This is from the website of the Barack Obama Charter School in Los Angeles -- its Board of Directors. Note that Tom Harkenrider is Soka University's Chief of Operations -- Soka University being SGI's college. Now, I don't know that Mr. Harkenrider is an SGI member -- but Soka U's board members have been SGI leaders, people pretty high up in SGI-USA. I don't see how he could have his position at Soka U if Ikeda didn't know and trust him. Which means that SGI has some involvement in this charter school as well. Are the students' parents, the California taxpayers and the local community even aware of this? Now, the Soka Gakkai have their chain of charter schools in Japan; they have for years. The difference, I think, is that the Japanese public knows what these schools are. Here in the U.S., so many people have never heard of SGI, and so, would have no idea that the school is connected to a group like SGI.

Should we object, if the Soka schools are giving children a good education -- especially kids in poor neighborhoods where the public schools aren't great? I have mixed feelings. Of course, I want every child to have the best education possible, and some areas have very poor public schools. Shouldn't the children who live in those areas have better choices? The problem is, if I send my child to a Soka School, instead of a public school...the state aid goes to the Soka School (and SGI) rather than the public school. Some of the taxes that my neighbors and I pay goes to SGI -- and we don't even know it!

It makes perfect sense that SGI is going into the charter school business. They've had the Soka schools in Japan for years, they've opened Soka U in California....now they want elementary, middle and high schools in the U.S. It takes money to open charter schools; SGI has it with their real estate dealings. It's a way to spread SGI's power, influence and legitimacy. Makiguchi and Toda, the first two SGI presidents, were educators. Ikeda owns 250 degrees; now he needs some more schools!

________________Quote, Website, Barack Obama Charter School of Los Angeles_________________________________________________________
Board Members
Tom Harkenrider is Soka University of America’s Chief of Operations. He previously served in a consulting capacity as Soka’s Campus Design and Operations Advisor for its $300 million construction project.

David Bhattacharyya is an equity research associate at the Capital Group. He assists two portfolio managers and one Equity Analyst in managing over $3 billion in investments for institutional clients. He previously worked as a financial analyst for Analysis Group, a litigation consulting firm, on securities litigation cases. David is a participant in the Riordan Leadership Development Program (RVLDP), whose mission is to “to educate and train young professionals for life-long service in the governance of non-profit organizations.

Joan Sabree Faqir has been a fifth grade teacher at Shirley Avenue Elementary School in LAUSD for sixteen years. She specializes in literacy, English Language Development, Multicultural Education and the Social Sciences. Ms. Faqir also instructs in the LAUSD Intern Program and BTSA. Previously, Ms. Faqir served as Principal of MuMin Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for six years and served as the Center for Advanced Learning’s Executive Director during its inaugural year.

Annie Winston is the author of the national award winning Admiral Wright’s Heroical Storicals series of books: Daniel Boone and The Battle of Boonesborough; Harriet Tubman and The Underground Railroad (publish date, Spring 2010 ); She has directed the sales and marketing of the Heroical Storicals series, selling over 25,000 books (book one) via elementary school author talks, bookstore signings, and special events. She is a featured speaker with the Wonder of Reading program. Ms. Winston was an ESL teacher at Tewinkle Elementary School in the Newport Mesa School District



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© Copyright Barack Obama Charter School – Phone: (424) 203-0890
Mail: P.O. Box 72028, Los Angeles, CA 90002-0028
Campus: 1726 E. 117th St., Los Angeles, CA 90059
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__________________________________End of Quote_____________________________________________________________________________

Well guys, I am in Europe here, but the thought that SGI may open schools here in the West does send chills down my spine. Just read the article on Rick Ross about the NY principal.
Now we all have been members of SGI and we know that everything they do has at least the hidden agenda to recruit new members.
If one could be sure the SGI would respect the separation between state and church I would not even object, but they clearly do not. Just look at Japan and the controversy going on there about Komeito etc.
 
Governments around the world have problems with their budgets and run into deficit spending – now even more due to the “crisis”, but this should not mean that they allow education to be run by cults.
 
I mean don’t you at least consider informing the press or political representatives in an attempt to enable them to make an informed decision?
 
Again, SGI does not stand for religious tolerance I can not see any child leaving Soka “education system” as a well informed person when it come to religious matters. Do you ???
 
Tsukimoto you said “Should we object, if the Soka schools are giving children a good education -- especially kids in poor neighborhoods where the public schools aren't great?”
To me a good education is also one that will enable a child to become an open minded individual, able to make an academic decision and to think for himself/herself. A good education would in my books also be eager to enable young individuals to question things even if raising those questions can cause opposition. Those are to my mind true humanistic values.
Respect is one of those values as it is brutally unbiased, because it will force you to respect even those one may disagree with.
Now we all heard those so called values of Soka Gakkai, to my mind SGI’s values and the way they are executed do not even meet the standards of a basic humanistic perspective.
You really do have second thoughts if it would be a good idea to expose a child to such a climate ??
I already wrote in this forum how a Japanese leader here in Europe once compared the Nichiren Shoshu priests and Hokkeko members to a cancer. With all due respect the last people who made such comparisons were the Nazis.

I mean most of you are American citizens and without indulging in any sort of SGI-bashing one could certainly shed some light on some aspects concerning SGI. Has anyone contacted the Massachusetts Department of Education in order to find out how far the proposal for a Soka -school has come?

Even if I do not agree with the Nichiren Shoshu on a doctrinal level. With the time gone by I can well understand why they kicked out SGI.

SGI in my mind became so fiercely opposed to Nichiren Shoshu as with the excommunication went access to the Dai-Gohonzon --- bye bye to all those mystical aspects that surounded Taiseki-ji. SGI behaved like a child stripped of its favourite toy. SGI deep down speculated it could regain access to the Dai-gohonzon, no high priest, but Ikeda on top of it all.

I believe it still bugs SGI that Nichiren Shoshu continues doing what it ought to do. Give sermons and lectures on the way they interprete Nichirens teachings - no big media hype, no great online apperance. If one belives in it fine.

Due to all this SGI has yet to find its home on a doctrinal level - I bet they will declare Ikeda as the true Buddha in the future just wait and see.

Quote
tsukimoto
Should we object, if the Soka schools are giving children a good education -- especially kids in poor neighborhoods where the public schools aren't great? I have mixed feelings. Of course, I want every child to have the best education possible, and some areas have very poor public schools. Shouldn't the children who live in those areas have better choices? The problem is, if I send my child to a Soka School, instead of a public school...the state aid goes to the Soka School (and SGI) rather than the public school. Some of the taxes that my neighbors and I pay goes to SGI -- and we don't even know it!

Rothaus, My questions, "Should we object if the Soka Schools are giving children a good education?" and "Shouldn't children in poor neighborhoods have choices?" are rhetorical questions; I was playing Devil's Advocate. That's what some people really WILL say about SGI opening schools. Unfortunately in the U.S., a big percentage of school funding comes from property taxes in the area in which a school is located. Schools in poor neighborhoods are not funded as well as schools in wealthier areas. This is terribly unjust, but it does explain poorer districts' willingness to consider giving groups like SGI permission to start charter schools.

Part of me does think, "Hell, SGI's rich; let them spend some of their billions helping kids from poor families, instead of buying another degree, or gold-plated doorknob for Ikeda-san!" "Surely the State Ed departments will offer enough oversight to make sure kids aren't being taught that Ikeda's the savior of mankind. "

Then I think, "No...trust SGI with people's kids and taxpayer money; am I crazy?" Look at that case in Riverdale, New York, where that principal was having teachers chant in his office that enemies of SGI be defeated. Look at all the problems that Soka University in California has had. SGI operating charter schools -- not a good idea.

Quote
Rothaus
Even if I do not agree with the Nichiren Shoshu on a doctrinal level. With the time gone by I can well understand why they kicked out SGI.

SGI in my mind became so fiercely opposed to Nichiren Shoshu as with the excommunication went access to the Dai-Gohonzon --- bye bye to all those mystical aspects that surounded Taiseki-ji. SGI behaved like a child stripped of its favourite toy. SGI deep down speculated it could regain access to the Dai-gohonzon, no high priest, but Ikeda on top of it all.

I believe it still bugs SGI that Nichiren Shoshu continues doing what it ought to do. Give sermons and lectures on the way they interprete Nichirens teachings - no big media hype, no great online apperance. If one belives in it fine.

Due to all this SGI has yet to find its home on a doctrinal level - I bet they will declare Ikeda as the true Buddha in the future just wait and see.

Rothaus, have you read something that Anticult posted on the previous page -- August 25, 2009, 06:55 a.m.?

There are a lot of long posts that both Anticult and I have recently copied from other websites, so it's easy to miss things. In the section I'm talking about, Lisa Jones writes about the Soka Gakkai writing alternate versions of its own history.

"Westword Magazine," in Colorado, wrote an article that the local SGI folk did not like some years back. The article said that the Nichiren Shoshu priests had "kicked Ikeda out." Well, SGI leaders told the members that for years!

And yet, one of SGI's public relations hacks wrote into Westword -- something to the effect that Nichiren Shoshu DIDN'T kick Ikeda out; he CHOSE to leave because of the priests' corruption and unwillingness to progress. Like Ms. Jones, I read that and thought "WHAT!!???" Has this guy been sleeping through all the SGI meetings for the past several years? For years, we had been told that the evil priesthood had kicked wonderful Ikeda out, Operation C and all that. Again and Again, SGI had said that. Suddenly this guy is saying something totally different -- that Ikeda had just CHOSEN to leave? Huh?

So what's the real story? I don't think we'll ever know. MAYBE Nikken just decided to excommunicate SGI and Ikeda for no good reason. Or maybe Ikeda provoked Nikken in some way. Or, just maybe Nikken DID NOT excommunicate anyone. Maybe Ikeda just wanted to run SGI his own way, without priests telling him what he could or couldn't do. The fact is, Ikeda's ambitious, arrogant, egotistical. He HAD to find it galling that this priest could tell him what he could or couldn't do. Who else could tell him anything? Not anyone in SGI. Only Nikken and the senior priests. If SGI remained part of Nichiren Shoshu, it would ALWAYS be like that....Ikeda having to play second fiddle to high priest. A guy like Ikeda is not going to be second to ANYONE.

Ikeda could hardly tell the members, "I'm tired of that damn Nikken telling me what to do. Tired of being second to some idiot in a dress." No, he'd have to make himself sound like the good guy. Spiritual. Principled. Operation C did that. Why, those evil SGI priests gave us no choice! We're the good guys, they're the bad guys. Having an enemy makes people unite. SGI members became obsessed with "Soka Spirit," refuting the evil Nichiren Shoshu priests, and didn't think to question what the SGI leaders were up to.

You mentioned the Nazis in an earlier post, Rothaus. That was exactly their strategy.

Was the whole split even about doctrine? SGI had no problem with dropping the whole kechimyaku doctrine when it became inconvenient. Of course the senior leadership had to ACT outraged about access to Taiseki-ji and the DaiGohonzon -- it would have looked suspicious if they didn't. And the fact is, SGI members could have gone to Taiseki-ji or any other Nichiren Shoshu temple they wanted -- the SGI leadership scared members away from doing so, telling them that they were making "a bad cause," or "bad karma" if they went. They couldn't have SGI members talking to priests and the temple members. Why, the SGI members might actually start questioning SGI's fictions. Couldn't have that.

But yes, I'm sure that SGI will declare Ikeda the true Buddha -- if they haven't done it already.

SGI has been trying to move people into politics, and other areas for some time.

Rick Ross wrote a blog post about Newly elected United States Congressman Hank Johnson [www.cultnews.com]

But this movement into Charter Schools is very disturbing.
There are a few articles posted in the archive about the school principal here.
[www.culteducation.com]

Many sects and cults have tried to move into charter schools, but SGI is especially worrying as they literally have billions and billions of dollars behind them.
And be certain, they would want to run those charter schools to accumulate assets, AND indocrinate children at the same time. They will try to walk that fine line.

If they try to do this in the USA, very very vigorous public dissent against what they are doing, could put a stop to it. SGI will probably learn from the recent firing of the school principal, and set up a "non-religious" wing of SGI to try and run these charter schools.

And the information about Tom Harkenrider who was appointed as Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo's Chief of Operations in July 2000 [www.soka.edu]
And he is also on the board of directors of the Barak Obama Charter School.
That is interesting about the Barak Obama Charter School. It has nothing to do with Obama of course, they just picked that name themselves. [latimesblogs.latimes.com]
It looks like that school is run by INGENIUM SCHOOLS.
Who owns Ingenium Schools? Who is behind it?
[www.taxexemptworld.com]
Who is on the board of Trustees?

[165.74.253.64]
"It also includes the Ingenium Schools. Board of Trustees: David Bhattacharyya, Tom Harkenrider, Albert Jones, and Skip Zeiler"

[74.125.93.132]
"The charter school is to be operated by Ingenium Schools, a duly constituted California non-profit benefit corporation (the Articles of Incorporation are attached to the petition). Ingenium Schools is governed by its Board of Trustees"
"3. There are serious questions regarding whether the charter school is non-sectarian within the meaning of the Education Code.
The fact that one of the QUED school sites will be located in a church is problematic and the petitioners provide only generic affirmations of the school’s purported secular nature".


A good place to start is to search Google for:

"Ingenium Schools"







_______QUOTE excerpt____________________
[www.culteducation.com]
NYC Principal In Hot Water Over 'Buddhist Chants'
Parents At P.S. 24 In Riverdale Say Philip Sharper Led Chants Against Teachers On Alleged "Hate List"

CBS News/March 27, 2009
By Josh Landis
...Education officials are looking into a reports that the man led religious chants against people he considered enemies.
...
"He has tried to recruit staff members to be part of his faith and he has also hired a couple of people from his temple," parent Tracy Shelton said.

The Department of Education is taking the allegations very seriously. Among them - that Principal Scharper handed out Buddhist chant cards while on school property.

The complaint, filed by someone at the school, said Scharper also led "Buddhist chants" against teachers on a "hate list."
...
_________________________________



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2009 02:45AM by The Anticult.

Here it is.
Ingenium Schools was part of a presentation at Soka University, which is run by SGI.

Does the Soka organization control Ingenium Schools, and pull the strings from behind the scenes?

______________QUOTE_____________________
[www.calexcellence.org]
Piecing Together the Puzzle
Date: April 25, 2008

7:30 a.m - Continental Breakfast
8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. - Program
Location: Soka University, Alumni Center
1 University Drive. Aliso Viejo CA 92656
...

Every organization must continuously strive to compete effectively for customers, funding and visibility while delivering high quality products and services. Which improvement strategy should your organization adopt? The OC Sterling Council’s “Piecing Together the Puzzle” program on October 4, 2007 will help you make sense several highly effective improvement strategies including Lean, 6 Sigma and Baldrige. Executives from organizations thriving in diverse industry and service sectors, including education, will share their insights into the application, pitfalls and outstanding benefits of these approaches.

The morning event will be kicked off with an amusing and instructive session, “Everything I needed to know about Lean, I learned in Kindergarten”, which will offer some amusing insights applicable to improving any type of organization.

Hear from real practitioners including:

Ingenium Schools: Developments with Baldrige Applications in Schools
Good Samaritan Hospital: Six Sigma in Healthcare
Soka University: Balanced Scorecard & Metrics Dashboard- Facilities
Long Beach Unified School District: Using Baldrige for Improvement

The morning program will provide time for participants to ask questions and share their experiences, as well. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to get an accelerated introduction to some of the most effective improvement methods in use.
_______________QUOTE__________________

And who is David Bhattacharyya of Ingenium Schools and The Capital Group Companies, Inc?
They say he manages 3 billion in assets for "institutional clients".
Which institutions? (its all private and highly secretive).

The Capital Group Companies "is one of the world's largest investment management organizations with assets of around one trillion USD under management".

How much does SGI-USA, or any other SGI related global entity have invested with The Capital Group Companies?

The Capital Group Companies: Investment trusts - Japan [www.capgroup.com]
[www.capgroup.com]

Quote
The Anticult
SGI has been trying to move people into politics, and other areas for some time.


But this movement into Charter Schools is very disturbing.
There are a few articles posted in the archive about the school principal here.
[www.culteducation.com]

Many sects and cults have tried to move into charter schools, but SGI is especially worrying as they literally have billions and billions of dollars behind them.
And be certain, they would want to run those charter schools to accumulate assets, AND indocrinate children at the same time. They will try to walk that fine line.

If they try to do this in the USA, very very vigorous public dissent against what they are doing, could put a stop to it. SGI will probably learn from the recent firing of the school principal, and set up a "non-religious" wing of SGI to try and run these charter schools.

And the information about Tom Harkenrider who was appointed as Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo's Chief of Operations in July 2000 [www.soka.edu]
And he is also on the board of directors of the Barak Obama Charter School.
That is interesting about the Barak Obama Charter School. It has nothing to do with Obama of course, they just picked that name themselves. [latimesblogs.latimes.com]
It looks like that school is run by INGENIUM SCHOOLS.
Who owns Ingenium Schools? Who is behind it?

What I wonder is how many established charter schools there are NOW that SGI has ties to -- that we know nothing about? I couldn't find anything on Ikeda or the Soka Gakkai on the Barak Obama Charter School's website. If you didn't know that Soka University was the Soka Gakkai's university-- you wouldn't know that Harkenrider had any Gakkai affiliations. Now, Soka University's website, does mention their affiliation with SGI, but it's not emphasized. You could miss it if you're not looking for it, but that doesn't mean that SGI's influence is not strong. Non-SGI faculty certainly found that out, and most have left. If you look at the Board of Directors for Soka University -- Daniel Nagashima, the director of SGI-USA is on the board. So are Tariq Hassan, Matilda Buck and Maria Guajardo. All three of them have been senior SGI leaders -- and that is not mentioned at all on the website.

The Massachusetts Dept of Education website mentioned Ikeda, and nothing about SGI. I think SGI is going to play it very cautiously and strategically from now on....setting up groups or companies that do not appear to be connected to SGI, and having them apply to start charter schools. They'll also screen their staff and administrators much more carefully. Phillip Scharper, the 'hate chanting' principal, brought an enormous amount of bad publicity to SGI, and they won't want a repeat of that.

I don't know how outraged most Americans are going to get about SGI opening charter schools. Down in Riverdale, NY, people who didn't have kids in Scharper's former school kept saying that it couldn't be that bad. Buddhists are nice, peaceful people, surely the man couldn't possibly be hate chanting! It just had to be disgruntled, vindictive parents. And if SGI's hiding behind some other group or corporation anyway, who's going to know? People will just know that this group has what appears to be a good plan for a school.

--------------Beginning of Quote, sokaeducation.wordpress.com---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Peace Proposal Cites Educator Makiguchi’s “Humanitarian Competition”
February 10, 2009


Quoted from SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s 2009 Peace Proposal:
“The time has come for a new way of thinking, for a paradigm shift that will reach the very foundation of human civilization. . .
In this connection, I would like to explore certain ideas set out by the founding president of the Soka Gakkai, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, in his 1903 work The Geography of Human Life . . . Specifically, I would like to explore the possibilities to be found in his idea of “humanitarian competition.”

In this work, Makiguchi surveys the grand flow of human history and identifies the forms of competition that have prevailed in different periods: military, political and economic. He concludes with a call for us to set our sights on the goal of establishing “humanitarian competition” as the prevailing ethos of the era–competition to contribute the most to society.

This is because the values encapsulated within socialism in order to remove the ills of capitalism–justice and equality, for example–whether applied in the domestic or international arena, are indeed rooted in an underlying humanism. These ideals cannot be allowed to perish along with the systemic failure of communism.

The question remains then as to why, if socialism is informed with correct principles, it has generally failed as a system. It is valuable to reference Makiguchi’s insight: “Whether in natural or human affairs, when free competition is hampered, this results in stagnation, stasis and regression.” The failure of socialism can be attributed to the failure to take the value of competition as a source of energy and vitality in human society adequately into account.
Herein lies the value of humanitatian competition. As a concept, it allows us to first directly confront the reality of competition while ensuring that it is conducted firmly on the basis of human values, thus bringing forth a synergistic reaction between the values of humanitarian concerns and competitive energies.
-----------------------------------------------End of Quote--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In short, he wants to create a whole new "paradigm -- "Humanitarian competition," the perfect blend of capitalism and socialism.

Lord, and I joined this group thinking I was just going to chant and study about Buddhism!