Frisk et al./Children in Minority Religions, 15. Applied Scholastics and Study Technology

Applied Scholastics International is a non-profit organization founded in 1972. Its goal is to promote the study technology created by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. Today this study technology is used in more than 700 schools all over the world. In this chapter, the relationship between Scientology and Applied Scholastics is investigated. Besides material from the official web sites of Scientology and Applied Scholastics, as well as written material from the organization Applied Scholastics, a field study of the school applying this study technology in Sweden, Studema-skolan close to Stockholm, is conducted. Teachers, both scientologists and non-scientologists, are interviewed, and participant observation at the school is conducted. Applied Scholastics as a study technology is described from these sources, and the relationship to Scientology is discussed building on the understanding of Scientology as a religion.