Hi Trooper,
Here are some answers to your questions:
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1) What type of educational program requires successive 16 hour days of lectures? Is this healthy?
Landmark is not a state recognised educational programme, they use the term education because it hooks people. They do it over 16 hours officially so people dont have to take time off work (this is the line fed to participants) but having looked into it further it has a big impact on your ability to think critically and with out that you take on their views very easily and dogmatically (you will fight anyone who disagrees with their view)
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2) Why might you be volunteering for a for-profit organization?
Landmark promote "assisting" as a programme to develop your landmark training day by day. Assisting is of course volunteering and landmark can not run with out volunteers. Volunteers are used in the offices and during programmes. Landmark makes more money having volunteers than paying staff!! and what staff they do have in offices (not course leaders) get paid just above legally minimum wages!
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3) Am I dedecting a premium a premium placed upon recruiting over the concerns of the participants?
Landmark would say no, the concerns of the participants supposedly would come first but in reality every leads to getting participants to get people along to the introduction and in fact one of the measures that courses leaders have to see if they are successfull is how many guests turn up
In discussing your concerns with your girlfriend you will have to be very careful, pushing to much of a negative view is going to make her angry and defensive and she will probably ask for coaching from the staff on how to deal with you ... asking her to take a break may be helpful particularly if she is not assisting, but dont be surprised if she says no.
by the sounds of it if she has done a course that is four days long she has already done the advanced course, the landmark forum is three days and one night. advanced is four days and one night.
You mention she drinks cool aid which i suspect is an energy drink (sorry we dont have it here) this is common amoung participants, while working for LEC i was drinking four or five cans of v a day (v is a strong energy drink here) Drinking this actually helps landmark get a hook because you think you are alert and with it when in fact you are awake because of energy drinks your brain is mush!
With the written information you have leave it around for her to find try and leave a mix of good and bad so it doesn't look like you are delibritly trying to discredit landmark.