"There were four things we tried to teach these kids," Carter said. "It was accountability, integrity, how to be a great follower before you can ever be a great leader, and it was all about team and family."

he difference is that 93 percent of SouthKorean students graduate from high school, compared withjust JJ percent of American students—only about 2 percent ofwhom receive athletic scholarships to college

Our analysissuggests that the most engaging environment you can offer stu-dents is one of cognitive challenge combined with individual-ised pedagogical support," he told me in an e-mail. "Ifyou offerboring and poor math instruction and try to compensate thatwith interesting sport activities, you may get students interestedin sports but I doubt it will do much good to their engagementwith school

In these communities, the dominant argument is usuallythat sports lure students into school and keep them out oftrouble—the same argument American educators have madefor more than a century. And it remains relevant, without adoubt, for some small portion of students

N MANY S C H O O L S , sports are so entrenched that noone—not even the people in charge—realizes their actual cost

The National Collegiate Athletic Association had emergedby this time, as a means of reforming the increasingly brutalsport of college football. But the enforcers were unable tokeep pace with the industry. Once television exponentiallyexpanded the fan base in the mid-2Oth century, collegiatesports gained a spiritual and economic choke hold on Amer-ica. College scholarships rewarded high-school athletes, andthe search for the next star player trickled down even to gradeschool.

But what to make of this other glaring reality, and the signalit sends to children, parents, and teachers about the very pur-pose of school

o gen-uinely improve the life chances of poor urban youth wouldrequire a sustained political and economic commitment byall segments of society. Now that would be a story worthtelling on the big screen

California Governor Gray Davis was abig fan of Carter’s at the time of the lockout. He attended thefirst basketball game held after the lockout and proclaimedCarter a hero who epitomized the governor’s approach toeducation

he urban public high school. In

Compton's Cafeteria riot: a historic act of trans resistance, three years before Stonewall

Unsure of what to do with the theater-like space in the third room, Phil allowed the MCC mission to use it for worship for several months

This detailed account of the early years of the political movement for LGBT rights—1969 to 1980—includes a chapter on the beginnings of MCC and how Troy Perry and other MCC leaders responded to the Upstairs Lounge tragedy.

MCC congregations and gay communities in cities all around the U.S

The presence of national gay activists and leaders--Troy Perry, Morris Kight, Paul Breton, John Gill and Morty Manford--was critically important. I

Metropolitan Community Church first congregation was founded in Los Angelesby a charismatic Rev. Troy Perry in 1968, a time whenChristian attitudes towardhomosexuality were almost universally negative

Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’sTenderloin district in 1966.Compton’s Cafeteria was one of the few places transgender people met. Becausethey were not welcomed at gay bars, and cross-dressing was considered illegal,police would raid the Cafeteria. The riot started when a police officer attemptedto arrest a transgendered woman after management called the police to reportwhat was perceived to be a rowdy crowd. The woman threw coffee in theofficer’s face sparking a riot that became a turning point for the lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender (LGBT) movemen

First understand that 1960ies

n Sunday, April 18, 1971, Rev. David Solomon conducted an OrganizationalMeeting of “METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH” ( MCC ) at the First UnitarianChurch at 1800 Jefferson Avenue, N.O., Louisiana, with a handful of people of theLGBT community who were interested in starting an MCC in New Orleans

MCC was founded by Rev. Troy Perry in 1968. Our first church was established in Los Angeles, CA and that church is now called“Founders Metropolitan Community Church.”