And
here’s what’s worse…
My
reaction?
That’s
news?
The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico has decided to cave in to the Catholic
Church, specifically the diocese
of Arecibo, and allow the church to withhold documents requested by the
Justice Department related to abusive priests. Why? Because some of the victims
chose to tell the church, and all that communication is “confidential.”
Here’s what
happened, or at least what I presume happened: some kids got abused, walked
around wounded for months or years, and finally got the courage to go to the
church and complain. Not surprising, because listening for fifteen minutes to
the morning radio shows in Puerto Rico will tell you exactly what you don’t
want to have happen to you. And that’s being the topic of the day.
If you know
anything about the dynamics of sexual abuse, you’ll know that the victim,
paradoxically, usually feels responsible or guilty for his or her own abuse,
and that it takes a level of maturity not often seen in kids to have the
strength to confront the adult world, especially when that adult world is
wearing a Roman collar. So the likelihood is that most of the victims were
kids, and most of the victims coming forward were young adults who reported
abuse years after it happened.
So the
Supreme Court has ruled that a lower court judge has to look at all the
documents, determine if the complainant is an adult, and then ask the person if
he / she wants the documents released to Justice.
Guys?
We’re talking about crimes here.
However, so
loopy is our need to “protect” religious freedom, covering up abusive priests
may be perfectly legal; here’s
Wikipedia on the topic:
A
communication is "confidential" if made privately and not intended
for further disclosure except to other persons present in furtherance of the
purpose of the communication.
Yeah? So if
I sit in an office and tell the bishop that the parish priest had his hand on
my crotch four years ago, that’s confidential?
Yup, and
that’s why we have seven priests in Arecibo who have been defrocked, and who
are all walking around, or perhaps lurking outside school playgrounds,
reenacting all those lurid 1950’s educational films. And does anybody think out
there that those priests got defrocked for something that wasn’t illegal?
It doesn’t
stop surprising me, the stuff that religious people get themselves up to,
because who knew that the
largest chain of charter
schools is run—maybe—by Fethullah Gülen,
an Islamic Imam from Turkey, now living in the Poconos?
Here’s what
the website for the chain’s
Texas branch has to say:
Our
mission at Harmony is to prepare each student for higher education by providing
a safe, caring, and collaborative atmosphere featuring a quality,
student-centered educational program with a strong emphasis on Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
In Numbers:
40
Campuses (24 T-STEM schools)
25,000
Students
2,276
Faculty and Staff
Student-to-Teacher
Ratio of 14-to-1
100
percent Graduation Rate for Seniors
100
percent College Acceptance Rate
Umm… 100%
college acceptance? 100% graduation rate?
Well, if
true, that would account for the waiting list of some 30,000 kids—more kids
than are currently enrolled in the system. And in the video below, the kids
certainly look happy, and the school is a knockout. True, most of the teachers
are Turkish, and some of them are substantially less fluent in English than I
am in Spanish. Which is odd, since some of them are teaching…English.
And that
100% Graduation Rate? Well, here’s
one less-than-gruntled account by a teacher fired by a Gülen school:
When it came
time for OATs, as they were called then, testing was a disaster. Several
Turkish men arrived and pulled “at risk” students from their classrooms, taking
them to the moldy rooms in small groups, despite the lack of written
documentation allowing accommodations. The week after testing, I went to school
on a Saturday morning in order to keep ahead of my planning, and I saw a dozen
Turkish men sitting in a classroom with stacks of OATs on their desks. The
current principal brought a cup of tea and a plate of cookies to me while I
worked alone in my classroom. He said that the men were simply darkening in the
answers for students who wrote too lightly.
Right—we
all know that kids have an instinctive bent for delicacy, which undoubtedly
accounted for those faint markings….
And there
have been questions, as well, about how accountable these schools are. Reports
have surfaced that at least the Turkish teachers have to kickback up to forty
percent of their salary to the Gülen movement. Oh,
and what about the question of immigration? Is there really such a shortage of
American teachers? And do these
“teachers” have any formal training?
That said,
it’s also true that, bar having done if for twenty plus years, I’m completely
untrained too, and that didn’t stop me from fooling a passel of students and
the world’s largest company into thinking I knew what I was doing.
Nor is
Gülen, apparently, the most virulent of imams. Because his message was / is
that the Muslim world doesn’t need more mosques and madrasas, but rather schools
that focus on the sciences and math. And though virtually a recluse, his
movement carries such weight that, in Turkey at least, his opponents fear that
he may be planning
a coup.
And the
schools—are they really connected to Gülen? They—some of them—say no, others
say yes. Why the confusion, or the secrecy?
Well, would
you want to be a Muslim in America? And here, I have to say that however
radicalized I might be as an atheist, I’d welcome an imam like Gülen who—if
true—is a moderate and condemns extreme forms of Islam. We need these guys….
And the
charter schools? With their reports of not accepting some students, of kicking
out students who don’t perform, of shifting kids around? That’s the negative
stuff. But what about all those kids you see in videos who are solemnly swearing
that school is fun, learning is cool, going to school is a joy?
Don’t know.
But this I do know: if I were a parent, I’d certainly check out the charter
schools in my area….
