First off, here is a link to the comic: [elan.school]

It gives tremendous insight and first-hand experience into the initial shock of being forced into a cult.

The Elan School was one of the many "troubled teen" cults that misled parents, school districts, and court systems into sending them children. In a "Lord of the Flies" style system, the children were encouraged to self-govern and it was the job of the older residents to persuade the newer residents into "getting with the program". Types of "persuasion" included physical beatings in a ritual called "The Ring", month-long stints in a isolation chamber called "The Corner", and a sick ritual called a "General Meeting" where the entire population would publicly verbally humiliate one student for up to an hour.

Here is the Wikipedia for more information: [en.wikipedia.org]

Elan was one of the many spin-offs of the Synanon Cult:
[en.wikipedia.org]

Thanks for this, Joe.

There's a lot of information about Elan School:

[www.google.com]

Another search with slightly different results:

[www.google.com]

Synanon

[culteducation.com]