Talk:Gülen movement schools

Welcome to the new Gülen Movement Schools article. I am working solo here and would really appreciate feedback.

I have taken one section from the Gülen Movement article, almost entirely intact, and pasted it here. It needs a lot of work in terms of style and content. I know there is a lot of controversy here but before we go into editing wars, please let's try to build an article that encompasses all viewpoints. The point is simply to get started.

My goal in forming this page is to simplify the Gülen Movement article. The section "Education" is just too detailed and readers will get lost. I am going to severely cut the content on the Gülen Movement page and refer readers who want more details to this page.

So let's get started and see what evolves. Again, please share your feedback. I apologize if it takes me a while to get back to you--I am teaching far too many courses this summer!

Thank you very much!

FetullahFan (talk) 20:38, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Maybe we should change the title of this article to "Gulen movement-inspired schools" or something like that? The current title suggests that all the schools are directly affiliated with Hizmet whereas, in reality, there is a loose association. The movement itself claims that there is no direct connection between it and the charter schools that are often ascribed to them.

Any thoughts?

I am removing two paragraphs from the article because they are not related to the theme of Gulen movement schools. I don't like to act unilaterally so please feel free to revert so we can have further discussion about this. The two paragraphs would better fit into the Gulen Movement article if someone cares to do so.

For your convenience, here is the first excised paragraph:
 * Some people inspired by Gulen constantly invite high-ranking leaders to dinners to speak and lavish them with awards. Dozens of Texans, ranging from state lawmakers to congressional staff members to university professors, have taken trips to Turkey financed by Gülen's foundations. The Raindrop Foundation, for instance, paid for State Senator Leticia Van de Putte's travel to Istanbul, according to a recent campaign report. In 2012 she cosponsored a state senate resolution commending Gülen for "his ongoing and inspirational contributions to promoting global peace and understanding." Steve Terrell, a reporter at the Santa Fe New Mexican, found that a remarkable number of local lawmakers had recently taken trips to Turkey courtesy of a private group, the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, that is tied to Gülen. In Idaho in 2011, a full tenth of state legislators went on a tour in Turkey financed by the Pacifica Institute, also inspired by Gülen. The Hawaii State Ethics Commission sent a memo to lawmakers reminding them to check with the commission before accepting the all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to which they'd been invited by Pacifica. "The State Ethics Commission," said the memo, "does not have sufficient understanding of Pacifica Institute, the purpose of the trip, or the state ‘benefit' associated with the trip."

Here is the second excised paragraph:
 * Hundreds of people around the world, ranging from police officers, lawyers,state lawmakers, congressional staff members to university professors, have taken trips to Turkey financed by Gülen's foundations. The Raindrop Foundation, for instance, paid for State Senator Leticia Van de Putte's travel to Istanbul, according to a recent campaign report. In 2012 she cosponsored a state senate resolution commending Gülen for "his ongoing and inspirational contributions to promoting global peace and understanding." Steve Terrell, a reporter at the Santa Fe New Mexican, found that a remarkable number of local lawmakers had recently taken trips to Turkey courtesy of a private group, the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, that is tied to Gülen. In Idaho in 2011, a full tenth of state legislators went on a tour in Turkey financed by the Pacifica Institute, also inspired by Gülen. The Hawaii State Ethics Commission sent a memo to lawmakers reminding them to check with the commission before accepting the all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to which they'd been invited by Pacifica. "The State Ethics Commission," said the memo, "does not have sufficient understanding of Pacifica Institute, the purpose of the trip, or the state ‘benefit' associated with the trip."

FetullahFan (talk) 13:01, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

How to improve this article
After starting this article by breaking it away from the Gulen Movement article, I would like to ask help from editors to address several issues.

1- Balance. I believe the article is not balanced. Although I am not familiar with K-12 education, I am suspicious because there is an abundance of "war stories" and very little praise. How did the network of charter schools grow so rapidly if there were not success stories? It is not logical. I suspect that the contributors of this article were drawn from charter-school critics who are attacking Gulen inspired schools to substantiate their own agendas.

2- Readability. In some cases the level of detail overwhelms readers. For example, the criticism found in the Dutch government report is important for the article, but do we need such detail?

Today I provided a better structure for the article, creating several sections and subsections. I also condensed the criticisms from the Dutch government. I think they are out of proportion to the rest of the article. I summarized the conclusions and interested readers can find the details through the citation. FetullahFan (talk) 00:32, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

3- Plagiarism. Several of the comments in the evaluations of charter schools are directly lifted, word-for-word, from the cited sources. The editors of these comments should write their criticisms in their own words or risk their removal from the site. FetullahFan (talk) 00:50, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Charter school academic achievement
As it stands right now this article is SO unbalanced! I suspect that detractors of the charter school movement have descended on this article. Many of the postings follow posting charges that have not been substantiated. For example, critics have posted that the FBI has "raided" schools--but where are the subsequent arrests, indictments, trials, school closings, etc.? Without such documentation there should not be paragraph after paragraph of insinuating copy in this article.

More upsetting, where are the evaluations of the academic performance of these schools? Should that not be the real story?

Although a very modest start, I posted the rise in academic achievement at one charter school in Louisiana which should countervail the accusations later in the article about an FBI raid--which has not resulted in any charges. I believe the real story is in the gains in academic achievement, not in criticisms of management.

Please, let's also not forget that there is no overarching umbrella or network connecting these charter schools. FetullahFan (talk) 10:46, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

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REVERTING to invite for bold, revert, discuss cycle and 3rd opinion
I reverted one major (and appearing to be biased) edit by Alasss123 to invite him for bold, revert, discuss cycle and 3rd opinion. Please join us for 3rd opinion. I recommend not to make any major edit until a consensus. Thank you.--Yakamoz51 (talk) 06:45, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20140222031807/http://leavechartersalone.com/2011/gulen-inspired-schools-promote-learning-and-service/ to http://leavechartersalone.com/2011/gulen-inspired-schools-promote-learning-and-service/

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