Sunday, June 6, 2010

The U.S. “Fethullahci” schools, sometimes locally known as Turkish-run charter schools

This is a list of 97 publicly-funded charter schools which are likely to be missionary schools started by followers of Fetullah Gülen, a controversial Turkish imam currently living in Pennsylvania. The operation of these schools is discreet and amorphous. There is no formal, visible umbrella organization that officially links them together in the way that is typical with very large EMOs like Imagine, White Hat, or KIPP.

As you search through the content on the schools’ Web sites, you will notice there are extremely strong visual similarities with a subset of these supposedly-unrelated schools on their Web site designs and school logos (overlapping ellipses).Most importantly, the Gülen-connected schools always share the same following characteristics:

  • Emphasis on math, science, computers and robotics
  • Turkish language offered as a subject
  • Turkish student clubs
  • High student participation in regional Turkish Olympiads and other competitions
  • Annual spring and/or summer trips to Europe which always include a visit to Turkey
  • Promotion of summer programs in Turkey
  • Large number of male Turkish teachers
  • Administrative staff and founders who are nearly exclusively Turkish

Similar school features are described in "Central Asia: Fetullah Gülen's Missionary Schools" by Bayram Balci (2002). This piece was published in a newsletter produced by the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) at Leiden University (Netherlands).

Here are some excerpts:

  • “The movement obtains much of its support from young urban men, especially doctors, academics and other professionals.”
  • “These schools can be said to focus on modem [robotics] and scientific education. Religious matters are completely absent from their curricula.”
  • “The movement's schools are managed by Turkish and national administrators and teachers.”

As far as the religious mission of the schools goes, Balci further explains:

  • “His [Gülen's] community, or cemaat, is designated as the Fethullahci movement, alhough [sic] its members do not appreciate this term. Basically, Fethullah Gülen's ideas serve to accomplish three intellectual goals: the islamization of the Turkish nationalist ideology; the turkification of Islam; and the Islamization of modernity.”
  • “No one knows exactly the size of Gülen's enormous community of followers and sympathizers, but most agree on an average es­timate of 3 million members…The movement has grown in part by sponsoring student dormitories, summer camps, colleges, universities, classrooms and communication organizations.”
  • “…Nurcu missionaries never openly or directly proselytize.”
  • “Their hocaefendi, or "respected lord", Gülen advocates two main ways of spreading Islam, tebligh and temsil.”
  • “They are not allowed to pronounce the name of Gülen or Nursi, nor are they permitted to spread Nurcu literature, at least not openly.”
  • “…the most important aim of the cemaat is to spread the message without expressing it directly.”

For more extensive information, read “Fethullah Gülen’s Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam,” Balci’s 27-page article which appeared in Religion, State & Society (Vol. 31, No. 2, 2003).

In the United States it is is not legal to use public funds to support charter schools which are established to directly or indirectly embed religious messages into the minds of American children.

However, it is perfectly permissible to operate private religious schools, and this is what Gülen’s followers should have chosen to do.

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ARIZONA (6)

Operated by Daisy Education Corporation (no Web site, seems to dba Sonoran Science Academy schools)

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ARKANSAS (2)

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CALIFORNIA (13)

Operated by Magnolia Schools (12)

Operated by Willow Education (1)

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COLORADO (1)

Operated by LSE, Inc. (Lotus School of Excellence)

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FLORIDA (4)

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GEORGIA (2)

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ILLINOIS (2)

Operated by Concept Schools, Inc.

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INDIANA (2)

Operated by Concept Schools, Inc.

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LOUISIANA (1)

Operated by Pelican Educational Foundation

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MARYLAND (1)

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MASSACHUSETTS (1)

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MICHIGAN (1)

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MISSOURI (2)

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NEVADA (4)

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NEW JERSEY (2)

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OHIO (16)

Operated by Concept Schools, Inc.

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OKLAHOMA (3)

Operated by the Sky Foundation (no Web site)

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PENNSYLVANIA (1)

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TEXAS (31)

Operated by the Cosmos Foundation - 27 schools (no Web site, seems to be dba Harmony Public Schools)

Operated by Riverwalk Education Foundation, Inc. - 4 schools (no Web site, seems to dba SST Schools)

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UTAH (1)

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WISCONSIN (1)

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Other non-charter schools which are likely to be connected:

*These schools waive summer program tuition and registration fees for Harmony and SST (School of Science & Technology) students.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I live in Texas and familiar with Harmony Public Schools and Cosmos foundation since I was involved in their I-SWEEEP science fair competition as a judge along with my several colleagues from the university I work at. But seems like there has been a lot of discussions & criticism about Harmony Schools and that got my interest since I have been invited to Cosmos and Harmony Schools several times for I-SWEEEP meetings but could not make it. If they are such sinister organization. then I better keep far from them.

My research (and yes I am an assistant professor who does a lot of research in different areas) showed me that, all these accusations and attacks are nothing but baseless accusations and altogether a big, driven from Turkey smear campaign. And I do believe all these has nothing to do with Harmony Schools or Cosmos Foundation but it has a lot to do with Gulen, the head of the Movement. I do not have much info about him and I do not really his real intentions, but people who dislike him ( and they might be right about this) have recently opened a new front in the war against him: "Attack credibility of schools that has Turkish administrators" After all what could scare more then "an imam who opens charter school to Islamise Texas". I would love to read Dr. William Martin's comments on this.

The accusations that made me think this way are many but this one is priceless;

http://www.harmonyparent.com/charterschools/bill-gates-role-in-re-establishing-ottoman-empire-as-one-of-the-founders-of-the-cosmos-foundation

(comments are hilarious in this one)
(Bill Gates is portrayed in Arabic dress and is blamed just because his foundation donated money to Harmony Schools for their success in TSTEM education)

Also visit this one and watch this video, I promise you won't ask for your ticket back:

http://www.harmonyparent.com/charterschools/see-how-informed-the-people-attacking-harmony-are/

(This is the CBS news coverage of people who protested Harmony School in Odessa and distributed fliers that, these people are terrorists and Texas Education Agency is helping Islamic Terrorist to take over Texas!)

So I say this: Please take your war against Gulen and his people to somewhere else, especially to Turkey but leave charter schools that are great alternative to failing public education alone whether it is harmony schools, KIPP, YES or Uplift.

September 19, 2010 at 8:20 PM
Anonymous said...

I live in Texas and familiar with Harmony Public Schools and Cosmos foundation since I was involved in their I-SWEEEP science fair competition as a judge along with my several colleagues from the university I work at. But seems like there has been a lot of discussions & criticism about Harmony Schools and that got my interest since I have been invited to Cosmos and Harmony Schools several times for I-SWEEEP meetings but could not make it. If they are such sinister organization. then I better keep far from them.

My research (and yes I am an assistant professor who does a lot of research in different areas) showed me that, all these accusations and attacks are nothing but baseless accusations and altogether a big, driven from Turkey smear campaign. And I do believe all these has nothing to do with Harmony Schools or Cosmos Foundation but it has a lot to do with Gulen, the head of the Movement. I do not have much info about him and I do not really his real intentions, but people who dislike him ( and they might be right about this) have recently opened a new front in the war against him: "Attack credibility of schools that has Turkish administrators" After all what could scare more then "an imam who opens charter school to Islamise Texas". I would love to read Dr. William Martin's comments on this.

The accusations that made me think this way are many but this one is priceless;

www.harmonyparent.com/charterschools/bill-gates-role-in-re-establishing-ottoman-empire-as-one-of-the-founders-of-the-cosmos-foundation
(comments are hilarious in this one)
(Bill Gates is portrayed in Arabic dress and is blamed just because his foundation donated money to Harmony Schools for their success in TSTEM education)

Also visit this one and watch this video, I promise you won't ask for your ticket back:

www.harmonyparent.com/charterschools/see-how-informed-the-people-attacking-harmony-are/
(This is the CBS news coverage of people who protested Harmony School in Odessa and distributed fliers that, these people are terrorists and Texas Education Agency is helping Islamic Terrorist to take over Texas!)

So I say this: Please take your war against Gulen and his people to somewhere else, especially to Turkey but leave charter schools that are great alternative to failing public education alone whether it is harmony schools, KIPP, YES or Uplift.

September 19, 2010 at 8:21 PM
Mr. Curious said...

USA Today published an interesting interview with Mr. Gulen on August 18, 2010. There Gulen admits that his educational philosophy seems to have influenced a group of educators working at U.S. charter/public schools. However, he rejects the attribution of any public schools to his name in the form of Gulen charter schools or so. Another interesting interview has been conducted by an academic with a group of Gulen-inspired educators working at U.S. charter/public schools. For this interview: http://gulenandcharterschools.blogspot.com/p/gulen-and-educators.html

September 20, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Tomcat said...

i've done a little research on this movement. apparently they have schools all over the world. it seems that their schools have pretty long track records. if they had any hidden agendas, i am sure it'd have surfaced by now. i am not writing this to support their schools. i am just saying that let's not defame our successful charters unless we have concrete evidence.

September 21, 2010 at 4:07 PM
The Perimeter Primate said...

The Gulenists and their sympathizers troll entries such as this one and are known to make comments such as the ones above. Their goal is to convince readers that the Gulen Movement has no intentions or involvement in these charter schools, or ulterior motives of any kind. They are distressed that the scheme has been discovered and is being broadcast.

Pretending Tomcat is just an average person who as done "a little research" into the Gulen Movement, I will reply to his comment to say that the hidden agenda of the GM may not have surfaced before, but it is getting out NOW.

The starting point for reading my body of research, and that of other individuals (which happens to be considerable, not a little, Tomcat), can be found here:

http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/gulen-school-characteristics.html

September 22, 2010 at 6:59 AM
Anonymous said...

If you just want to get rid of junk blogs and other stuff and wish to read a success story of a group of charter schools, you can take a look at the article by Dr. William Martin of Rice University in "Texas Monthly", the most prestigious monthly magazine of Texas. This is really a sound article with full of scientific facts and figures. To read the full article, visit this website:

http://www.divedu.com/articles/15/head-class.html

September 24, 2010 at 7:39 AM
The Perimeter Primate said...

Dear Readers: I've been tracking "Anonymous" above for the past few days. This individual has been going from site to site online and posting near identical comments. Track his activity by googling the link he offers.

Sometimes this person uses the name "williampack" or a variation. He is undoubtedly a member of the GM on damage-control duty.

The recommended article is a puff piece about the Gulen charter schools written by a known Gulenist sympathizer. The timing of that article is in direct response to the fact that Greg Toppo’s piece (USA Today, 8/17/2010) about the GM-connected, Turk-run schools was the first national article about what's going on and an increasing number of Americans are informed and alarmed.

Read about the GM's American enablers here: http://gulencharterschools.weebly.com/american-enablers.html

See type #6.

September 24, 2010 at 8:20 AM

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