Radical Turkish
Islamists Control Over 150 U.S. Charter Schools by Natalie Myers, 2/8/16
The
U.S. Congress has officially replaced the No Child Left Behind law with the
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which will eventually provide federal funding
to expand the presence of charter schools in America.
Unlike other schools, charter schools are funded by the public but operated privately, sometimes as a for-profit school. They are not under control of education departments, so these schools are free to hire and fire teachers and administrators as they see fit.
In
2008, Andy Smarick, a Thomas Fordham Institute fellow, announced a vision to
replace every urban public school with a charter school, and since this time,
the number of charter schools has grown rapidly.
Many
foreign nationals are attracted to charter schools because it allows them to
run American schools while being supported by taxpayers’ dollars. Some of these
nationals include Turkish investors with ties to Fethullah Gulen, a radical
Islamist and multi-billionaire who is at the top of the largest chain of U.S.
charter schools. He is known to be pushing radical Islam in a number of
ways in the U.S., and is a man whom the FBI has attempted to take down but
cannot touch.
The
Gulen Movement, a religious group headed by Gulen with Turkish origins, now has
over 150 charter schools to its name in 26 different states. The staff of these
schools are typically Turkish males, with many teachers and employees brought
in from Turkey on H-1B guest worker visas.
In
October 2015, it was discovered that almost 20 of these schools were being
investigated for a number of issues including illegal hiring practices, money
management, improper visa issues and illegal kickbacks.
To
get an idea of how much money these Turkish schools are making, look no further
than the Cosmos Foundation which under the name of Harmony Schools has received
more than $100 million in taxpayer funds.
These
schools preach that their mission is to “teach tens of thousands of people the
Turkish language and our national anthem, introduce them to our culture and win
them over.” Parents of these schools’ students have complained that the schools
rely too heavily on teaching a love of Turkey and Islam. One teacher even
complained that there is no separation between academic studies and the
teachings of Islam within the schools, where children are led to participate in
Muslim prayers.
Back
in Turkey, Gulen has had an enormous impact on the transition of Turkey from democracy
to jihadist nation. The Gulen network of schools, banks and businesses have led
to most of this radicalization, and now this radical Islam way of life is
spreading faster and faster into the United States.
America
is falling victim to yet another attack on our freedom, and this one is within
our school systems. The government needs to put an end to radical Islamists
running our educational system and teaching a whole new generation of
impressionable minds that Islam is the ideal religion.
Comments
Voters
should not allow state laws to allow this.
Georgians need to vote NO on the Constitutional Amendment to allow the existence
of state charter schools.
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