Controversy on Charter Schools Having Diverse Faculty Members
Education has become a hot issue these days. On the eve of "Waiting for Superman", a movie that deals with our problematic education system as well as the success story of charter schools, people from all walks of life have some sort of opinion to "save" our education system.
Charter schools constitute one significant dimension of the issue. Some people are extremely critical of these schools, while for some others, these schools are the apple of their eye. Whatever the case, they are/will be the subject of debate regardless of their success and failure. As a proponent of diverse education, I am closely monitoring the charter schools and I believe that most of them are greatly contributing to our diverse education system despite their specific shortcomings. Therefore, I always tend to concentrate on the success stories of the charter schools. Recently, I have come across some interesting and contradicting opinions about a certain group of charter schools. What is interesting about these schools is they are successfully serving underserved and economically disadvantaged communities and doing this with diverse faculty members. Those schools, according to their antagonists, are described as the schools that have some ties with Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim scholar, and his teachings. The officials of those schools, however, deny any kind of formal relationship with Gulen. As I was desperately looking for a reliable source, fortunately I came up with Dr. William Martin’s article in Texas Monthly. Embellished with scientific data, that article was my life saver to clear some of the doubts in my mind. I already published this article here. Later on, I continued my search on the internet and I found a blog, prepared by a scholar, about Gulen and U.S Educators in Public and Charter Schools.
This scholar also shares some of my concerns and for the very same reason he opened that blog. He says, “I am a researcher at an academic organization and have studied the transnational civic movement inspired by the life and works of Fethullah Gulen, so-called the Gulen movement. Recently I came across a story covered by USA Today in which the Gulen Movement is associated with a group of charter schools in the United States. In the story, it is said that “Charter schools inspired by Fethullah Gulen operate in 100 countries, including the USA.” I also found out that there are websites and blogs speaking the same way. One of them claims that “Fethullah Gulen infiltrates the U.S. through our charter schools.”
Then I decided to create a blog that helps clarify the matter. I think two points should be clear: The title "Gulen-inspired schools" refers to the private schools established and run by Gulen-inspired entrepreneurs and educators in Turkey and around the world. (2) Those charter schools in the U.S. at which some Gulen-inspired educators work are public initiatives and not to be labeled as Gulen-inspired schools.”
Please allow some time to take a look at this reliable source. Is diversity something good or bad? This is what we need to discuss. As for my humble opinion, having diverse teachers as faculty members always significantly contributes to the success of the schools.
Charter schools constitute one significant dimension of the issue. Some people are extremely critical of these schools, while for some others, these schools are the apple of their eye. Whatever the case, they are/will be the subject of debate regardless of their success and failure. As a proponent of diverse education, I am closely monitoring the charter schools and I believe that most of them are greatly contributing to our diverse education system despite their specific shortcomings. Therefore, I always tend to concentrate on the success stories of the charter schools. Recently, I have come across some interesting and contradicting opinions about a certain group of charter schools. What is interesting about these schools is they are successfully serving underserved and economically disadvantaged communities and doing this with diverse faculty members. Those schools, according to their antagonists, are described as the schools that have some ties with Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim scholar, and his teachings. The officials of those schools, however, deny any kind of formal relationship with Gulen. As I was desperately looking for a reliable source, fortunately I came up with Dr. William Martin’s article in Texas Monthly. Embellished with scientific data, that article was my life saver to clear some of the doubts in my mind. I already published this article here. Later on, I continued my search on the internet and I found a blog, prepared by a scholar, about Gulen and U.S Educators in Public and Charter Schools.
This scholar also shares some of my concerns and for the very same reason he opened that blog. He says, “I am a researcher at an academic organization and have studied the transnational civic movement inspired by the life and works of Fethullah Gulen, so-called the Gulen movement. Recently I came across a story covered by USA Today in which the Gulen Movement is associated with a group of charter schools in the United States. In the story, it is said that “Charter schools inspired by Fethullah Gulen operate in 100 countries, including the USA.” I also found out that there are websites and blogs speaking the same way. One of them claims that “Fethullah Gulen infiltrates the U.S. through our charter schools.”
Then I decided to create a blog that helps clarify the matter. I think two points should be clear: The title "Gulen-inspired schools" refers to the private schools established and run by Gulen-inspired entrepreneurs and educators in Turkey and around the world. (2) Those charter schools in the U.S. at which some Gulen-inspired educators work are public initiatives and not to be labeled as Gulen-inspired schools.”
Please allow some time to take a look at this reliable source. Is diversity something good or bad? This is what we need to discuss. As for my humble opinion, having diverse teachers as faculty members always significantly contributes to the success of the schools.
