High Schools Of Horror

Each year, thousands of teens are shipped off to American “brat camps” and boarding schools designed to rehabilitate troubled rich kids. But today, allegations of physical and emotional abuse are threatening to bring down the billion-dollar industry. Harriet Sim investigates

- Harriet Sim

Emma Pierson* can vividly remember the night her childhood ended. Woken by two burly strangers standing over her bed, the 15-year-old recoiled in horror and let out a blood-curdling scream, which ripped through her palatial family home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Downstairs, Pierson’s mother, who had sole custody of her at the time, waited. She had already signed the paperwork consenting to her child’s orchestrated kidnapping – an act of “tough love”, she reassured her daughter. Pierson didn’t put up a fight as the uniformed men ushered her into the car. When they arrived at Sydney Airport, they led her through the terminal with her hands restrained in cable ties. There were only a few other travellers waiting in the pre-dawn light; heads turned and eyes widened as the group marched past. One airport official pulled them aside, but the men showed documentation and continued to walk Pierson to the gate. Finally standing in the cramped aeroplane bathroom, she savoured her last few private moments. “I remember looking at myself in the mirror and saying, ‘You’ll make it. You’ll make it. It will all be OK,’” recalls Pierson, now 23.