I don’t understand the conditions from which people can make such simplistic statements.
Is it so different in Michigan? Or what magical timing and luck serve to overcome those bureaucratic hurdles?
Mr Miller, please help me to understand your involvement in Scholastic Chess. Have you built up a school chess program from scratch? If so, tell us how. Otherwise, how does your statement help?
I believe Chess can help make this country academically competitive. We don’t need lazy platitudes, we need hard core advice. I think there are people out there that understand how to approach this and express their experiences. I want to hear that.
Who has the USCF really reached in this country? Seriously, Chess is virtually non-existent to most schools as an important activity. The better Chess programs tend to be from private schools, and the top teams attend private clubs. (See NYA results). The public system is guilty of catering to the lowest common denominator. One reason why this country is so pathetic academically.
Simplistic complaints tend to generate such statements. Why should the rules change because someone ran into difficulties?
Certainly it’s not a whole lot easier in Michigan, but Scholastic Chess is quite strong here.
No magic, no luck. Just a bunch of dedicated, hard-working chess coaches/teachers/organizers.
I supported Scholatic Chess in Michigan for many years. Did I build up the program? No. I worked with those who did, and watched it grow and thrive. I helped where I could, administratively, TDing, and supporting program proposals from the Scholatic community year after year while on the MCA Board.
Expecting USCF to accomplish such lofty goals is myopic. Without local, grass roots support and participation, what can a small, non-profit hope to accomplish on its own? And how does laying responsibility for the nation’s academics at the doorstep of the USCF contribute to this discussion?
And now you expect the USCF to solve federal funding problems too? The mind boggles…
First of all, yes, conditions vary–and they vary on the absolutely most local school-district level, not on the state level. In our state, we have districts who want nothing to do with chess, and districts who are quite supportive.
Secondly, you’ve got to work with whatever you have. This might be why USCF isn’t so effective. Given the variance in local conditions, scholastic chess it can’t be organized “top down.” USCF might be more effective by providing case studies for building programs within various types of local conditions, or consultants or mentors to help with program development .
Thirdly, yes, you might have to work through the bureaucracy to get a school-based extracurricular chess program going. It’s a pain in the neck, but you’ve got to see it as a long-term investment. Once you’ve got the program going, it will continue as long as it doesn’t depend upon school district funding. I know someone who’s done this recently, and it’s worked out magnificently.
Finally, doing this on a club, or non-school basis is a perfectly viable alternative. It will certainly be easier to get it running. The kids can all travel as a group and still compete individually, if not as a team.
It seems that the families involved should contribute toward expenses. This is normal in any activity, but what do others charge in this type of program? I know teachers with USCF A ratings charging $25/hr to GMs charging $75/hr and up. But those prices will not fly at this grass-roots level. So what works for prices?
Depends on what you want to do. My non-rated wife has built chess clubs of 30+ players in both of my son’s schools, and charged something like $10-$30 per year (the first year she did it she didn’t charge anything but she found out that she had to limit it to kids actually playing so as to avoid it being treated as free after-school care instead of as a chess club). My son served as de facto TD for any rules disputes and the only actual chess-playing lessons were my stopping by a couple of times a year to give basic instruction (pins, forks, skewers, some basic mates. etc.). Only a handful of the kids played in tournaments but they all enjoyed the non-rated club play.
I know of one retiree (in the 1980s) who ran a successful chess club at the elementary school across the street from his house. He wasn’t a parent or faculty member so he had to first build a relationship with the principal before being allowed to run a club in the school. He probably charged just a minimal amount to cover basic expenses (sets, boards, score-sheets, etc.) but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that he didn’t actually charge anything. That school hosted one of the early K-8 state championships back when 160 players was considered a huge (and record-breaking) turnout.
You’re talking about clubs, so it’s group instruction. Let’s throw out some numbers and do the math.
School chess club has 15 participants. It’s going to meet one hour once a week for 20 weeks. You hire a $50 per session instructor and he gives a group lesson for 25 minutes, then does game review with individuals while the rest of the kids are playing practice games.
Instructor cost is $1000 divided by 15 participants, or about $67 for the 20-week program. Round that up to $75 and you’ve got $120 left over to spend on chess sets. Voila! A self-sustaining, parent-funded chess club with decent instruction.
Adjust numbers as required to fit local conditions, desires for a spiffier program, more expensive instructor, etc.
Can you think of any other activity your kid can do for 20 weeks for $75?
Around here, you couldn’t get people to sign up for $75. You might get a handful for $45. It would be all-white. If you wanted actual diversity in the program, you’d have to offer it for free. The income disparity is that bad.
On the other hand, maybe this is the sort of thing that the U.S. Chess Trust could support with grant money, if it felt inclined to do such a thing. In which case a certain number of “scholarship” slots could be set aside for kids in financial need.
There are definitely kids from the Greenwich / Stamford CT area (and probably farther up the Red Line train, like Westport or Fairfield) who attend private school in NYC.
What age range are you talking about? Back when I was on our high school chess team, we got ourselves to other high schools for matches. Either a parent drove, or when we were old enough we drove, or a few times I think our “coach” (a math teacher who just facilitated the club and provided the room, didn’t even know the rules very well) drove.
But there was no further support. When we wanted to go 100 miles up to NYC for the National High School, there was no support for it. Our school spent all its money on our always-losing football team, and our principal was a football fan who saw nothing unusual about that.
You obviously don’t know much about NY/CT metro area. The club in question from NY is located in Westchester County. The player from CT lives in Greenwich which is about a 15 drive from Harrison, NY where the Westchester Chess Academy has its sessions.
I run a chess club on Monday nights in White Plains, NY. We have players that come almost every week from Stamford, CT. One player sometimes comes from even further away. One player who hasn’t come in awhile lives in NY, but he lives further away then the CT players.
You can’t go by state. I would be concerned if a NY based club had a player from California on its team unles the kid was going to school in NY.
Awhile back I received an email from AZ asking people to be full/part time Chess instructors. Enticing me with the lofty 30k per year potential competitive with the local video store manager. Looking into their web site I noticed they charged about $125/student/year. They also seemed to have a lot of schools. Does anyone know what makes AZ different? Is it too much sun? Or are those guys just good salesmen?
The way it gets done around here is that the local PTAs “scholarship” needy kids into after-school activities that have fees, chess being one of those activities.
You only need to charge a fee if you choose to pay an instructor. Get a volunteer instructor and the fee goes away. It is easier to get a volunteer instructor if the program is either before school, or in the evening, i.e., at the edge of working hours.
Or what magical timing and luck serve to overcome those bureaucratic hurdles?
