Perspectives: How Diversity Goes Beyond Tolerance

by John Achrazoglou , November 9, 2010

Diversity needs to go beyond tolerance. Tolerance is a first step. It is much better than conflict. But tolerance is a somewhat negative word, according to David See-Chai Lam, former lieutenant governor of British Columbia. To “tolerate” and to be “tolerated” involves an unequal relationship. Tolerance implies that the tolerator has the power to not tolerate.
German philosopher Herbert Marcuse said under conditions of inequality one cannot preach tolerance to the oppressed. Tolerance poses little challenge to an unjust status quo and silences the oppressed. Going beyond tolerance is a journey of building competencies and dispositions beyond shallow acceptance and celebratory sympathies and sensibilities.
The destination is cultivated and sustained by mutual empathy and respect. The path is littered with abandoned stereotypes and dismantled barriers. Venomous malice spewed (both on and offline) is repelled and driven back by an appalled, interconnected community of victims and allies. Bullies and their ilk are no longer ignored and tolerated but met with massive doses of outrage and shamed into extinction.

Find a Charter School

 

Find a Charter School

Charter Schools and Public Ones Align in Valley

By Morgan Smith and Sarah Butrymowicz
December 2, 2010
New York Times

It was almost lunch time on the day before Thanksgiving break, but Gustavo Corrales, a math teacher, was not ready to let his students out the door at the San Juan campus of IDEA Public Schools, a network of charter schools in the Rio Grande Valley.
“I’m not going to pass you if you don’t know what to do — but it’s not because I’m being mean. I’m not being gacho,” he said, using a Mexican slang word for “unkind.” “It’s because I want you to learn.”

Earlier that same morning, across Highway 83 at Southwest High School in Pharr, Cindy Rivera, a language arts teacher, passed out copies of Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology” to about 18 ninth graders. “This is a college level book, guys,” she said encouragingly, introducing a unit on classical gods and goddesses. “The material is perfect for high schoolers. You love violence, and you love romance.”

The two teachers are supposed to be rivals. Mr. Corrales works in a charter school that is publicly financed but operates independently of the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District, where Ms. Rivera teaches. Nationally, charter schools and traditional school districts battle for students and money, and trade claims about their relative success.

Obama Set to Meet With ‘Waiting for Superman’ Students

By Tim Perone
October 11, 2010
New York Post

In a huge boost for the charter-school movement, President Obama is set to meet today in the Oval Office with the five kids featured in the documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’ ” which trumpets the need to reform the country’s education system.

Obama will shake hands with the youngsters whose struggles to leave failing public schools and enter more successful charter ones via a lottery system are profiled in the movie by Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim, who will also be at the White House.

The president has previously hailed the film as “heartbreaking” and its message of reform as “powerful.”

Geoffrey Canada, the CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., whose work promoting charter schools is featured in the film, said, “The president understands that charters are a really valuable asset.

See How Informed (!) the People Attacking Harmony Schools and Cosmos Foundation are

Nothing much to say. This video is worth thousand words, watch and draw your own conclusions. They call them Gulen charter schools, connected to Fethullah Gulen, Bill Gates worshipers, you name it…



If I was an administrator at Cosmos Foundation or Harmony Schools, I would send flowers to these people for making their lives so easy:)

Here is the script of the video:

As CBS 7 first reported Tuesday, a West Texas group is claiming that a charter school coming to Odessa this fall has ties to radical Islam in Turkey. But tonight’s statements from school administrators and new information seem to indicate that claim is not true.

As parents poured into Harmony’s future school building for an information session this evening, “West Texas Patriots” members stood outside handing out fliers that encourage parents to research the school online. As CBS 7 first told you Tuesday, The Patriots believe the Harmony Schools have connections to “Radical Islam”. However, continued research of our own found that is unlikely. For example, Congressman Randy Neugebauer supports Harmony, and President George W. Bush invited Harmony Academy students to the Whitehouse in 2008.

West Texas Patriot representative, Georgia Bustamanti, couldn’t provide any source for her information.
Georgia Bustamanti: “We found this on the website.”
Beau Berman: “Which website?”
Bustamanti: “What is the name of it?”
Berman: “Do you think that maybe you should know the name of the website before you spread this information to parents who are just trying to find out about a school?”
Bustamanti: “Well… yes, probably. I will admit that.”

Visit the Patriots’ website and they provide links to personal blogs, which backup their claims about Harmony with links to other blogs, which in turn, use other blogs as their proof. A primary source is never identified on these websites either.

Beau Berman: “Who is the source that claims they’re connected to Fethullah Gulen?”
Georgia Bustamanti: “I don’t think I’m going to say that.”
Berman: “Why?”
Bustamanti: “I just don’t think I’m going to.”
Berman: “Do you know who the source is?”
Bustamanti: “I’ll sure (sic) send you an email later.”

This article from harmonyparent.com

Gulen charter schools and Bill Gates’ role in re-establishing Ottoman Empire as one of the founders of the Cosmos Foundation

After reading the blog linking Bill Gates to the Ottoman Empire and then to the Harmony schools, I was so shocked that I almost fell out of my chair. These insane blogs are calling those publicly funded charter schools as Gulen charter schools, and claim that Bill Gates funds terrorism. Absurd. If you people prefer Macs to Windows, you don’t need to blame Bill Gates for that, and spread your lies that he is secretly funding Gulen charter schools. If tomorrow a Yale University professor gives a speech at Cosmos foundation, or any Harmony public schools, you are going to call Yale a Gulenist organization or a Gulen charter school? Comedy.

The Gates Foundation funds other charter schools as well: KIPP, Aspire Public Schools, so on. Are they pro-Ottoman too? Don’t believe everything you hear.

The Gates Foundation is a big funder for education not for political agendas. Even though this is not true, but if Bill Gates was the founder of Cosmos Foundation, it would only help the reputation of Cosmos Foundation. I guess anything is fair game for some people when it comes to attacking Cosmos foundation and Harmony schools and affiliation with Bill Gates could be used to mislead readers.

Delusions.. delusions.. I guess the favorite movie of their childhood was Alice in Wonderland. LOL . This is exactly what they say, word-for-word:

Gates Foundation Invests In Charter Schools

Dow Jones – “Getting Personal: Gates Foundation Invests In Charter Schools”

by Shelly Banjo | November 11, 2009

New York (Dow Jones)–Even the country’s richest foundation is looking for a way to conserve assets while using them to fulfill its charitable mission.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday announced it is making $30 million in bond guarantees to high-performing charter schools in Houston. It is part of a new two-year, $400 million push in so-called program-related investments, which can consist of direct loans, equity investments, bond guarantees and other non-traditional forms of financial support.

New Report Showing How Successful Charters Are “Free To Lead” and Innovate

When Teachers at One School Balked at a New Math Program – They Won, and So Did Their Students…With a 90 Percent Pass Rate

Washington, DC – The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools today released a report showing how public charter schools can produce outstanding results when they have the freedom to hire highly qualified teaching teams, build innovative professional development programs and adjust curriculum or class structure to boost student achievement.