This article is just means that Mr.Patel ate the fake facade the school puts up. The UWC USA is not a real UWC. It is just like any other preppy boarding school. People just put on ethnic clothing when it is time for a photo-op. Yes the kids come from around the world... but there is anything but a diverse view of any sort of issue. They dress up, put on shows, etc so that you will donate more money.

This article is just means that Mr.Patel ate the fake facade the school puts up. The UWC USA is not a real UWC. It is just like any other preppy boarding school. People just put on ethnic clothing when it is time for a photo-op. Yes the kids come from around the world... but there is anything but a diverse view of any sort of issue. They dress up, put on shows, etc so that you will donate more money.

Mr. Patel,

Your article rings so true the United World College is a wonderful place for the students who attend and they are the reason that so many people want to work and visit this out of the way place.

But the reality is that in every Eden there lurks a serpent and in the case of the United World College it is in it's treatment of it's housekeeping,clerical and maintenance staff. Which is comprised of local people from the Las Vegas area who are 90% Chicano/Hispanic. They are paid below the US rate for a livable wage and are currently being required as of August 1 to work on Sundays. The Chicano/Hispanic culture has strong ties to it's religion and having this requirement and the low wages now has the employees involved in a bitter dispute with Lisa Darling. It has resulted in Ms. Darling threating employees with firing and acts of passive agressiveness to indimidate the employess into submission. Most of the employeess have been at the school for an average of 10 years, why do they stay because they know that the work they are doing is in support of the students. They know that through their small actions of cleaning or wiping tears from a homesick students face they too are changing the world.

So before you claim that the United World College is an Eden please take a harder look at how it is treating it's lowest paid members. You too will be shocked.

Kathryn Martinez

Please see the following link regarding RSS and church-burning:

http://www.secularindia.com/news/2007/03/25Indian%20Hindu%20Militants.htm

Her name is Lisa Darling

Mr. Patel,

Thank you for the post. Your description of the school rings true (and on a personal level brought many fond memories of my time there). The fact that we all lived together at a place like UWC did not mean we accepted our religious and other differences without questioning them, but that we learned about them, sometimes through tears and shouting matches, and we learned about our shared humanity, which is really the best one can hope to gain from that experience. Many ethnic and religious groups have a specific name and face associated with them making it near-impossible to generalize. And hate.

For those of you who may be considering sending your children to such schools or contributing to the UWC movement in some way, I would encourage you to visit one of these places - it is more inspirational than anything you can hear about them.

Lidija Sekaric
(UWC-USA '92-'94)

Mr. Petel,

I too just graduated, and would like to thank you for your words about the school. Unfortunately, I was not at the ceremony, but your description of the school is impressively insightful. I wish I could have heard your speech. Holly, as always you made me laugh.

Sincerely,
Mars Chapman
UWC-USA 2008

I think that several of you have far too much time on your hands. We have just seen Mr. Patel vest effort into sharing his experience with what appears to be a wonderful organization of schools. Instead of posting degrading comments about Mr. Patel or unnecessary ones directed at him and each other, I would encourage all of you go get off your asses and think about the last time you did something useful. Whether it was visiting an international school as an inspiring speaker for young people, raising awareness for such an institution on your blog so that it can continue to attract the best students in the USA and the world, or just did something that made you arrogant commenter's look like you weren't complete idiots who waste their time bickering on comment boards.

I, as a current student of UWC-USA, liked this article a lot. However, there is one mistake that should be corrected; our president's name is Ms. Lisa Darling - not Linda Darling.

HALOjee Konia lost its churches after 1927- nder atatruks famous greek-turk- population transfer-
1,000 years before ataturk kicked the greeks out- konya had churches and and christians aplenty-

the city was on the verge of ruin in the beginning of the century-
the train system re-energized the city- and alot of the tourism there (what its famous for actually) is the TOMB OF RUMI-

so even in death, and 801 years later- rumi has revitalized the prosperity of the city!

blame ataturk for the removal of churches!

(you know what im saying is true)

I graduated with the UWC-USA class of '08 and want to thank you, Mr. Patel, for your wonderful words both at the graduation and in your column. A minor error, though--the 3rd Bollywood dancer was not from Norway, but a redblooded American from North Carolina! Yes folks, even the Americans are exciting and talented ;-)

Holly Jones
UWC-USA '08
USA-VT

As a graduate of the SC Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM), one of several schools in the country that bring together talented high school students from diverse backgrounds, I was intrigued by your article.

GSSM, like the UWC, brings together students at the age of 16 with a similar aptitude, but from widely different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Based on your article, I'm sure it would be a bright idea to combine the approaches of both systems. I know that I would have loved the opportunity in high school to attain the global perspective that the UWC offers. In any field, with the ever increasing presence of globalization, such a perspective will become ever more crucial. Working in engineering in today's world, the interconnected problems of climate change and energy innovation are two wonderful examples of global scientific endeavours hungry for a more interconnected response.

Thanks so much for your article, it's nice to see that the educational system is advancing in a positive direction, albeit slowly.

Dear Arminius,65 year-old Episcopal,Celtic/Anglo-Saxon/Viking,

Rumi had lived in Konia 800 years ago.Then there had been more churches than mosques.But,at this moment,there is not only one church,even its ruins,in Konia.
What is his fruit ?

I think mentioning RSS as if it was a terrorist organization is not founded on facts. In India, a Muslim was the last President, a Sikh is the Prime Minister, and a Christian is the King Maker and the person with the real power. This in the world's largest democracy where 80% of the people are Hindus. It will be a century before a Muslim or a Hindu can be elected to the senate or a state governor. So Mr. V. TKA, your crap about RSS burning Churches has no foundation. The RSS is fringe Hindu organization but has no political role in modern day India. It is no different to the several hundred Nazi groups in the US. India has had a female Prime Minister as well. We can wait a few decades for that priviledge here in the US.

sad that indeed- but it takes one to know one-
i believe they just celebrated the 801st anniversary of rumi's birth
the whirling dervishes of turkey have been keeping his philosophy alive these 801 years-

http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/music_of_the_whirling_dervishes_gulizar
(but any google will give you buckets of his stuff)

Tarik,

Rumi - one great poet! He moves me, and I am Christian.

Thanks for such great postings.

Eboo Patel appears to be influenced by Rumi,the Sufi school of Islam.

I recommend Coleman Barks, his book tittled 'the essential Rumi'.

Mr Patel,

Thank you! There is hope for humanity. This is incredible news.

Victoria,

I think that this is not the first time we have been the only ones on a blog with words of praise for the author. Sad, that.

Arminius

I am blocked from posting on Eboo Patel's thread. Probably because I am always pointing out that Eboo's subject matter often does NOT originate within Islam:

"(United World College) was the brainchild of German education philosopher Kurt Hahn, who also founded the Outward Bound movement."

Eboo Patel- Did you know that Kurt Hahn was a Jewish man who believed in Yeshua Ha'Mashiach (a Messianic Jew)?

"Hahn’s Jewish background and beliefs were of deep importance to him. (One of his forebears was Jacheskiel Landau, Chief Rabbi of Prague in the Eighteenth Century, whose writings on the Talmud are still taught at academies of Jewish studies.)

As Dr.Lancelot Fleming, Dean of Windsor and a friend of Hahn’s for many decades, said in his final tribute to Hahn: “Kurt made it very plain that he was proud to be of one hundred percent Jewish origin.”

Hahn joined the Anglican Church in 1945, thus embracing the total combination of Judeo-Christian faith and principles."

To V.TKA

Advice your missionaries to stop spreading their love to pagans. It is not the RSS, it is the tribals and poor people thermselves who revolt occasionally against the intolerance and hatred to native culture that these vultures from the west so generously propogate.

to Madrassas?:

When is the last time RSS blew up a mosque? They didn't; they spend their time killing Christians and burning down their churches instead.

Mr. Patel:

Tell me when you think a school is going to win THAT war against faith.

Mr. Eboo did not mention thousands of madrassas all over the world which impart religious and intolerant view of Islam to millions of Muslim kids.

RSS? Surprising an Indian born Muslim does not mention the last week's bombings outside a Hindu tmeple carried out by Muslims which killed 65 people and Diwali bombings in Delhi, train bombings in Mumbai....

When did RSS blow up Muslims or Mosques?

Shocking that a prestigious newspaper like WAPO would have such wrong and biased views on their site!

Eboo forgot to mention the intolerant and violent Saudis who are following prophet's rules. And also most of other intolerant Islamic nations who openly practise discrimination towards the rest of humanity.

How do you do it, mr. Patel?
You manage to bring us inspiration with every post.
You brighten my days with what you share, and keep me optimistic.