5/2/11

Oklahoma: Buckle of the Qur'an Belt?

Imam Gülen

This Oklahoman article - "Schools' backers say Islamic ties pose no threat" - is about four successful Sooner State charter schools that were founded by members of the Turkish Student Association at Oklahoma State University. One researcher claims that the schools are Gülen-inspired schools (Gülen being Muhammed Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim scholar who supposedly condemns terrorism). There are 120 similar schools in the United States, and the FBI is investigating the ones in Pennsylvania due to speculation that school employees are required to "kick-back 60% of their salaries to Gülen's Hizmet [movement]."

The story, which I encourage you to read, prompted a guest blog from Howling Hurricane.

HH writes: The extremely red tax dollars of the uber-conservative Okies flow freely to charter schools founded by Muslim Turkish nationals (to the tune of $8 million per year for four schools). Is this what charter-school advocates had in mind when they championed this publicly-funded experiment in school choice? But the door is wide open, and educational visionaries are comin' on down for some of that Sooner State hospitality and government largesse. At least these schools are helping to ease the unemployment crisis in Turkey and other Muslim countries, given that many of the teachers and administrators are here on H1-B visas,* doing the work educated Americans either can't do or won't do. Aaah, the tasty fruits of multiculturalism ...

*According to this report, “Gülen schools are among the nation’s largest users of the H1B visas. In 2009, the schools received government approvals for 684 visas ...”

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