to these statistics are the test scores at the Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon.

The Delphian School is licensed to use the educational services and materials of Applied Scholastics, a fully independent, nondenominational organization supported by the Church of Scientology and by Scientologists dedicated to raising educational standards throughout the world.

Delphi students consistently test at or above grade level in reading, language and math. As one stellar example, Delphian 5th-grade students who tested on the California Achievement Test were off the chart in language skills, achieving the maximum score the test allows—13th-grade proficiency. They were also three years ahead in math and four in reading.

Another exceptional result: For the past 11 years every Delphian student who applied to college was accepted.

Students flourish with Delphian’s unique philosophy of education based on the principles of Study Technology developed by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. An independent study of Delphian attitudes in 2012 found 100 percent of the students liked going to the Delphian School; 100 percent felt their teachers cared about them personally; 97 percent looked forward to school; 95 percent found their studies interesting—not boring; 95 percent felt their teachers listened to their ideas and 88 percent felt their teachers cared about what they think.

Since the inception of the Delphi curriculum in 1975, it has emphasized application in the world beyond the classroom, with the aim being to help students of any age take on life. As part of the Delphian graduation requirements, students design and carry out projects that require them to play a major role in reaching out and helping in their communities.

Whereas many Delphian high school students vacation during the summer, more than 40 participated in summer internships or projects last year.

One student was accepted into an internship at Harvard’s Korean Institute where she worked with professors and scholars. She also enrolled on an international law and international relations course which included lectures, discussions and simulated conferences in which she was required to debate topics with others on the program, 63 of whom were college students.

On completing her course and internship, she participated in a Global Leadership Adventures program in the Dominican Republic where she helped women and children in refugee camps.

“It was exciting to see some of the international theories I learned come to life and make an impact in a poor community," she said.

Another student volunteered in his home city of Torreon, Mexico, delivering classes at a school.

“I tried to make each class as interactive as possible by having the kids act out the principles we were going over,” he said. “These kids are incredibly smart—I realized that intelligence and abilities are often underestimated.”

Three Chinese students who attend Delphi during the school term volunteered at a village school in China where most of the 170 students live with grandparents while their parents work far away in the city.

One of the Delphian students took on the children who are considered “bad.” He advised them to associate with people who really cared about them doing well in life.

“They decided not to be friends with gang members. They stopped messing around with them,” he said. “They ended up as ethical students. The project made me feel that I am capable of changing things. All the things that I learned [at Delphi] are so applicable to making improvements. I don’t expect to change everything at once, but I do believe if there is only 1 percent chance to change 1 percent of a thing, you must put 100 percent of your effort into make it happen.”

Accredited by the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) and licensed to use the Study Technology of L. Ron Hubbard by Applied Scholastics International, the Delphian School in Oregon is the flagship of a network of six schools in major urban centers around the United States. All Delphi schools operate on a standardized curriculum, common teaching and administrative methods, and a comprehensive curriculum training program.

Applied Scholastics works with hundreds of affiliated schools and educational programs throughout the world, providing the effective learning tools developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

The Church of Scientology has published a new brochure, Scientology: How We Help—Applied Scholastics, Achieving Literacy and Education, one of a series of publications presented to meet requests for more information about the Scientology religion and its support of global humanitarian initiatives and social betterment programs. For more information, visit the Scientology website at www.scientology.org/AppliedScholastics.

Applied Scholastics International is a secular nonprofit public benefit corporation that addresses head-on the problem of illiteracy by making L. Ron Hubbard’s discoveries in the field of education and literacy broadly available. It has trained nearly 140,000 educators and has helped more than 39 million with Study Technology. The organization works with hundreds of affiliated schools and educational programs throughout the world, providing the effective learning tools developed by L. Ron Hubbard.