just wondering if anyone has ever had to go to a memorial service for a member at the community center, even if you don't practice anymore. I have to go to one soon and am dreading being around the members. I am going because the person who passed meant a lot to me. Any advice or similar experiences? The service is about her life and not about my anxiety about being there. I just would rather not interact with them.

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quiet one

tsukimoto, I find this very disturbing. It also makes me mad. I don't want SGI's stamp on public property such as parks.

Look at it this way as disturbing it may be ... its also a chance to bring the nature of SGI into the public that otherwise would not be interested much. So contact local officials !



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2010 02:08PM by Rothaus.

@evergreen

You've asked twice so I'll help.

Try thinking of it this way: Once you had graduated and left high school you never again returned to that school building as a student but as a graduate - someone who no longer was relevant to the high school environment and someone who had since moved on.

Consider that your life moved on from "the old days" when you were merely a SGI member. Now you are more empowered and have become wise to the true nature of that organization. This just represents spending a few hours surrounded by people who are still trapped in a dogma that they also will eventually have to struggle to get free of. Visiting your old high school may fill you with memories but rarely have I heard of people wanting to re-enroll themselves to "do it all over again" :)

So simply remind yourself that even though the noises and experiences around seem to be familiar, they are not relevant to this stage of your life and only represent a previous phase. Just lean on the new spiritual strength and personal growth you have achieved since then.

Wakatta



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2010 06:24PM by wakatta1.

Hi Evergreen,

I think what Wakatta wrote is quite true. The only thing I would add is to aks yourself if you feel ready for it. Will the main issue be to pay your respects or is it bothering you who you have to deal with while doing so. If the company you are with will make you feel ill at ease and uncomfortabel it will not support your original intensions i.e. paying your respect to somebody who hold you in high esteem. If that is the case a personal visit to the burial site might be more appropriate.
Just do not regard it as any kind of weakness if you decide that its too early to face SGI-members. If anyone would approach you I would just say that your main reason to come was to pay your respects and not about discussing SGI matters. Just do not let it become a chore and be yourself. Keep us posted though.

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evergreen
just wondering if anyone has ever had to go to a memorial service for a member at the community center, even if you don't practice anymore. I have to go to one soon and am dreading being around the members. I am going because the person who passed meant a lot to me. Any advice or similar experiences? The service is about her life and not about my anxiety about being there. I just would rather not interact with them.

I attended a service that was not about the person's life. It appeared to be a shakabuku effort for the bereaved non - SGI family members. At first I was appalled, imagining the other members gauging each word of the presenter as being good shakabuku, then I thought, it might be the departed member's wish that a strong effort to explain the practice happen at the service. Who am I to judge someone's last wishes. It was a strong enough emotional mix-up for me that I did not attend the next service I heard about. Best wishes for your time remembering a friend. I hope the service properly pays respect.

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quiet one
tsukimoto, I find this very disturbing. It also makes me mad. I don't want SGI's stamp on public property such as parks.

Agreed. I also don't want them opening schools in the United States...or anywhere else....but unfortunately, the Soka Gakkai's application for a new charter school, Spirit of Knowledge Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts was recently approved. The Spirit of Knowledge Academy's application had been rejected in 2009, but they reapplied and were accepted in February of this year, with plans to open in September 2010.

As a charter school, the Spirit of Knowledge Academy cannot charge tuition to its students, but will be funded with Massachusetts tax dollars -- and it will take funding away from existing public schools in Worcester.

It sounds as if there are many red flags connected with the Spirit of Knowledge Academy already, and it hasn't even opened yet:

--Its director had been the director of another charter school, and was fired by her board for poor performance.

--With its emphasis on a rigorous math and science curriculum, it duplicates programs that already exist in the Worcester area.

--The Spirit of Knowledge Academy's application claimed that it would provide a quality education to low-achieving students. Now, the Academy is projecting that 25% of its ninth graders will not finish twelfth grade there. Low-achieving students will either be sent to other schools in the area, or will drop out of school altogether. It seems that their emphasis will be on the high-achieving kids --- which is the opposite of what they initially promised to do.

--The Spirit of Knowledge Academy plans to spend large sums on administrative and non-instructional staff, relative to the number of students it will have.

--The concerns of community members were not addressed.

It just sounds suspicious...was the board who approved this stacked with SGI members? Paid off?

---------Beginning of Quote, Incity Times, March 29, 2010----------------------------------

[www.incitytimesworcester.org]

By Worcester School Committee member John Monfredo

Throughout our city much has been said recently about the Charter School movement and its impact on our kids. Worcester will have its third Charter School: the Massachusetts Department of Education has approved the “Spirit of Knowledge Charter School.” The school will house students in grades 7 to 12 and classes will begin this September with 156 students in grades 7 and 8.

While charter schools provide an alternative to other public schools, they are part of the public education system and are not allowed to charge tuition.

If one looks at the number of Charter Schools state-wide and looks at the research, you will find that Charter Schools are more expensive, more segregated and do not offer a better education to children.

Worcester Public School Superintendent Melinda Boone spoke at the Charter School hearing in Malden re: whether a Charter School should be approved in Worcester. She said, “I’m not fighting the existence of Charter Schools … . Parents ought to have quality choices. My concern is the Spirit of Knowledge School is not a quality program - it has leadership issues and because I don’t think they substantially meet the requirement of ensuring diversity and ensuring equity of access for all children and parents who may be interested.”

Dr. Boone, WPS Chief Financial and Operations officer Brian Allen, Mayor Joseph O’Brien, City Councilor Kate Toomey, School Committee member Tracy Novick and I testified at the hearing as why this particular Charter School would not benefit Worcester.

As stated by Dr. Boone, the director of the newly formed Charter School, Julia Sigalovsky of Sudbury, was the administrator at the Charter School Advanced Math and Science Academy in Marlboro - and was fired from her position last year. The issue of leadership and the firing of Ms. Sigalovsky were also reiterated by City Council member Kate Toomey. Councilor Toomey asked the board to question whether her leadership is a good fit for our city, for according to many public documents and newspaper articles she was fired by her own board of School Trustees. Councilor Toomey read a quote from Metro West Daily News dated May 8, 2008: “School trustees recently voted not to renew her contract as executive director … it intends to hire an executive director with more school administration experience.”

… Mayor O’Brien also reemphasized the question whether if the Spirit of Knowledge does have a commitment to an urban population. ..... He went on to say that this application from the Spirit of Knowledge fails the Governor’s stated criteria and that this school fails the intent of the law and does not have a proven record of serving high needs students. He spoke about the lack of leadership and that the leadership is far from proven. He emphasized that the Marlboro Charter School and the Spirit of Knowledge model not only failed to help close the achievement gap - it barely educated any high needs children.


The Spirit of Knowledge has as its mission to graduate students with a solid academic foundation in Math, Science, and Technology and to prepare them for a college and a gratifying career. My testimony centered on duplication of these services. Spirit of Knowledge talks about the rigor in their curriculum, but the Worcester Public Schools already has a rigorous curriculum, with more and more students engaged in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

We have also involved our WPS students in dual-enrollment courses with our area colleges and have formed many partnerships with our colleges and universities. We have a very successful AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination) as we reach out to students in the middle. AVID works with students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential. They are given additional assistance. In many cases, these students will be the first in their families to attend college, and many are from low-income or minority families. Again, our school district has had a partnership to help finance this program by partnering up with Hanover Insurance.

Next, let’s look at the Worcester Science Academy at WPI, for this program attracts those students interested in a strong science and math program. The Academy is a public, state-wide magnet school which enrolls about 100 academically accelerated 11th and 12th graders. The rigor of the junior year classes exceeds high school honors and AP, with more than 1,200 hours of instruction. Seniors complete a year of college, taking the same classes as other students at WPI, thus making the Academy the only public school in Massachusetts whose students attend a fulltime university as seniors in high school.
Where is it located? Right here in Worcester!

I urged the Board to review the Engineering Pipeline at Doherty High School and see the science and math connection at work. I urge you to go to North High School and see the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative that was initiated in 1996. It brings together UMass Medical School, UMass Memorial Health Care, area colleges, and biotech industries such as Abbott Laboratories. The purpose of the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative was and has remained building a “pipeline” for students from groups under-represented to work and see the opportunities that exist in the health field. This program has been a model of success.

I asked the Board to visit the Goddard Program at Sullivan Middle School and at South High School where students excel in a most rigorous curriculum. The Worcester Public Schools created this separate Magnet School Program, where anyone in the city can apply, and is more rigorous than honors. Students must take five AP courses and maintain a B average.

Next I asked the Board to visit Worcester Technical High School, for this state of the art building is a good example of students being able to learn a trade and still maintain academic success. As with many of our schools, WTHS has a large free- and reduced-lunch population, yet 65% of them are college bound and the balance ready for success in the workforce! The senior class has more than 50 students receiving the John and Abigail Adams State Scholarship.

The track record of Worcester Technical High School has students entering a variety of technical programs at a number of colleges throughout the country. My question to the board was: Can the “Spirit of Knowledge Academy” do better? …Brian Allen asked many important questions, i.e, how the Commissioner could recommend a charter school to the board with a planned 25% drop out rate? The Spirit of Knowledge Academy Charter School proposal shows the year 1 grade 9 enrollment of 52 students and four years later the Grade 12 enrollment of 39 students. He asked, “How does the school explain this 25% drop out rate?” 
He then answered his question with the following statement. “Quite simple, the school does not plan to serve students that lag in their academic achievements; those students will be returned to the sending district.

It appears, as documented in the letter of support from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau that the target student is academically gifted, and if this is so, the actual target student directly conflicts with the school’s statement need.”

Again, this is a duplication of services, for Worcester students are well served by academically gifted programs whether through the Worcester Public Schools or the Math-Science Academy at WPI.


Mr. Allen, an expert in finances, stated that the proposed school will spend 1 out of every 3 dollars on non-instructional expenses. The school will have 13.5 non-instructional and administrative staff for a school with less than 600 students.

As the State looks at ways for greater school consolidations to save money, how can the Commonwealth afford diverting nearly $2million from instructional cost areas to support a new administrative cost structure?

Sadly, those questions and other questions raised by the group were not answered. In addition, any questions asked by the board members were answered by members of Commissioner Chester’s office. Why did they not ask representatives from the Spirit of Knowledge to address those issues brought up by our Worcester delegation? This was a real flaw in the process.

In addition, Dr. Boone, after the first hearing in December, sent a booklet of letters supporting the position of the Worcester Public Schools. The package included letters from parents, community partners, students and staff. Unfortunately, Commissioner Chester’s office did not give the board the booklet until the day before our hearing. One has to wonder if they had the time to read the information sent. On a 6 to 2 vote, the board supported the Commissioner’s recommendation, despite what we said at the meeting.

It was a long shot in attempting to change the mindset of the board. I believed that after the Commissioner’s office approved the school this past January, our going to the board was going to be a difficult task.... That should not be the case, for the application should have been reviewed on its merit. I don’t believe that it was.

In the long run, this will cost the Worcester Public Schools money from our depleting budget.
--------------------------------end of quote----------------------------------------------------------

Hi, Evergreen. People have given you some good advice. I would like to add my thoughts.

To me, a funeral is for the people left and not so much to honor the deceased. If one is grieving, a funeral can help one come to terms with what has happened. Attendance at a funeral is for yourself, it seems to me, or is to honor the relatives and friends of the deceased.

I have attended some funerals that actually have been joyful events, with old friends and family coming together. I have been to funerals where ex-SGI members have attended, and everyone was happy to see them.

Many contributors to this forum have noticed how much better they relate to people now that they are not members of SGI. Relationships when one is in SGI only appear superficial in many cases. Post-SGI, one relates to people in a much more authentic manner. Perhaps when you see people at the funeral that you knew, it will be a good experience. Perhaps you will be able to relate to them better and in a more authentic way. In any case, if you do encounter old friends when you attend the funeral, my advice to you is don't forget to enjoy seeing your old friends and family!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2010 08:54AM by quiet one.

tsukimoto, Thank you for sharing the information that you gathered about the Spirit of Knowledge Academy. It is indeed disturbing. We'll see how things go for this school.

thanks everyone for your much needed advice. I will keep everyone posted, not that its all that exciting, but just to see if I end up being anxious for no reason

the situation with the school in Worcester is sad. I have horrific memories of being made to march for SGI in a fife and drum corps. I think I was in junior high school. It was grueling training and it was all to show the world how wonderful the SGI was. Maybe some of you had to march in parades too. Its embarrasing and odd.

doesn't the SGI have enough money to pay for its own schools?

Evergreen, sorry about the loss of your friend. I have been able to avoid the SGI members in my area. I would feel anxious if I had to go to some event where there would be a lot of members. I like Wakatta's advice about considering it like going back to your old high school, something that would trigger memories -- but that you have grown past. I also like Rothaus's advice about keeping the focus on positive memories of the person/comforting their family members and other friends, and just not discussing your reasons for leaving SGI. Best wishes.

And yes, SGI certainly could afford to pay for its own schools. If they really wanted to do some good, more help for kids who have not been successful in the traditional school program is always needed -- even something like an after-school or summer program. Poor, war-torn countries like Afghanistan, the Sudan, and others also need schools. The problem is, these countries wouldn't be able to contribute tax money toward the school. SGI could do some good, if they wished, but no, SGI has to skim off tax money to duplicate programs that already exist in Worcester....why? Another gold star on Ikeda's resume?

You mention parades. Ironically, I marched in a parade in Worcester, as a member of Kotekitai in 1988 or 89 --in white shorts with red and blue sequins. It seemed kind of surreal; I was a new member, an adult with a career...I was thinking, "What am I doing here?"