In the April 10 Seattle Times, Keith Ervin reports on "Challenge Day," a three-day school seminar—criticized by many parents and described by one student as a "psycho cry fest"—conducted by Resource Realizations, a firm specializing in behavior-modification programs for troubled teens in residential facilities:

Sitting in small circles, their knees touching, students shared their own hurt and the pain they had inflicted on others.

The tears flowed. In some groups, half the Washington Middle School students were crying at once.

Applause followed, as the seventh- and eighth-graders stepped up to roving microphones and declared what they would do to mend broken relationships with their schoolmates.

Two boys shook hands after one apologized for making fun of the other, and said he hoped to be more supportive.

A girl owned up to snubbing an old friend. "I'm sorry that I've been very distant and that I've chosen other friends in school," she said. "I'm going to work on that, and I'm going to be a better friend."

The girls embraced.

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